On Nov. 24, a Ferguson grand jury decision cleared police officer Darren Wilson of the murder of Michael Brown. Michael Brown was an 18-year-old African American youth shot and killed by the white police officer as he walked to his grandmother’s house in Ferguson, Missouri on August 9. Witnesses stated that Brown, who was unarmed, had his hands up in the air when officer Darren Wilson shot and killed him. With blatant disrespect to Michael Brown, his family and the neighborhood, the police left his body lying in the middle of the street for hours after the police killing.

For the people of Ferguson, a mainly African American suburb of Saint Louis, enough was enough. Residents were fed up with their all white city government and almost all white police force. The next evening, a rebellion broke out that lasted more than a week. Despite the police showing their true face as a military occupation force complete with armored personnel carriers, the people of Ferguson, joined by neighbors in and around Saint Louis and supporters across the country, kept protesting night after night.

The Saint Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch is known to have close ties with the police and he refused to arrest Officer Darren Wilson for the murder of Brown. However, the government did assemble a grand jury to ‘investigate’ the killing. The government’s plan from the beginning was that the grand jury would cool out protests with the hope of an indictment. This hope is now shown for what it was: a false dream. Now people are even angrier.

The ‘justice system’ of police, courts and prisons in the U.S. is in fact an ‘injustice system’ designed to suppress African Americans to the benefit of the rich and powerful. We must be clear. Having African Americans at the top of the government, including the president and the attorney general, does not change the nature of the injustice system. The law, the police, the courts and the prisons are there to maintain the political power and economic privileges of the monopoly capitalists – the billionaires who are the ruling 1%. The police are the front-line enforcers of this all around political, economic, legal, cultural and social inequality of African Americans and other oppressed nationalities (Chicanos, Mexicanos, other Latinos, Asians, Arabs and indigenous peoples) in the U.S.. Every time an African American person is killed and the police or a racist vigilante gets away with murder, we must organize and protest to put an end to the officially sanctioned state violence and murder.

What will it take to win Justice for Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin and all the other African Americans who are the latest victims of police and racist vigilante violence?

Our experience is that the struggle for justice and for full equality does not mainly come from elections or from the courts. What can push forward the struggle for justice is the militant mass movement based in the working class, using militant tactics that are effective and teach people to understand their own power. We can demonstrate our power through masses of people taking to the streets, combined with occupations and civil disobedience, or even strikes and work slowdowns, or possibly direct action and confrontations with the uniformed killers like we saw in Ferguson in August. Missouri Governor Jay Nixon certainly understands the impact of people protesting for fundamental social change, that is why he called out the Missouri National Guard.

The Freedom Road Social Organization fully supports the struggle of the people of Ferguson to get justice for Michael Brown, as well the fight of Black and Brown communities across the country to put a stop to killer cops and racist vigilantes. The struggle for justice and equality will continue in the streets, and activists in the community, workplace and campus must continue to organize the working masses for political power. The struggle against police brutality and racist vigilantes is a key part of the Black Liberation Movement that will inspire others fighting for freedom including the Asian American, Chicano, Mexican, Latino, Native American and other indigenous people, as well as women and LGBTQ people.

As the oppression of African Americans is rooted in the slave system that was one of the foundations of capitalism the U.S., only the replacement of capitalism with socialism can lay the basis for full equality for African Americans. As Mao Zedong stated after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968, “The struggle of the Black people in the U.S. for emancipation is a component part of the general struggle of all the people of the world against U.S. imperialism, a component part of the contemporary world revolution.”

Stop Police Terror! Jail the Killer Cop! Justice for Michael Brown!

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Chicago, IL – On, Aug. 25, 250 people gathered in the University of Illinois-Chicago (UIC) campus quad to commemorate Michael Brown. UIC was one the colleges across the U.S. to hold demonstrations and student walk-outs on the day of Brown's funeral. At UIC, speakers read a list of Black lives lost as a result of police brutality. The UIC action was called by the Black Student Union (BSU). The national call for protests said Aug. 25 should have been Mike Brown's first day of college had he not been the victim of a racist police murder.

Evan Taylor, outreach chair of the BSU, challenged the university to reaffirm its alleged commitment to diversity. Taylor explained that, while UIC claims to be one of the most diverse universities in the country, the Black student population, in addition to their graduation and retention rates, has been declining. And, although UIC is a research institution, little to no research has been done on this issue.

The demonstration ended with the chant that Brown's death has inspired, “Hands up; don't shoot!”

#ChicagoIL #PoliceBrutality #MichaelBrown #JusticeForMichaelBrown #MikeBrown

Salt Lake City, UT – More than 30 people marched through the streets here, Aug. 25, to demand justice for Dillon Taylor, Danielle Willard and Mike Brown. Protesters were outraged at the recent killing of Dillon Taylor, an unarmed man, at the hands of the Salt Lake City Police, as well as other killings by the police, such as Danielle Willard and Ferguson, Missouri’s Mike Brown.

Gregory Lucero of the Revolutionary Students Union stated, “We have to stand against police brutality now, to demand that these killer cops get proper punishment and prevent this from happening ever again.”

Protesters marched to several Utah landmarks, including the federal building, the state courthouse and the police department to make their voices heard. Speakers at each stop told of their stories about harassment and grief at the hands of Salt Lake City’s cops. At the police station, Dillon Taylor's aunt relayed a message of hope and support to the protesters, thanking them for their determination to fight police brutality. Fatima Badran, the organizer of the protest, also spoke to those in the march, saying, “This is how justice is won. By making our voices heard and standing up against police brutality, we can make a difference.”

The march is one among many across the county this past week in a show of solidarity with protesters in Ferguson. The demands of the march included justice for the people of Ferguson and removing the National Guard. The crowd also called for harsh punishment for the officer who killed Utah’s Dillon Taylor.

Christopher Manor, of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) stated, “These actions show people locally that the same systems of oppression that are being faced around the country are still present and problematic here and that we can fight them.”

#SaltLakeCityUT #PoliceBrutality #Ferguson #JusticeForMichaelBrown #HandsUp

Milwaukee, WI – Over 250 people gathered for a rally here, Aug. 16, to stand in solidarity with the struggle in Ferguson, Missouri, where more than a week of militant protests have erupted since 18-year-old Michael Brown was murdered by a Ferguson police officer.

The Milwaukee demonstration also focused on the last couple years’ victims of police violence and white vigilantes. It was organized in coordination with the families of Dontre Hamilton, Corey Stingley and Derek Williams. Protesters demanded the immediate arrest of the racist killers.

Dontre Hamilton, an unarmed 31-year-old Black man, was shot 15 times by a Milwaukee Police officer as he tried to take a nap on a public bench in Milwaukee this past spring. Corey Stingley – a 16-year-old Black child – was strangled by three adult white men after stealing and returning a bottle of alcohol at a corner store in the suburb of West Allis. Derek Williams, a 24-year-old Black father of three, begged for his life for over 30 minutes in the back of a Milwaukee Police squad car after he was violently arrested, eventually dying while an officer listened to music in the front seat of the squad, ignoring Williams’ cries for help. These cases happened in the last three years and none of those responsible for the murders have been held accountable for their actions.

Protesters gathered in Red Arrow Park in downtown Milwaukee, the site of Dontre Hamilton's murder this past spring. Speakers pointed out that Michael Brown’s and the Milwaukee victims' murders did not happen in a vacuum, but rather these murders are part of the racist discrimination and national oppression African Americans have been facing for hundreds of years.

Jorge Maya of Youth Empowered in the Struggle spoke, making the connection between the violence perpetrated against young Black men to that of the Milwaukee Police and Sheriff's Departments terrorizing immigrant communities in Milwaukee through deportation and racial profiling. “The police are not here to protect common people, they protect people with property. Just as innocent people like Michael Brown are arrested and killed for no reason, many immigrants are arrested and deported for having done nothing wrong. The system is not broken, it is working perfectly,” said Maya.

Micaela Magel of Students for Justice in Palestine spoke of the militarization of local police departments to U.S. imperialism, the ongoing assault on the Gaza strip and the occupation of Palestinian lands, stating, “From Milwaukee to Ferguson to Palestine, we demand the end to killings and oppression of innocent civilians.”

Police in the Saint Louis area as well as the Milwaukee County Sheriff have participated in a national ‘counter-terrorism’ training hosted in Israel to learn the newest techniques of their military.

The protesters then marched in the street for several blocks to the Police Administration building where family members of Corey Stingley and Dontre Hamilton spoke.

“See those police officers over there,” said Nate Hamilton, Dontre Hamilton’s brother, pointing towards two officers on motorcycles watching the crowd at the police station, “They don't give a fuck about us. We should be able to film them, ask them about their jobs but we can't … We have got to tear the walls down, that's what it said in the bible to tear the walls down.”

The crowd, then about 100, marched toward the 43/94 highway to shut down the highway exit at 10th Street. The crowd stayed for an hour chanting “No justice, no peace” and “Hands up, don't shoot!” as cars began to pile up at the blocked exit. The Milwaukee County Sheriff's office was forced to eventually close the exit from the highway and allow the over a dozen cars to turn around to get back on the highway. The protesters had successfully shut down the major exit to downtown Milwaukee.

The crowd then marched back towards the starting point of the rally, singing We Shall Not be Moved beginning the chorus with several of the names of murdered Black youth by police and white vigilantes in Milwaukee and the rest of the country.

Demonstrators then shut down a major intersection in downtown Milwaukee at Water and Wisconsin Avenue, with Craig Stingley, Corey Stingley's dad, addressing the crowd. “Did my son deserve to die, because he stole some alcohol and then gave it back? Should Michael Brown have died for supposedly stealing some cigars? I know if that would have been a white boy he wouldn't have been killed…the plainest of all our civil rights is the right to life, and it was taken. These are hate crimes,” said Stingley.

Everyone then marched back to Red Arrow Park for a moment of silence and closed the four-hour event out with a prayer for justice for families in Milwaukee, Ferguson and the world.

This event was co-sponsored by Occupy Milwaukee, Occupy Coalition, Milwaukee Anti-War Committee, Youth Empowered in the Struggle, Students for Justice in Palestine, Ma'Ruf, the Milwaukee Committee to Stop FBI Repression and African American Roundtable.

#MilwaukeeWI #PoliceBrutality #Ferguson #JusticeForMichaelBrown #HandsUp

Ferguson, MO – Following Governor Jay Nixon’s announcement of a state of emergency here, police and state troopers launched an attack on protesters who were demanding justice for Mike Brown. In the early morning hours of Aug. 17, police used tear gas and carried out arrests.

#FergusonMO #PoliceBrutality #JusticeForMichaelBrown #HandsUp

Jacksonville, FL – The entire country is carefully watching what is going on right now in Ferguson, Missouri after the police murdered 18-year-old African American Michael Brown on Aug. 9. Black people around the country are the most interested, and in the South, where Black people often constitute a majority or large plurality in some areas, people want real change. Community members in Jacksonville came together and held a rally and march downtown here, Aug. 16, for Michael Brown and his family.

The main demands of the action were to jail the killer cop, end police brutality and terror, and to get justice for Michael Brown. Organizers in the Jacksonville Progressive Coalition (JPC) also made it a point to link their struggle against State Attorney Angela Corey, the attorney in the Trayvon Martin and Jordan Davis murder cases who failed to get justice for these young Black men. It's the same system protecting killer cops and murderous vigilantes, and Angela Corey is a symbol for that corrupt system here in Jacksonville.

About 100 people gathered at Hemming Plaza Saturday evening and began chanting as news vehicles drove up. Several interviews were conducted by the local media of protest organizers. Connell Bam Crooms, a Black warehouse worker at UPS and a member of Teamsters Local 512 in Jacksonville, was the first speaker to address the crowd. “Its been 50 years since the Civil Rights Act and here we are still having a conversation about race. Black men in America are viewed as disposable, as evident by the ridiculous rates blacks are imprisoned or murdered by the police compared to whites. Our leaders and their corporations view us as good for nothing but sports and manual labor. You'd be hard pressed to find a Black man in an administrative capacity with a degree and the expertise to make important decisions. If we aren't doing labor for big capital, we are either dead or causing trouble – or so our leaders would have us believe.”

After a round of speakers, the crowd began marching downtown to the Police Memorial Building to confront the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office (JSO) and slam them for police brutality in the community.

This comes hot on the heels of Operation Ceasefire, a racist campaign by JSO where police officers attempted to enter over 18,000 homes in the majority-Black Northside of Jacksonville. The JSO officers used this campaign to invade people's right to privacy and terrorize the Black community on a large scale under the pretext of “making people safer” by searching for contraband. JSO also installed surveillance cameras all over the Black community.

Along the way, the crowd chanted, “From Ferguson to Palestine, occupation is a crime,” and “Justice for Michael Brown.” Other chants included “Same thing every time, being black is not a crime,” and “Ferguson, JSO, killer cops have got to go!”

After the march had taken the street and blocked off a lane of traffic on their mile-long march, they got to the Police Memorial Building and assembled on the steps. Several speakers gave fiery speeches to the crowd, including Opio Lumumba Sokoni, president of the local Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

At the end of the speeches, the crowd continued to chant, “Hands up, don't shoot!” and took a group photo with their hands held up in a sign of defiance. The people then got into a single file line and led a procession up to the door of the Police Memorial Building where they laid down their signs for all those who had suffered from police brutality, like Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, Jordan Davis and Michael Brown.

People vowed to continue the fight for all victims of police brutality. Many plan to attend the next meeting of the Jacksonville Progressive Coalition on Aug.17 at 5:00 p.m. at 966 N Liberty Street. The JPC meets every third Sunday of the month at the same place and time.

#JacksonvilleFL #PoliceBrutality #Ferguson #JusticeForMichaelBrown #HandsUp #PoliceBrutalityJ

Ferguson, MO – Governor Jay Nixon, a democrat, held a press conference here, Aug. 16, where he announced a state of emergency in Ferguson, placing the town under a curfew from midnight to 5:00 a.m. This announcement comes on the heels of peaceful protesters being tear gassed by riot police in the early morning hours.

The press conference turned into utter chaos when the state of emergency announcement was made, as members of the crowd yelled, “Why hasn't the killer cop been charged?” and “Why hasn't Darren Wilson been indicted? Answer the question! Stop killing our people, police, and stop it now!”

Members of the community are angry at this decision. The press conference barely addressed the investigation into the killing Michael Brown at the hands of white police and only focused on suppressing uproar from the Ferguson communities pursuit of justice.

This reporter was able to talk to Justin Hansford, a Black law professor at Saint Louis University, who was present at the press conference. Hansford said, “The person who is supposed to prosecute the officer who killed Michael Brown has a notorious bias against Black men.”

#FergusonMO #PoliceBrutality #JusticeForMichaelBrown #HandsUp

Ferguson, MO – With rain coming down around 8:00 p.m. here Aug. 15, more than 700 community members are out in force again, protesting the killing of Michael Brown at the hands of the Ferguson Police Department. People from all over the country are pouring into this Saint Louis suburb to support the community.

Protesters have taken over West Florissant Street, with bumper-to-bumper traffic and cars honking in a symphony of support. Drummers have even set up shop at the Quick Trip gas station, entertaining the crowd and chanting, “No Justice, no peace!”

#FergusonMO #PoliceBrutality #JusticeForMichaelBrown #HandsUp

Jacksonville, FL – Members of the Jacksonville Progressive Coalition (JPC) will be hosting a solidarity march demanding “Justice for Michael Brown!” at 6:00 pm on Saturday, Aug. 16, starting at Hemming Plaza in downtown Jacksonville.

Like dozens of cities across the country have already done, the city of Jacksonville will be marching to demand jail-time for the killer cop who fatally shot Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri on Aug. 9. Michael Brown, an 18-year-old African American, was unarmed. Activists and organizers have been busy planning the march, doing outreach and flyering at local shopping centers, bus stations and gas stations in the community. The march is expected to be well attended and powerful.

JPC Organizer Biko Misabiko said, “We're marching to stand in solidarity with Michael Brown and his family. We also want to relate what's going on in Ferguson to what's going on in Jacksonville with State Attorney Angela Corey and her war on black youth. There's been too much police brutality and terror in Jacksonville already. Angela Corey looks out for corrupt cops, just like the system protects the killer cop in Missouri. That's why only the people organized into a political force can get justice for victims of police brutality.”

Fight Back! News urges Jacksonville readers to attend the march.

#JacksonvilleFL #PoliceBrutality #JacksonvilleProgressiveCoalition #Ferguson #JusticeForMichaelBrown

As people formed a large circle, two young women stood on a park bench and spoke of the need to come together and honor the memory of Black and Latino people murdered by the police. The crowd bowed their heads for one minute of silence to reflect and respect. Afterwards, a young African American woman spoke passionately about about the many victims of police brutality and murder. Others called for more organizing by those present to reach larger numbers of people.

Chaka Holley, a local community organizer, said, “The vigil was a rare opportunity and space for people to grieve for Michael Brown and other victims. Sometimes those murdered get lost in the politics. Now the community needs to get involved.”

Plans are in the works for a rally on Aug. 23 in Grand Rapids.

#GrandRapidsMI #PoliceBrutality #Vigil #Ferguson #JusticeForMichaelBrown

Ferguson, MO – Early this evening, Aug. 14, at about 5:00 p.m., around 100 people from the area are protesting outside the QuikTrip gas station on West Florissant Avenue, the building razed to the ground by protesters days ago after the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown. The gas station is ground zero for a lot of the activity here in Ferguson.

Residents told this reporter that on Aug. 13, police repressed protesters and community members with rubber bullets and tear gas down the street from the QuikTrip, seeking to clear the area of protesters. There were protesters on hand with battle scars from being hit with rubber bullets yesterday.

Saint Louis Alderman Antonio French, a Black city official and citizen journalist who was jailed by police the day before, told this reporter the police never brought up any charges against him, only detaining him and his staff for bogus reasons.

Ferguson, Missouri is a hotbed of activity right now, with protests popping up all over this suburb of Saint Louis.

#FergusonMO #PoliceBrutality #JusticeForMichaelBrown

Two witnesses say that Michael had his hands up in the air when the police officer fired several shots, killing him. After murdering him, the police left his body for hours on the street, showing a total lack of respect. The next day, during a candlelight vigil, clashes broke out once again in Ferguson. The people's rebellion lasted late into the night. The police had wrongly murdered a community member and the people of Ferguson wanted justice.

The murder of Michael Brown, as well as the murder of others like Eric Garner, Jordan Davis and Trayvon Martin, shows that the system of national oppression is alive and well in the U.S. The police are the day-to-day enforcers of this system and they remind us of this with every Black man they murder.

Just as one of the foundations of the U.S. economy was profits from slavery, the U.S. legal system began with a constitution that said that African Americans were only three-fifths of a person. In 1857, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that African slaves and their children have no rights in the U.S., in the case of Dred Scott v. Sanford. Then in 1896, the Supreme Court ruled that segregation was constitutional in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson. And early last year, the U.S. Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act, opening the door for racist local and state governments to exclude Black and Brown voters from the polls.

Even though an African American man has been elected president and there is a Black Attorney General, the law, the police and the courts are not about justice. They are there to protect the property, privilege and power of the monopoly capitalists – the richest 1% who own and control the companies and government that dominate the economy and society. They enforce the national oppression that African Americans face: the all-round, social, political and economic inequality of oppressed nationalities in the U.S.

The struggle for full equality and liberation by African Americans has been a powerful force for progress in the U.S. The sit-in by four African American college students at a segregated Woolworth’s lunch counter on Feb. 1, 1960 started a national movement of direct action to desegregate the South and to fight for Black political power. This movement, and the organization that arose out of it, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), was an inspiration to other oppressed nationalities, especially Asian Americans, Chicanos, Native Americans and Puerto Ricans, as well as the women’s movement, and the struggle of LGBTQ people.

Our experience has shown us that justice does not mainly come from the courts or elections. Nor does it mainly come from economic struggles, like boycotts. The fight for justice advances when the masses of working class people organize and show their power in the streets through militant mass actions such as rallies, marches, pickets, occupations, strikes, etc.

The way to get justice for Michael Brown lies through these militant mass actions. The Freedom Road Socialist Organization is calling for rallies and marches to demand justice for Michael Brown and to demand that the murderous cop be jailed. The people, not the police, are the makers of history and they will make their justice in the streets.

Stop Police Terror! Jail the Killer Cop! Justice for Michael Brown!

#FergusonMO #PeoplesStruggles #Racism #TrayvonMartin #Antiracism #MichaelBrown #Missouri #MO #PoliceBrutality #JusticeForMichaelBrown