Fight Back! News

News and Views from the People's Struggle

NAARPR

By Justin Bent

Dallas, TX – On November 24, the Dallas chapter of the National Alliance of Racist and Political Repression organized a town hall meeting at the Pan-African Connection center in order to address the local communities’ concerns around the election results, and what options we have in fighting the coming Trump presidency.

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By Alan Mitchell

Historian Jeff Smith talks about the radical history of Grand Rapids, Michigan.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

Grand Rapids, MI – Around 25 community members gathered on Saturday, November 23, for a presentation with discussion by activist historian Jeff Smith. Smith has authored several books about the radical history of Furniture City, from the Furniture Strike of 1911 to the George Floyd uprising and the Occupy movement of 2020 and 2011.

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By staff

Tampa SDS protest against Trump.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

Tampa, FL – On Friday, November 22, Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) held a rally to say no to Trump as part of National SDS’s Day of Action on November 19 against Trump’s agenda.

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By staff

 Brooklyn protest demands cops off the subways

New York, NY – On a Saturday afternoon, November 9, a couple dozen people gathered to protest the increased presence of the NYPD in the NYC metro system, outside the Jay Street. Metro Tech subway stop in Brooklyn. The protest brought attention to NY Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression’s “Cops Off The Subway” campaign. The campaign demands that the NYPD, MTA PD, and National Guard leave the NYC transit system, end the new version of Stop and Frisk under mayor Eric Adams, and calls for funding communities and social services instead of the NYPD.

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By staff

November 6 post election protest in Dallas.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

Dallas, TX – After the election outcome, November 6, Freedom Road Socialist Organization here held a 50-person rally in front of the Dallas City Hall.

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By Alan Chavoya

Milwaukee protest against Trump campaign visit.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

Milwaukee, WI – Former President Trump returned to Milwaukee this past Friday, November 1, to speak at a rally at the Fiserv Forum, the same venue where he accepted the Republican presidential nomination during the Republican National Convention (RNC).

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By Kyle Cansler

Family members speak out about Robert Jones' murder in Philadelphia.

Philadelphia, PA – On a chilly November 2 afternoon, nearly a month after off-duty homicide detective Christopher Sweeney shot and killed Robert Jones, activists and community members joined the friends and family of Jones at City Hall to demand justice and march on the Philadelphia Police Department headquarters.

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By staff

Speakout against over policing in Brooklyn, New York.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

New York, NY – On Saturday, October 26, members of the New York Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NYAARPR) led a speakout in Restoration Plaza in the Bed-Stuy neighborhood of Brooklyn. Speakers highlighted NYAARPR’s campaign, Cops Off the Trains - an initiative aimed at reducing the over-policing of the subway and buses.

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By staff

Brooklyn, New York speakout against additional policing on subways.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

New York, NY – On Saturday, October 19, members of the New York Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NYAARPR) gathered in Brooklyn’s Brownsville neighborhood to speak out against increased policing in the city’s transit system. The action occurred just a month after the police shot three people at the nearby Sutter Avenue subway station, over a suspected fare evasion.

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By staff

Philadelphia Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression Members join United Here stadium workers picket.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

Philadelphia, PA – On September 26, the Philadelphia Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression members joined the UNITE HERE Local 274 picket line as Philadelphia stadium workers struggled for healthcare and a living wage.

The strikes were a culmination of negotiations which began in January of this year. Despite Aramark making over $18 billion in revenue last year, workers are still getting the shaft. At $14.11 an hour, the wages that Aramark food service employees earn are among the lowest in comparison to concession workers in other parts of the country.

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By Alan Mitchell

Grand Rapids, Michigan vigil for Khaliifah Ibn Rayford Daniels.  | Fight Back! News/staff

Grand Rapids, MI – Around 30 people gathered on the evening of October 6 at Rosa Parks Circle to mourn and remember the life of Khaliifah Ibn Rayford Daniels, who was executed by the state of Missouri on September 24. The vigil was organized by the Grand Rapids Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.

The stage faced the statue of the legendary civil rights activist Rosa Parks, a long-time Michigan resident for whom the plaza is named. The community activists and organizers spoke from the heart and put the blame for Daniels’ execution on Missouri Governor Mike Parson and connected his murder to the history of apartheid in the southern U.S.

The event included speakers from Freedom Road Socialist Organization Michigan, Grand Valley State University Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Palestine Solidarity Grand Rapids and For Everyone Collective.

Eric Johnson, a student organizer with Grand Valley State University SDS, made it clear that Daniels was lynched by the United States, as no amount of popular support, evidence and testimonies that prove his innocence could persuade Governor Parson.

Emerson Wolfe, co-chair of Palestine Solidarity Grand Rapids, linked the genocide in Gaza to the historical genocide of indigenous peoples and other oppressed nationalities in the United States today, stating, “Violence and domination is the legacy of the United States. The principles of Manifest Destiny that drove the genocide against the indigenous people are the same principles Israel uses to commit genocide against the Palestinians.”

An organizer with the Grand Rapids Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression stated, “The devastation of this loss, and the unanswered cries for justice and accountability that remain in this community for Samuel Sterling, for Riley Doggett, and for Patrick Lyoya have not diminished our will to fight. But we affirm that greater actions are still required of us all, and by honoring their names, we make that call tonight.”

Sam Tunningley from FRSO Michigan and the Grand Rapids Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression closed out the speakers by reading Daniels poem, The Perplexing Smiles of the Children of Palestine.

“When I read his poem The Perplexing Smiles of the Children of Palestine, I wept,” said Tunningley. “I wept knowing this man was about to lose his life. I wept knowing that in his final year he had been following the atrocities committed against the Palestinian people by our government.”

Afterward, Tunningley opened it up for anyone to speak about Daniels or other concerns affecting the community.

One student spoke passionately of his political awakening, which drove him to join SDS at GVSU. This concluded the vigil on an uplifting note, despite the heavy subject and content of the speakers, with community members conversing and asking how to get involved.

#GrandRapidsMI #MI #InjusticeSystem #policecrimes #naarpr #sds

By Merawi Gerima

Chicago protest demands freedom for the wrongfully convicted.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

Chicago, IL – 75 people assembled outside of the office of Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, September 30. One of the leaders of the protest was Jasmine Smith, a young firebrand organizer with the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR). Smith shouted into a well-worn megaphone, “What do we want?” The crowd roared back, “Justice!”

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By staff

Fight Back News Service is circulating this call from the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression inviting organizers in the South to attend a regional organizing conference.

This December 6th-8th, the National Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression (NAARPR) is convening our inaugural Southern Regional Organizing Conference in Jacksonville, Florida. This conference will bring together progressive forces in the South fighting for Black liberation, Indigenous rights and land sovereignty. We are fighting back against police crimes and political repression to free all those unjustly incarcerated as well as defending all progressive movements fighting for a just society. NAARPR, which arose out of the movement to Free Angela Davis, was refounded in 2019 with well over two dozen branches and affiliate organizations nationwide. Since the 2020 George Floyd uprisings, NAARPR has seen a growth in new organizing struggles in cities across the country; specifically, in the Black Belt Region of the Deep South, the historic homelands of Africans trafficked to North America, where the majority of their descendants still live today.

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By Ulises Ramos

Dallas, Texas vigil for Marcellus Khaliifah Williams.  | Fight Back! News/staff

Dallas, TX – Close to 80 people came together late Thursday evening, September 26, at the Grassy Knoll in downtown Dallas for a vigil held to honor the late Marcellus Khaliifah Williams. Williams was executed by the state of Missouri on September 24 for a 1998 murder which DNA evidence showed he did not commit. The unusual numbers for the death penalty-related vigil indicated the community's grief, frustration and righteous anger.

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By staff

A community member recites poetry at Rally for Victims of Police Violence.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

Washington, DC – On Tuesday evening, September 17, over 50 community members gathered outside of the 7th District Police Station in Southeast DC to protest recent instances of police violence. Just two weeks before, in the early morning of September 1, 26-year-old Justin Robinson was found unconscious in his car after crashing into a McDonald's. As he began to regain consciousness, an officer held their gun just inches from his face. When Robinson groggily reached up due to the light shining in his face, Officers Vaso Mateus and Bryan Gilchrist shot Robinson ten times.

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By staff

Tampa, FL press conference demands justice for pastor injured by deputy sheriff.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

Tampa, FL – On September 13, around a dozen community members came to a press conference, demanding justice for Pastor Carl Soto. A local pastor, activist, and co-founder of Black Lives Matter Restoration Inc., Soto was followed and brutalized by Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Alex Almaguer. He was falsely charged with resisting arrest without violence.

Deputy Almaguer brutalized Soto on August 29, 2024. As Soto was on his way to pick up his kids from school, the deputy tailed him for approximately three miles before pulling him over. With his hand on his weapon, Almaguer approached the vehicle and made the unfounded claim that Soto was driving with an illegal license plate.

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By staff

Brooklyn community meeting builds opposition to police on subways.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

Brooklyn, NY – On Saturday, September 7, the New York Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NYAARPR) and a dozen community members gathered for an honest discussion of the role of the NYPD on the New York City subway system.

The event, held at the Macon branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, marked the launch of NYAARPR’s Cops off the Subway campaign.

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By Ulises Ramos

Family and community gather to remember the Johnson brothers.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

Dallas, TX – Around 50 people gathered early in the evening of Sunday, August 25, in front of the headquarters of the Dallas Police Department to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the murder of two Black children killed at the hands of Dallas police.

The boys were brothers, George Johnson, aged 14, and Johnny Johnson, aged 13. The vigil was attended by three siblings of the Johnson brothers and organized by the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, Stop Cop City Dallas Coalition, and the DFW Anti-War Committee. Community members from all around the Dallas-Fort Worth area were present.

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By Emma Gottfried

Orange County commemoration of the Chicano Moratorium.   | Staff/Fight Back! News

Santa Ana, CA – On August 10, nearly 40 people packed into the Studio of El Centro Cultural de México to hear five panelists speak on a wide range of topics affecting Chicanos. This event, commemorating the 54th Chicano Moratorium, was organized by Community Service Organization Orange County (CSO OC).

Before the panel began, Diana Terreros, a founding member of CSO OC, led a chant to honor and remember the name of Abigail Lopez, who was tragically murdered at the hands of Anaheim Police Department in 2023.

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By Jon Abraham

Demonstration against repression on the GWU campus.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

Washington, DC – On Thursday, August 22, over 300 people gathered at James Monroe Park in downtown DC to support the student intifada. Last semester, students and community members from across the DMV set up an encampment at The George Washington University (GWU), called “Shohada’ Square.” Those involved have been facing charges from the courts, repression from the university, and brutalization by the police.

August 22 marked the first day of classes for the 2024 fall semester at GWU, and student organizers planned a protest to remind administration that they will not back down.

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