White cop who murdered Grant gets involuntary manslaughter

By staff

Los Angeles, CA – Protesters shouted loudly outside the Los Angeles Superior Courthouse as the killer cop Mehserle walked into, and when he exited, the court. Mehserle was given a slap on the wrist for the murder of Oscar Grant, a 22-year-old African-American father. The murder occurred in an Oakland, California train station as over a hundred passengers looked on.

On Thursday, the Los Angeles City council passed a motion to officially boycott the State of Arizona. Arizona’s new racist law SB1070 targets Mexican, Chicano, and Native American people for harassment. From California, right across the country, many people are outraged. Under the new Arizona law, local police will have the power to harass and arrest people based on immigration status. This will increase the already existing racist harassment and arrest of Mexican, Chicano, and Native American people. Many police, including the police chief of Tucson, AZ, publicly oppose the law because of the burden it places on them and because it promotes racial profiling.

Fight grows for ‘Legalization Now’

Los Angeles, CA – 250,000 people marched in the streets here, May 1, demanding immigrant rights. Most of those attending were Mexican and Central American families, along with contingents from the Philippine and Korean communities. A queer contingent also had a visible presence.

250,000 trabajadores inmigrantes y sus aliados marcharon aquí hoy por los derechos de los inmigrantes, denunciando la ley racista de Arizona SB1070 y exigiendo “Legalización Ahora!”

250,000 immigrant workers and allies marched for immigrant rights here today, denouncing Arizona’s racist SB1070 law and demanding “Legalization now!” The march on International Workers’ Day demanded that the Democratic Party and President Obama live up to their election campaign promise to pass comprehensive immigration reform.

_Interview with Carlos Montes _

Fight Back! interviewed Carlos Montes, a veteran of the Chicano liberation struggle and a leader of the immigrant rights movement.

Los Angeles, CA – The March 4 National Day of Action to Defend Education saw a strong turnout at UCLA, with about 1000 attending a noon rally on campus against the budget cuts.

Taking action on March 4, hundreds of students, campus workers, and their supporters filled the hallways outside the chancellor's office, in Murphy Hall.

Los Angeles, CA – The fight for public education at UCLA began early this morning, March 4. By sunrise the campus had transformed. A walkout and rally is planned for 11:30 a.m. this morning where students, workers and faculty will join together at Bruin Plaza to denounce the budget cuts. Picket lines led by the unions, AFSCME, UPTE and UWA have sprung up all over and their chants can be heard all from almost everywhere on campus, “Whose university? Our university!” The administration will not be allowed to lay off workers and raise tuition without a fight! Things are expected to heat up as the day goes on, with teach-ins and marches and sit-ins.

Los Angeles, CA – Students from all over the state of California gathered at the University of California regents meeting on UCLA campus Nov.19. They were there to protest proposed fee hikes.

On second day of protests, over 1000 students blockade building entrances and form a human chain around the building where the UC regents were meeting.

Los Angeles, CA – Shortly after midnight on Nov. 19, dozens of students barricaded themselves inside UCLA's Campbell Hall in protest of a planned 32% fee hike that will be enacted later today. Banners in front of the main entrance have renamed the building “Carter-Huggins,” after Bunchy Carter and John Huggins, two Black Panther leaders who were murdered there in 1969.

Los Angeles, CA – As of Nov. 18, dozens of tents are cropping up on UCLA’s quad as over 100 students begin a tent city, part of an all-night protest against the budget cuts, layoffs and tuition hikes in the University of California (UC) system. The students are waiting for buses filled with trade unionists and students from across the UC system to arrive in the early morning hours, in time for massive protests on Nov. 19 and 20.

Los Angeles, CA – The fall quarter started off with a bang across the University of California system, Sept. 24 as thousands of workers, faculty, undergrads and graduate students walked out of work and class to protest severe budget cuts, layoffs, furloughs and tuition hikes.

_ The Struggle Continues_

Los Angeles, CA – Today, Aug. 29, 2009, shows that our people are continuing the fight for equality and self-determination. It was demonstrated by the many groups that were present today at Salazar Park, including the student group MECHA and the new Brown Berets, to commemorate the historic day in 1970 when over 20,000 Chicanos marched down historic Whittier Boulevard in East L.A. to protest the war in Vietnam and the high casualty rate of Chicanos. The mass peaceful rally in 1970 was attacked by the Los Angeles Police Department and the sheriffs. Ruben Salazar, news director for KMEX, was killed, along with Angel Diaz and Lynn Ward. A similar example of repression took place on May 1, 2007 when the LAPD attacked a pro-immigrant rights rally at MacArthur Park.

Los Angeles, CA – Garfield High School parents, students, teachers and community groups led a protest here, in predominately Chicano East Los Angeles, Aug. 21 to show their opposition to the LA Unified School District’s move to bid out over 50 new and existing schools. The angry Garfield High School parents and students oppose the plan to privatize their school and other schools.

Los Ángeles Este, CA – La campana para derrotar la propuesta 21, una ley que permitirá que jóvenes menores de edad puedan ser enjuciados como adultos, llegó as su etapa mas avanzada. Miles de jóvenes a través del estado de California protestaron en el Este de los Angeles exigiendo “escuelas no prisiones.”

Los Angeles, CA – Chanting, “Regents, regents, can’t you see? You’re creating poverty!” 16 student activists from UCLA Students for a Democratic Society, the UCLA Student Worker Front and other University of California campuses temporarily brought a meeting of the University of California Regents to a halt May 14 to protest a hike in student fees. The students locked arms and continued chanting until they were physically removed by UC police officers. All were charged with misdemeanor counts of failing to disperse.