Kenosha, WI – On July 22, members of the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression joined the family of Jacob Albright to hold a vigil commemorating his life and calling for transparency surrounding his death.

Albright was taken into police custody on July 20 by officers of the Pleasant Prairie Police Department, but he never made it to the jail. His detention was reportedly on the grounds of outstanding weapons related charges. Police allege he used a firearm he had on him to take his life in the back of the squad car, but community and family members alike have rightfully questioned this narrative.

Albright’s family and friends spoke outside of the courthouse, sharing stories of his infectious sense of humor and love for his family. Roughly 100 community members attended, supporting the demands shared by Albright’s niece, Kailah Bergstrom, who was calling for justice and transparency in his case.

Bergstrom shared how Albright had been failed by both state and county apparatus’s many times in his attempts to receive mental health services. She also expressed frustration with the lack of transparency from Pleasant Prairie and Kenosha law enforcement.

“I don’t want him to be just another name or hash tag, this has to stop happening. You’ve got the people who know Jake, and then the people came out because they love people just like him,” said Bergstrom.

Kenosha police have been subject to national and international scrutiny after their shooting of Jacob Blake in 2020. People in Kenosha are no longer willing to sit idly by as police withhold important information about these kinds of critical incidents. The Milwaukee Alliance will use their experience working against police crimes and fighting for transparency to guide Albright’s family and community activists who are ready to take up the work.

The Milwaukee Alliance stands in firm solidarity with Albright’s family and their demands for the release of the video footage of this critical incident.

#KenoshaWI #PoliceBrutality

The Wisconsin District of the Freedom Road Socialist organization rejects the sham trial and acquittal of racist murderer Kyle Rittenhouse.

From the moment 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse showed up in Kenosha, Wisconsin armed with an assault rifle, the state put him in a position to kill racial justice protesters and get away with it.

Rittenhouse was among dozens of armed racist vigilantes that confronted the righteous uprising last year that rocked Kenosha, after the police shooting of Jacob Blake.

Shocking video of Kenosha police officer Rusten Sheskey shooting Jacob Blake seven times in the back prompted mass protests to march on the Kenosha police headquarters. Democrat Governor Tony Evers deployed National Guard troops to occupy Kenosha and enforce a curfew in an attempt to quell protests for police accountability. Predictably, the military occupation quickly escalated to violence.

Trial witnesses testified that during protests on the night August 25, 2020, police and military troops were seen communicating with Rittenhouse and other right-wing vigilantes. Witnesses say the military and police drove protesters toward the position where Rittenhouse and other armed vigilantes were waiting, setting up the deadly confrontation where Rittenhouse murdered Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber and seriously injured Gaige Grosskreutz.

Circuit court Judge Bruce Schroeder took extraordinary measures throughout the trial to ensure the verdict he wanted. After days of jury deliberations Rittenhouse was acquitted of all charges. The acquittal of Rittenhouse is outrageous and disgraceful, but not surprising. The state again sent the message that white racists and police can kill with impunity while African Americans and other oppressed nationalities can be killed, tortured and jailed without justification.

After the George Floyd uprising, one of the greatest uprisings in U.S. history, millions of people are joining the fight against racism and police crimes, and against the racist, capitalist system.

There is no justice in this system for the victims of Rittenhouse and other racist vigilantes. There is no justice in this system for Jacob Blake, and the untold numbers of victims of police crimes. Only the mass movement of working and oppressed people against racist and police crimes can put the system on trial and win real accountability.

The Wisconsin District of the Freedom Road Socialist organization calls on every person who is outraged by this horrendous acquittal to join the movement for real accountability, justice and a socialist future.

#KenoshaWI #PeoplesStruggles #KyleRittenhouse

The event was held outside the Kenosha County Courthouse, where many of the protests took place last summer – those protests were met with extreme police violence. This year’s crowd of roughly 200 people was composed of Kenosha locals, as well as attendees from various other parts of Wisconsin and many people from BLM-Chicago and Lake County.

The Milwaukee Bucks, who protested Blakes’ shooting last year, provided the sound system and stage for the event. Speakers included Robin Williams, mayoral candidate in Houston, Texas, Dr. Umar Johnson, Jacob Blake Sr., Justin Blake, Jacob Blake’s sister, and the aunt of Breonna Taylor.

Both Robin Williams and Dr. Umar spoke on the need to hold politicians accountable to action in ending police violence. The family’s demands included the immediate firing and indictment of Officer Rusten Sheskey as a step towards getting rid of the system that allowed this in the first place.

“We do not need reform, we need to get rid of the whole system and start from scratch,” said Justin Blake, Jacob’s uncle.

Jacob Blake joined by phone later in the day to express his gratitude for everyone’s support in his recovery, and in the fight for justice on his behalf. The Blake family has continued to express their support for a Civilian Police Accountability Council (CPAC), and Blake’s cousin has been active in fighting for the Empowering Communities for Public Safety (ECPS) ordinance in Chicago. The family had an audience with Joe Biden last year and spoke with him specifically about their desire to see CPAC pushed nationally.

Justice for Jacob continues to fight to see their demands met through rallies, marches and calling elected officials. They have stated they will not stop until Shesky is fired and indicted and would like to see the fight for justice continue on.

#KenoshaWI #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #JacobBlake

Kenosha, WI – On the morning of April 23, despite the aggressive posturing of an entire building of public officials, community members gathered in front of the Kenosha County Courthouse in support of Clyde McLemore on his first court date. McLemore is a Black liberation activist from Lake County, Illinois who played a significant role in the uprising in Kenosha after the attempted murder of Jacob Blake by racist cop Rusten Sheskey. McLemore’s impact on the community was made clear by the comments made about him by those who attended the rally.

“I’m here as a protester. I’m here as a community member. I’m here as a Black woman standing in support of Clyde because he would be standing here for me and he would be standing here for everybody else,” said Elizabeth Webb from My Sister’s House, a domestic violence prevention non-profit in the Kenosha area.

As if to clarify the contrasts in the Kenosha legal system, former alderman and current Nazi Kevin Mathewson also made an appearance that day. Mathewson, the self-appointed leader of the Kenosha Guard, an armed group of modern-day Klan members, was largely responsible for the call to action that brought killer Kyle Rittenhouse to Kenosha last August. He came out long enough to take video of the event for his YouTube page before returning to the protection of his friends at the Kenosha Police Department. Mathewson, an accomplice to the violent murders of Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber and in the permanent injury of Gaige Grosskreutz, spends time at the courthouse without any fear of prosecution despite the evidence against him.

Compare the situation of Kevin Mathewson to that of Clyde McLemore. McLemore, a founding member of the Black Lives Matter-Lake County Chapter, is suffering the consequences of being an important figure in the Black community. He’s facing bogus charges fabricated from a Facebook post. McLemore is accused of attempted battery of a police officer (felony) and disorderly conduct (misdemeanor), allegedly stemming from the protest at the Kenosha Public Safety Building on August 24, 2020.

Just a day in between, the Rittenhouse and McLemore cases might as well be held on different planets. Judge Schroeder, the one presiding over McLemore’s case, boasts an 80% increase in convictions and openly denounces people exercising their right to peacefully protest. McLemore’s case is also subject to the will of biased judicial appointees.

“I am also hoping that Clyde’s lawyer asks for his judge to be changed because we know that Schroeder has publicly made many comments on how he feels about protesters and how he feels about protests,” said Tanya McLean, an organizer from Leaders of Kenosha. “He sits on a bench that was founded on our rights in this country and we have a right to express ourselves and yet he doesn’t like that so that speaks to his mind, his character, and how he feels about what’s going on in our community and [to] Black and brown people.”

McLemore’s next day in court is set for sometime in May. The Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, the host of the solidarity action, intends to continue to support him until the trumped-up charges are dropped and his record is expunged.

#KenoshaWI #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #Antiracism #ClydeMcLemore

On January 5, Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley announced that there would be no charges against police officer Rusten Sheskey, who attempted to execute Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, by shooting him seven times in the back at point blank range on August 23, 2020. Blake was shot while his children watched in horror from the back seat of his vehicle. The other two officers who assisted Sheskey in his crime will also face no charges.

While this ruling is a gross miscarriage of justice, it was not unexpected. Since the beginning of the new year, stories have been circulating out of Kenosha about windows being shuttered, buildings being barricaded, and roads being closed. The mayor of Kenosha was given emergency powers and Democratic governor Tony Evers has again mobilized the Wisconsin National Guard, sending 500 troops to the city. The actions taken in the days before this non-decision were reminiscent of the Louisville response in the lead up to the Breonna Taylor ruling.

What the world witnessed at the end of this past summer was not an individual misjudgment on the part of Officer Sheskey, but yet another attempt at cold-blooded murder of a Black man by the hands of a bloodthirsty cop as a part of a system that fundamentally devalues the lives of Black and other oppressed peoples.

After the attempted murder of Jacob Blake, Kenosha exploded. Many marched and buildings were burned. The eyes of the world were focused on the city. People made it very clear: they wanted justice and were willing to do what it takes to get it.

This ruling must be reversed. Sheskey must be charged with and, later, found guilty of attempted murder. His accomplices should be handled similarly. Anything short of this course of action must be met with tremendous resistance by the masses of working and oppressed people in the city of Kenosha, across southeastern Wisconsin, and all over the country. When there is no justice, there can be no peace.

Justice for Jacob Blake! Charge and convict Officer Rusten Sheskey! Demand democratic community control of the police! No more killer cops! All power to the people!

#KenoshaWI #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #JacobBlake #KenoshaUprising

Protesters stopped along the way to hand out handwarmers to fight the cold and hear from Jacob Blake’s family and other local activists. The event was full of love, but many expressed concerns about the deployment of hundreds of Wisconsin National Guard troops to Kenosha and the preemptive state of emergency declared by Sheriff David Beth.

The treatment of protesters by police over the summer surely is weighing heavily on everyone’s minds, especially as a moment of silence was held for Anthony Huber and JoJo Rosebaum, two protesters killed at the hands of white supremacist Kyle Rittenhouse.

#KenoshaWI #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #JacobBlake

Kenosha, WI – In a gesture of solidarity, several Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) chapters, including Milwaukee and Minneapolis, met with Parkside SDS students to rally in protest of President Trump's visit to Kenosha on September 1. Trump, in a controversial decision, decided to assess the damage to various areas of the city in relation to civil unrest over several days.

The Kenosha uprising began August 23 in response to the near killing of Jacob Blake, 29, at the hands of Kenosha police officer Rusten Sheskey. Despite officials, including Governor Tony Evers, asking the president to postpone his trip at risk of fanning the flames of an already tense situation, Trump made his way throughout Kenosha to survey damage and hold a roundtable with local business owners and officials.

The SDS chapters met at Civic Park, the previous scene of clashes between protesters, riot police and the National Guard, to rally the community in telling President Trump to go back home.

“I was out there to be alongside my community and to bring awareness of the one of many injustices that the police have contributed to,” said Jenni Valladares of Parkside SDS. “Standing back and watching won’t achieve anything.”

With multiple speakers, the event quickly grew from 20 SDS members to a crowd of about 100 people who frequently chanted in support of victims of police brutality and the demand over defunding a racist police force. Speakers included Victor Garcia, a Parkside SDS member who was recently released after being detained by unmarked officers in Kenosha, and Ariana Holmes, a member of the Wisconsin district of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization. The rally ended with more chants and many rally goers confronting the National Guard at the Kenosha city courthouse across the street from the park.

Rory Donovan, a member of UW-Milwaukee's SDS, was in awe at so many chapters coming together with the community.

“When SDS chapters came together to respond to that, we're saying we won't take that lying down, and we're not alone,” said Donovan.

#KenoshaWI #InJusticeSystem #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #StudentsForADemocraticSocietySDS #DonaldTrump #KenoshaUprising

Kenosha, WI – On the evening of August 28, more than 200 people gathered outside the Kenosha Municipal Court building to demand justice for Jacob Blake and the victims of killer Kyle Rittenhouse. The rally was called for by the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, with support from UW-Parkside Students for a Democratic Society, Kenosha EquiTeens, Wisconsin Freedom Road Socialist Organization, and the Chicago Alliance. Many in the crowd held signs that read “Stop police crimes! Demand a civilian police accountability council!”

“I am tired. I am tired of seeing my people dying at the hands of unfit cops,” said Alanna Carmichael, a leader with Kenosha EquiTeens. “I am tired of fearing for my brother’s lives whenever they leave the house. I am tired of fighting for the same justices that my family fought for 60 years ago.”

This protest came in the wake of several days of violence and repression at the hands of police, military and paramilitary. After the fatal shootings on the night of August 25, repression was used against the people in the city. Unmarked vehicles with people who claimed to be police but had no identification stopped people and took them into custody in the early evening and into the night on August 26.

Some of those who were swept up in this wave of mass detention were members of SDS. A mass call-in campaign was organized to get them, and others freed from jail. The call to action generated thousands of calls from all across the country demanding their immediate release. Two of the SDS members, Victor Garcia and Adelana Akindes, spoke at the rally.

“Lots of us were disturbed when we found out about the Gestapo-like police tactics being used by the federal government in Portland, Oregon,” said Garcia. “I had no idea what to expect when that unmarked car with several masked and armed men came out, rushing at me, with fear that it was white supremacists coming to end my life and the lives of my friends.”

Garcia and Akindes both spent more than 24 hours in detention. They were separated from each other after being snatched up, taken to undisclosed locations, stripped, and given orange jumpsuits and a number. They were put into cells with others who had been detained; Garcia with 15 other men and Akindes with eight other women. They were not provided masks despite the close quarters.

“I saw first hand the kind of culture that they cultivate there,” said Akindes. “They used every opportunity to dehumanize us, to make us feel like animals. The goal of them putting us there was to take us off the streets, to debilitate us so that we wouldn’t wanna keep fighting.”

After the rally, the protesters took the streets. They marched through working-class neighborhoods where many of the Black and Latino residents live. The marchers chanted things like “No justice, no peace, fuck these racist ass police” and “Jacob Blake” as passersby made their support known. Many people came out of their homes with their families and raised their fists. Cars driving by would throw their fist out the window and honk. Some even pulled over and chanted along with the marchers as they went by.

Near the end of the march, a few military trucks were spotted heading toward the protest. In a show of people power, the marchers stopped the trucks in the road. They put their signs in the windshield and shouted chants at them. Kenosha is currently occupied by a force of more than 2000 National Guard troops.

Kenosha police and other officials have doubled down in defense of their officers and their actions. The Kenosha police union released a screed blasting what is plainly obvious on the available video evidence as fake or misleading. Kenosha Police Chief Daniel Miskinis said that his officers did nothing wrong in allowing the murderer Rittenhouse to escape without being apprehended.

The situation in Kenosha remains tense, and with President Trump committing to a visit on September 1, it’s likely going to remain that way. As ever, the people will remain in the streets.

#KenoshaWI #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #JacobBlake #KenoshaUprising #KyleRittenhouse

Kenosha, WI – August 25 marked the third night of the uprising that has engulfed Kenosha since the attempted murder of Jacob Blake at the hands of Kenosha police. It was also the deadliest yet, with several people being shot as reactionaries descended on the city. Two of those shot tragically lost their lives.

While the authorities, including the Kenosha Police Department, have yet to release any specifics on the situation, the people who were on the ground recording every moment have been hard at work piecing the available evidence together. As things stand, all of that evidence points to the racist killer being Kyle Rittenhouse, also known as Kyle Lewis – a white 17-year-old young man from Antioch, Illinois, just south of the Wisconsin border.

Reports indicate that as of 11:47 a.m. on August 26, Rittenhouse was arrested in his hometown and is charged with first-degree intentional homicide. Kenosha police and others allowed him to flee the city without attempting to bring him into custody. Rittenhouse is deemed a “fugitive of justice” and it’s stated that he “fled the state of Wisconsin with the intent to avoid prosecution” according to public records from the Lake County, Illinois Clerk of Courts.

Rittenhouse’s social media is riddled with images of him brandishing guns and posing in tactical gear. His photos are overlaid with blue lives matter and thin blue line imagery. He is seen in more than a handful of livestreams from Kenosha last night, carrying what appears to be some type of rifle.

There are specific videos that show Rittenhouse shooting one person in the head at point blank range in a lot between some parked cars. As he runs away from the scene, he can clearly be heard telling someone on a cell phone “I just killed someone.”

While these events are tragic, the story goes deeper than that.

After the events in Kenosha on Sunday and Monday, an event for an armed counter-presence for August 25 went up on social media that garnered thousands of views. The event was titled “Armed Citizens to Protect Our Lives and Property” and was hosted by a group called Kenosha Guard. While it had hundreds of responses, reports from the ground indicate that fewer than 60 armed militia types turned up on the streets.

After the initial shootings took place, several of the livestreamers caught up with a couple members of the militia. These militia members disclosed that the plan of the police had been to push protesters to the location that they knew these armed agitators were amassing. One of them on the video said, “You know what the cops told us today? They were like, ‘We’re gonna push them down by you so that you can deal with them and then we’re gonna leave.’”

This is exactly what happened, as cops and National Guard troops and at least four MRAPs (military-grade light tactical vehicles) advanced on protesters who had gathered first outside of the Kenosha County Courthouse and then in Civic Center Park. The protesters held their ground against these shock troops for several minutes before the soldiers employed a kettling tactic and rained down on them with teargas, rubber bullets and concussion grenades.

As the protesters fell back, taking cover behind dumpsters and makeshift shields and umbrellas, they ran into a heavily armed group of militiamen amassing at a gas station that was boarded up. The armed militia members immediately began to agitate the protesters as they were retreating from the police barrage. Shortly thereafter is when the shootings started.

The police did nothing to stop the shootings, nor did they attempt to disarm Rittenhouse as he fled from the multiple scenes of his crimes. Earlier in the evening, they had interacted with him, offering him water and telling him and the other militia members he was with that they “really appreciate you guys. We really do.”

The names of Rittenhouse’s victims have not been publicly disclosed as of yet, but from one of the videos online, it is clear that one of them was shot and killed while attempting to wrestle the gun away from him after he’d already shot into the crowd. These people died attempting to prevent others from being hurt or killed, and their sacrifice won’t be in vain. The protests in Kenosha will not stop until justice is won, for Jacob Blake and now for these martyrs of the movement, too.

#KenoshaWI #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #Antiracism #PoliticalRepression #Antifascism #JacobBlake #KenoshaUprising #KyleRittenhouse

Kenosha, WI – Protests demanding justice for Jacob Blake continued here, August 25. Barricades have been erected around the Kenosha County Courthouse, armored vehicles drove through the crowd multiple times, and snipers are on the roof firing pepper-spray projectiles into the crowd. One protester was shot in the head after coming up to bring another protester away from the fencing. There are many reports of people being beaten and abducted by cops.

Members of the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and Freedom Road Socialist Organization are participating in the protests.

This is a developing story and Fight Back! will carry an update later today on the shooting that left some dead.

#KenoshaWI #KenoshaUprising

A statement by the Kenosha branch of the Wisconsin Freedom Road Socialist Organization

On the evening of Sunday, August 23, the streets of Kenosha, Wisconsin ignited in protest. A 29-year-old Black father named Jacob Blake was shot in the back seven times in front of his children by a white Kenosha Police officer.

While Blake was fighting for his life in the hospital, a viral video of the attempted murder spurred hundreds of people to gather at the crime scene. The large crowd decided to march to the Kenosha Police Department, where they were attacked by militarized police with riot gear and tear gas.

Garbage trucks set up by police as roadblocks were torched, and a dozen fires blazed into the early morning, conjuring images of previous rebellions in Ferguson and Minneapolis.

Mass protests are scheduled to continue, and Wisconsin FRSO welcomes the righteous rebellion against racist police crimes.

As revolutionaries we understand that the United States is a jailhouse for the oppressed. Police enforce the oppression of African Americans and other oppressed nationalities in the United States. While we build toward socialist revolution against the white supremacist capitalist system, we also have to organize to win all that can be won under the current system.

We demand that the National Guard deployed by Governor Tony Evers to brutalize protesters be recalled.

We demand the Kenosha cop who shot Jacob Blake be immediately arrested, charged and convicted.

We demand real police accountability through community control of the police and shifting police funding to essential public services like education.

We call on protests to continue until all the demands of the movement are met.

Nothing short of this will be accepted. No justice, no peace!

#KenoshaWI #PoliceBrutality #WisconsinFRSO #CommunityControlOfPolice #JacobBlake

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following August 25 statement from the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.

Once again, the hour of tragedy strikes for another Black family, in another Black community caught in the grip of the pandemic crises of COVID-19 and racism.

First of all, we want to express our solidarity with the traumatized family of Jacob Blake, and the protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Sometime after 5 p.m. on August 23, 2020 Jacob was returning to his car, unarmed, after attempting to break up a fight between two women. The police arriving, guns drawn, were pleaded with by bystanders not to shoot, yet they shot Blake 7 times as he was opening his car door. They shot him while his 3, 5- and 8-years old children were screaming. Blake was taken to the hospital where he is still struggling for his life. This morning, his father announced that Jacob is paralyzed from the waist down.

Protesters gathered at the site of the shooting, agitated by the militarized aggressive actions of the Kenosha Police Department, began to express their anger. They chased cops away and some police cars were burned. This uprising was greeted by SWAT team trucks and rioting cops resisted by people with arms locked, standing firm and chanting “No justice, no peace!”

It’s the same old tired pattern of state-sanctioned racist violence where the police wantonly murder us in the streets and when our people in justified anger rebel they call out the militarized police, the National Guard and set the stage for mass arrests with curfew.

What should be our response? To put more people in the streets in organized protests. We don’t reject rebellion, we call on all the various strands of the peoples movement, every friend and ally we have in the struggle for justice to join with the protesters in Kenosha and throughout this country to take it to the streets. Here are our demands:

We demand that the National Guard deployed by Governor Tony Evers to brutalize protesters be recalled.

We demand the Kenosha cop who shot Jacob Blake be immediately arrested, charged and convicted.

We demand real police accountability through an all elected Civilian Police Accountability Council (CPAC) establishing community control of the police, shifting police funding to essential public services like education and regulating police to address the real demands for safety of the people.

We must protest until all the demands of the movement are met, until we have our unalienable democratic demand to determine who polices our communities and how our communities are policed.

#KenoshaWisconsin #KenoshaWI #PoliceBrutality #civilianPoliceAccountabilityCouncilCPAC #NationalAllianceAgainstRacistAndPoliticalRepressionNAARPR #KenoshaPoliceDepartment #JacobBlake

Riot police assembled at the scene of the shooting as the crowd began to gather, including members of the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. Those assembled quickly grew restless in their anger. Squad cars were smashed and Molotovs thrown. The people chased the cops away and then set off on a march to the Kenosha Police Department (KPD) downtown.

When protesters arrived at the KPD building, they rallied in the front parking lot. As the crowd swelled, SWAT trucks and riot cops rolled onto the scene. Tear gas was deployed, but not enough to disperse the crowd. The riot police formed a line and attempted to push the crowd away from the building and out of the parking lot. The people met them with linked arms and prevented their advance. Holding strong, the people chanted “No justice, no peace!” and “Jacob Blake!”

Eventually, the riot police began to retreat into the police station. People from the crowd threw fireworks behind the row of cops. Then the second wave of tear gas was fired into the line of protesters, this time in a more substantial quantity, forcing them to break up. In spite of these efforts, the people would not quit. More cop cars were smashed and other vehicles used by KPD to block roads were set on fire.

Protests demanding justice for Jacob Blake are being planned across Wisconsin, including in Kenosha, Milwaukee, Appleton, and other places. Cops continue to kill or try to kill Black men and other people even in the midst of the largest civil rights uprising in the history of the U.S. The people demonstrated tonight in Kenosha that they are not standing down.

#KenoshaWI #PoliceBrutality #MilwaukeeAllianceAgainstRacistAndPoliticalRepression #KenoshaPoliceDepartment #JacobBlake

Kenosha, WI – Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) organized a #FreeChrystul rally at UW-Parkside on February 5 that saw 40 protesters attend. The demonstrators congregated outside the building where District Attorney Mike Graveley, Chrystul Kizer’s prosecutor, was teaching his first class of the spring semester, on criminal law.

The group began with chants that echoed across the campus thanks to the excellent acoustics between campus buildings. Coinciding with the start of the class period, speakers from different organizations and backgrounds shared their messages. These included Adelana Akindes, a leader with SDS; Annia Leonard, from Uplifting Black Liberation And Community (UBLAC); Michael Bell Sr., the father of Michael Bell, who was shot and killed by the Kenosha Police Department in 2004; and Devore Taylor, Chrystul’s mother.

Taylor said that Graveley “had evidence about not only Chrystul but a whole bunch of others. It wasn’t just her. And the fact it took for her to do something because she was tired of it.” She added, “He is trying to sweep the whole problem under the rug but it’s so much bigger than her.”

DA Graveley has doubled down on his rhetoric that Kizer is simply a cold-blooded killer and a menace to society, while simultaneously ignoring the truth about who Randall Volar III was: a pedophile and sex trafficker who profited from targeting young Black girls. Volar’s victims are numerous, as evidenced by his libraries of child pornography found on his computers that he produced. Graveley ignores this and intends to prosecute Kizer and to put her in prison for life.

“The system is racist. The system is sexist. The system is classist. So for Chrystul, a young black teenage girl, from a working-class family, the system cares the least about her and it shows,” said SDS leader Adelana Akindes. “The injustice is profound. Chrystul deserves justice. Chrystul deserves to live a free life. She deserves to heal from these atrocities.”

Kat Miller, rally emcee and SDS organizer, closed the speeches by reading aloud the letter written by the Harvard Law School National Lawyers Guild to DA Graveley condemning his conduct.

The demonstrators then marched to the doors of the hall in which Graveley was teaching a class not more than 100 feet away, chanting “Hey hey, ho ho! Graveley has got to go!” and “When Chrystul Kizer is under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!”

In case Graveley could not hear or was attempting to ignore the protesters outside his classroom, SDS organizers plastered his classroom with flyers saying “Chrystul Kizer defended herself” and left copies of the Lawyers Guild letter on desks so that his students knew who was teaching their class. This was only the first among what is sure to be many actions on campus against DA Graveley as the students from SDS attempt to get him removed from teaching there.

At the pre-trial hearing on the morning of February 6, Graveley acted like someone who is feeling the heat from the masses of people who support the effort to free Chrystul. Her bail was reduced from the absurd sum of $1 million down to a still ridiculous $400,000. Her defense team is asking for it to be dropped to $100,000. SDS, the #HandsOffChrystul Committee, and all of Chrystul’s supporters have their eyes on March 16, which is the date of the first trial hearing.

#KenoshaWI #OppressedNationalities #WomensMovement #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #ChrystulKizer #UWParksideSDS #FreeChrystul

Kenosha, WI – As the semester approaches, members of the UW-Parkside chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) have been hard at work. Kicking off the new year, SDS is leading a rally in support of the release of Chrystul Kizer, a Milwaukee teenager accused of killing her sex trafficker, Randall Volar III.

Upon learning that Kenosha’s district attorney, Michael Graveley, would be teaching a class at their campus, the students of the organization knew they had to act.

“I felt angry knowing that Graveley will be showing his face at Parkside,” said Lana Akindes, a member of SDS. “He’s proudly vouching for this child rapist and trafficker. He’s willing to put Chrystul in prison for life, like it’s nothing.”

Within recent months, activists rallying around Kizer’s case have seen a massive rise in support across the country including that of Cyntoia Brown, a woman who famously fought a similar case. However, with this swell of support, District Attorney Graveley has also taken to social media to express his beliefs and urge people to remain skeptical.

This unethical social media campaign has come to assert that Kizer was not a victim but rather a premeditated murderer. In a lengthy Facebook post, Graveley ends his statement with, “I cannot condone vigilante justice and when presented with evidence of premeditated murder, I do not believe it is appropriate for prosecutors to weigh the value of the victim's life.”

Graveley’s stand on social media has concerned many who support Kizer and even brought the attention of Harvard’s National Lawyers Guild. The organization criticized Graveley’s persistence on prosecuting the case as “bizarre” and “negligent.” They go on to encourage the DA “bring your conduct in line with professional standards.”

Graveley has also been criticized for insisting that safe harbor laws, which protect victims of sex crimes from being charged with murder or assault, do not apply to Kizer.

Though a 2016 winner of the Wisconsin District Attorney of the Year award, many are perceiving Graveley as unjustly pursuing a case that would set a precedent in Wisconsin to criminalize victims of abuse defending themselves against their perpetrators.

Despite Graveley’s persistence, activists with SDS and the #FreeChrystul Campaign continue to fight for her release. For those looking to show their support, SDS will be holding a rally at UW-Parkside’s student center on Wednesday, February 5, at 5:30 p.m., directly outside where Graveley will be teaching his first class of the semester. Kizer’s next court date will also be held on Thursday, February 6 at 8:45 a.m. at the Kenosha County courthouse.

#KenoshaWI #InJusticeSystem #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #PoliticalPrisoners #KenoshaSDS #ChrystulKizer #UWParksideSDS

This is undoubtedly a big win for transgender and non-binary people across the state and a huge rebuke to traditional thinking when it comes to transgender and non-binary individuals seeking surgery to help with gender dysphoria. Gender Dysphoria is a newer term defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders’ (DSM) fifth edition (2013) as the distress a person feels due to a mismatch between their gender identity and their assigned sex at birth.

However, the movement for transgender and non-binary rights in Wisconsin and across the country can’t rest on this victory alone. Insurance companies are still a major gatekeeper for transgender and non-binary people. The struggle to take back and grow comfortable with our bodies sometimes but not always requires surgery.

The definition of what is medically necessary has been changing at a rapid pace since the 1960s. The earliest research in modern medicine has created a system of understanding that we are still rolling back today. The advent of the Kinsey model ranking the “level” a person is transgender and the misclassification of transgender people in the 1980s DSM-III have created lasting damage. The DSM-IV (2000) and DSM-V (2013) have made progress toward undoing the wrongs of the earlier flawed research.

There has been a push nationally for healthcare providers and health insurance companies to follow the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) Standards of Care (SOC) for the Health of Transsexual, Transgender, and Gender Nonconforming People. According to WPATH’s SOC the overarching treatment goal is “lasting personal comfort with the gendered self to maximize overall health, psychological well-being, and self-fulfillment.”

WPATH is a big proponent of the informed consent model. Medical providers are coming around to the idea of informed consent, which removes or diminishes the role of gatekeeping mental health professionals when considering hormone replacement therapy (HRT). It must be noted that it’s still important to discuss hormones and transition with a mental health provider before going on HRT. However, transgender people sometimes feel HRT is important for their gender congruence.

Despite this victory in Wisconsin, the issues of access to healthcare still remain. While we remove barriers to receive gender-confirming surgery, financial stability is a serious obstacle for those seeking surgery. Income inequality is a common reality for transgender and non-binary people. According to the American Psychological Association’s (APA) survey, transgender people are four times more likely to have a household of less than $10,000 per year compared to the general cisgender population. The APA also reports that 47% of transgender individuals have reported workplace discrimination in regards to hiring, firing and promotion. Another 25% have reported they had lost a job due to discrimination on the basis of their gender identity – two things which could easily be solved with raising the minimum wage and strengthening a worker’s right to organize a union.

Those who are lucky enough to have healthcare may still be subjected to a for-profit plan, which are prone to denying surgery. The private insurance market is still woefully behind on transgender and non-binary issues. Private for-profit insurances have been allowed to drag their feet on progress, relegating these surgeries to being fee-for-service. The laws mandating that insurance companies pay for these surgeries are subject to incredibly weak interpretation.

The movement in Wisconsin has taken a big step forward in creating a future for transgender and non-binary individuals to reclaim their bodies. Transgender and non-binary people are subject to much shame and humility on a daily basis. Victories that allow the reclaiming of our bodies are a fundamental step in our long term happiness. There still needs to be a major push to remove the for-profit healthcare model so we all can achieve adequate and necessary medical care.

#KenoshaWI #PeoplesStruggles #transgender #Medicaid

Only 17 years old at the time of the incident, Kizer’s case is incredibly similar to Cyntoia Brown’s. Even more concerning is the fact that they were young, Black teenagers, charged with killing older white males who had sexually assaulted them.

At the time of his death, Kizer’s perpetrator was under investigation for child pornography, sexual conduct with minors and human trafficking. Kizer's attorney, Carl Johnson, filed a motion to gain access to that evidence; evidence that includes explicit videos and photos of Kizer and other young girls.

Human trafficking is a form of modern day slavery. It involves coercion, power and control, and often physical and sexual violence. Over half of suspected victims of trafficking are Black women and girls. Brown and Kizer were both under the age of 18 when these incidents occurred.

Kizer’s most recent court hearing on September 6 at the Kenosha County Courthouse was a push by her defense team to reduce her unreasonably high $1 million bond. Her legal team argued once again that there was overwhelming evidence that Volar III was a rapist, pedophile and sex trafficker. They urged the court to consider that Chrystul was a victim, protecting herself against further harm.

Prosecuting attorney Gravely attacked Kizer’s prior felony record as well as condemning the defense’s strategy of using coercion due to human trafficking. Gravely felt that this would lead to a dangerous precedent, where “serial killers” could use this defense to get away with murdering many people.

Although Judge Wilk did not engage with Gravely’s arguments, he did deny Chrystul’s bond reduction, stating that she has “no ties to the community” as well as citing her past record.

Members of UW-Parkside Students for a Democratic Society in Kenosha have been fixtures at Chrystul's pre-trial hearings over the last several months. The result of this session was a hard one for all of her supporters to swallow.

“Knowing our criminal justice system, I fear the jury’s verdict,” said Ethan Costello, a leader with SDS. “This system is not forgiving to Black and brown women, as it has always been for white men.”

Kizer will remain in prison until her trial in March 2020. A court hearing to discuss the defense’s use of Wisconsin State Statute will be held this November 15. Join her supporters and pack the courtroom to demand justice for Chrystul Kizer!

#KenoshaWI #StudentMovement #InJusticeSystem #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #Antiracism #KenoshaSDS #ChrystulKizer #JusticeForChrystulKizer

Kenosha, WI – Just in time for the new semester, Students for a Democratic Society at UW Parkside came out victorious in their gender neutral bathrooms campaign from the previous semester. Four bathrooms were converted on campus to support the trans and gender non-conforming community, a demand which some students have been proposing for several years.

Before, there were only two gender neutral bathrooms on campus located on the opposite ends of campus. This was an obstacle for transgender students taking classes in the central area of the university, as the only gender neutral bathrooms were inconveniently far. Many trans students had spoken up about this issue in the past, but to no avail.

The first step of concrete action began last October, during SDS’s protest of Brett Kavanaugh’s inauguration and a call for transgender rights. Members of SDS, with Rainbow Alliance, an LGBTQ+ organization on campus, marched to the administrative offices to put real pressure on administrators, who had been avoiding the bathroom proposal.

SDS put the fight for gender neutral bathrooms at the forefront and it became their campaign for the spring of 2019. After tabling events, petitions, and with a constant back and forth with the administration, they finally agreed to order new signs for the bathrooms. However, the school delayed the process.

Ariana Holmes, an associate member of the chapter, had her doubts about the administration’s promise to take action.

“At first, administration seemed keen on working with us. However, with it being March and them saying the signs would be up in 12 weeks at the latest seemed really sketchy, as that would fall at the end of the semester. Our concerns seemed to prove true.”

What should have taken a few weeks became several months. The signs were finally put up on August 21, after SDS threatened action against the administration for not following through on its promises.

This semester, SDS activists at Parkside are working towards getting a food pantry on campus to address the growing food insecurity of students, many of whom are from poor and working-class backgrounds.

#KenoshaWI #LGBTQ #PeoplesStruggles #TransRights #KenoshaSDS #GenderNeutralBathrooms

Kenosha, WI – Protesters rallied outside the Kenosha County Detention Center, July 7. Dozens came together to demand the abolishment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in a show of solidarity with the detainees held in the center. Demonstrators hoped to raise local awareness of the impact that the federal agency has on Wisconsin’s immigrant communities, including the threats of detention and deportation.

People gathered before the march at Kenosha’s DMV on County Highway H. One of the organizers, John Fleissner, explained, “What we are doing is pointing our forces in the direction of the machine that is actively detaining people and deporting families from this country. We believe in the power of the working class to stop these horrible atrocities.”

Tania Chavez, an activist with Youth Empowered in the Struggle (YES) and DACA benefactor, expressed her anxiety about deportation, which threatens her family.

Then YES member Luis Tapia said, “Look at all of us, we’re together. And it’s great to see that I have people that will stand up for the people locked up, not being able to see their families.”

Tapia retold his chilling history of having to cross the border as a baby and the difficulties he and his brother had to endure just to get to safety within the U.S. Tapia ended his speech by calling, “If we don’t get it?” and the crowd responding, “Shut it down!”

The protesters formed a rank with banners and signs held high and proceeded to march up the highway, towards the detention center. Chants continued for several minutes followed by a speech from Fernanda Jimenez of YES. With power in her voice, she told her story of running from ICE and at the end her message was clear, “We need solidarity in the struggle if we hope to win!”

“We do not abolish ICE without standing with our Black and refugee communities, we do not pass a Clean Dream Act unless we stand with no Muslim ban, unless we stand with ending racial profiling. If you only stand for one issue, how can you stand for every issue? You stand for every issue; it is one struggle,” Jimenez said.

Considering Trump’s most recent order allowing for the detention of refugees indefinitely, this action is a beautiful and much-needed act of solidarity among the people of southeastern Wisconsin. Jess Patel, the primary organizer of the action, said this is the beginning of a long struggle and is looking forward to future actions within our communities.

Local community activists, namely members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), organized the rally.

#KenoshaWI #ImmigrantRights #ChicanoLatino #Wisconsin #Immigration #YouthEmpoweredInTheStruggleYES