The National Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression condemns the police killing of Tyre Nichols and stands with all victims of police terror

On January 7th, 2023, Memphis Police brutally assaulted Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old black man. This resulted in “his bones coming out of his skin” and difficulty breathing. Tyre Nichols died in the hospital three days later, on January 10th, after kidney failure and cardiac arrest because of the beating. The body cam footage is horrific and unwatchable. The 5 officers responsible for the death of Tyre Nichols have been fired by the Memphis Police Department and have rightfully been charged and indicted for the murder of Tyre Nichols. They now must be convicted.

The demands for accountability and transparency from police are evergreen, as this January has shown that cops continue to live up to their legacy of racial terror. With the recent murders of Keenan Anderson, in Los Angeles, CA, Manuel “Tortuguita” Terán, in Atlanta, GA and Tyre Nichols in Memphis, TN at the hands of police, the movements to fight back and demand real justice for Black people and all victims of police crimes must continue to struggle until we secure a future where the police answer to the people. A world where the community gets the first and last say on how they are policed and where real accountability is won. That is a future where our people have community control of the police, a future that will be reached only if we fight for it!

Only through the demand of community control of the police can we see killer cops held accountable and their boots taken off our necks. The National Alliance stands in full solidarity with the family and friends of Tyre Nichols as they fight for accountability and justice. We stand in solidarity with all strains of the movement and call for all our branches, affiliate organizations and allies in the movement to demand justice in their own cities.

Justice for Tyre Nichols and all victims of police terror!

Community Control of the Police Now!

Black Lives Matter!

#UnitedStates #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #NationalAllianceAgainstRacistAndPoliticalRepressionNAARPR #TyreNichols

Chicago, IL – This is the first day of 2023, after a year that has tested our movement like nothing in the last half century. We have a tradition to ring in the New Year with a review of what we accomplished in 2022.

I'm primarily speaking of the work of the National Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression and its Chicago branch, but also acknowledging where the struggle for Black liberation is at in our country at this moment.

The greatest challenge is overcoming the hundreds of years of national oppression imposed upon us by this government, the primary characteristic of which is economic oppression rationalized by racism and white supremacy.

Black people are still at the bottom of the lot economically, politically and socially in whatever category you want to address: unemployment, education, housing and homelessness, or health care. In particular, there was no special attention given to the ravages caused by COVID-19. Black people died at almost twice the rate of whites, and in the first year, at higher rates.

Incarceration rates are also among the most shocking statistics: Black people are less than 15% of the population, but state prisons have five times as many Black prisoners as whites, who are almost 60% of the population. The indigenous have similar rates of imprisonment, while Chicanos and other Latinos have rates more than double whites.

It’s been over two years and seven months since the massive rebellion sparked by the callous, cold-blooded murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. 25 million protested and rebelled in all 50 states, as well as many major cities throughout the world. There is no doubt in my mind that the 2020 Black-led rebellion was the leading cause of the political realignment that led to the defeat of Donald Trump and the Democrats winning a majority of the seats in the House and breaking even in the Senate.

The Black Liberation movement has continued a new upsurge in the fight for democracy. We see that in Georgia with what happened in the last elections, Black people defeating racist voter suppression efforts.

What we have in Chicago is a situation that is historically unprecedented. It's a democratic upsurge of a new type. Our battle for community control of the police has reached a level that has not happened before. This came about in July of 2021 when our movement was able to get the ordinance Empowering Communities for Public Safety passed. With its passage, we entered a new stage in the struggle for Black Liberation as well.

This is because of the repressive role the police have played in our communities since the 60s with the murder of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Fred Hampton and so many others. Police repression didn’t subside after the 1960s; it has heightened like it never has before.

The level of police repression that exists in our communities denies organizing space to those struggles that we need to be engaged in that will better our communities: democratic demands again about housing, education, unemployment and so on.

Anthony Driver, president of the new Interim Commission on Public Safety and Accountability said it like this when ECPS was passed, “Our movement took Chicago from the city where police accountability was the worst, to now having established the best system in the country.”

What does this mean for our movement in 2023? The Police District Council elections are going to be the bellwether of where the struggle for the democratic rights of the people versus police tyranny are headed in this city and in this nation.

Our task at the beginning of this year is to mobilize our people, especially the registered voters, to come all out on February 28 and to cast a protest vote. We must no longer allow the level of police repression that denies us justice and our humanity.

Literally, we are looking at what Malcolm X called “The ballot or the bullet.” Either we win at the ballot box, or the police will continue to kill us with bullets.

If we don't win at the ballot box, we will lose with the bullet coming from the guns of the police and the internal violence that goes on in our communities because of the economics of racism.

I know people are going to say, ‘What about Black-on-Black crime?’ Well, first of all, Black-on-Black crime is a racist characterization.

Black on Black crime is no more horrid and disgusting than white on white crime or any other kind of crime.

The very fact that you're going to racialize it shows where the police are coming from. They're criminalizing our communities.

The democratic essence of the question is that we can't do anything with regard to any kind of crimes if we're not in control, if the police are the ones who are dictating the policies. We know the history of how the police have responded to crime in our community for decades: racial profiling, torture, wrongful imprisonment, and mass incarceration.

As a result, 70% of the homicides committed in the Black community are unsolved. The people don’t trust the police and never have. This is not about rebuilding trust. This is about building power, having the power to say who polices our communities and how our communities are policed.

This message needs to go out to the whole country: if the police continue out of control, it will bring about a police state. We are dedicated to stopping that.

Frank Chapman is the Executive Director of the National Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression

#ChicagoIL #PoliceBrutality #NationalAllianceAgainstRacistAndPoliticalRepressionNAARPR

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Committee to Stop FBI Repression and the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.

On the morning of Friday, July 29th, the FBI conducted raids at multiple locations, including the Uhuru House in St. Petersburg, Florida, the private residence of Omali Yeshitela in St. Louis, Missouri, as well as the Uhuru Solidarity Center, also in St. Louis. The FBI employed flashbang grenades and handcuffed Yeshitela and his wife while the house was raided. The FBI says that the raids are connected to the federal indictment of a Russian man, Aleksandr Ionov, alleging that he has been working to spread “Russian propaganda” in the United States.

The Committee to Stop FBI Repression and the National Alliance Against Racist and Pollical Repression unequivocally condemn these raids. We oppose all efforts by the U.S. government to target activists in any progressive movement in this country. We call for an end to investigations, political harassment, and threats against activists and our movements.

The DOJ is alleging that those raided collaborated with a “Russian asset” to spread “Russian propaganda.” At a time when the US is engaged in an imperialist proxy war with Russia in the Ukraine, these raids have all the makings of a witch hunt. All progressive people should oppose any attempt by the FBI and police to attack people's movements and organizations. We must always be vigilant about defending our democratic rights to organize and speak out against injustice – including communicating with activists in other countries and building international solidarity. It should also be said this repression come in the context of upsurge of struggle in the Black community.

The National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and the Committee to Stop FBI Repression are committed to pushing back against this repression and we stand in solidarity with those under attack.

We know from experience how importance resistance to repression is. On September 24, 2010 the FBI raided seven homes of anti-war activists and the office of the Twin Cities Anti-War committee. Twenty-three activists were subpoenaed to a Chicago-based grand jury that claimed to be investigating “material support for terrorism.” As time went on, the FBI continued their attack on anti-war and international solidarity activists by targeting important veterans of the movement who worked with the Anti-war 23, including Chicano activist Carlos Montes in Los Angeles and Palestinian organizer Rasmea Odeh in Chicago. A national defense campaign defeated most of these attacks.

All those active in the movements for peace and justice should use this moment as a reminder to never speak with agents of the federal government prying into your activism or the activism of others. “I have nothing to say, please speak with my lawyer,” are all that need to be said. If you are being taken into custody, all you are required by law to do is confirm your name and tell them that you would like to speak with your lawyer. If federal or local agents show up at your home or organizing office, do not let them in without a warrant, and if they have a warrant, inspect the details of the warrant closely – if any detail is incorrect, such as the spelling of a name or address, point out the error and do not permit entry onto the premises.

Don’t talk to the FBI!

Stop FBI repression!

#UnitedStates #CommitteeToStopFBIRepression #PoliticalRepression #NationalAllianceAgainstRacistAndPoliticalRepressionNAARPR

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

In the early morning of Monday, June 27, 8 Akron police officers fired over 90 shots at Jayland Walker, 25, striking him over 60 times, while attempting to stop him for a traffic violation. Following nearly a week of protests in Akron, authorities have now publicly released the bodycam footage of this deadly shooting. It’s a horrific video to watch, but its public release is crucial in the fight for justice.

Police departments know the importance of public perception in these kinds of cases, which is why they immediately push narratives, often without evidence, that seek to justify their officers and smear their victims. This is why Akron police claimed “[Walker] posed a deadly threat to them” and fired a gun outside his vehicle. Their goal is to depict Jayland Walker as deserving of such horrific violence in the minds of the public.

Body cam footage shows Jayland Walker running on foot until the shooting begins. The police unloaded 90 shots into Jayland with most of the shots being fired when he was on the ground. After being shot, police handcuffed Jayland’s lifeless body. At the time of the murder the police chief admitted that Jayland Walker was unarmed.

The murder of Jayland Walker comes at a time when our government driven by white supremacists is removing its reactionary mask and showing its ugly, repressive face. The overturning of Roe v Wade, the inability to sue police officers who fail to read people their Miranda Rights, the targeting of same-sex marriage and unions, etc., are creating even more oppressive conditions in this country. We’re in a moment of crisis, and Black, Brown, and working class people are being tightly squeezed out of the little freedoms we have. Conditions are rough, and all signs signal to even further repression in the future.

However, we must not give into despair and apathy. We must turn our despair into action. Only through disciplined organizing and action can we lead the masses towards a future in which the police do not get away with murdering Black people. A future in which the people have a direct say over who polices them and how they are policed. This is a future with actual police accountability through community control, and the time to build that future is now!

The National Alliance stands in full solidarity with the family and friends of Jayland Walker and their demands for justice and accountability. We are also demanding the following:

    • Fire and indict all officers involved in the shooting of Jayland Walker

    • The DOJ launch an immediate investigation into the shooting of Jayland Walker

    • Community Control of the Police Now!

We call on Alliance chapters, affiliates and all strains of the peoples movements to hold protests demanding Justice for Jayland Walker in their cities starting July 5th.

#JusticeForJaylandWalker

#AllOutForJaylandWalker

#ComminityControlNow

#ConvictKillerCop

#UnitedStates #PoliceBrutality #PoliceCrimes #NationalAllianceAgainstRacistAndPoliticalRepressionNAARPR #JaylandWalker

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following May 20 statement from Frank Chapman, Executive Director of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.

Anthony Gay is today a political prisoner. He first became a political prisoner while in prison. He went to prison for a petty larceny situation involving one dollar. While in prison, because of his defiance against the prison authorities, he was brutalized and placed in solitary confinement for 22 years.

During that time, he politicized himself mainly through struggling against the prison authorities for justice, but also by reading and familiarizing himself with movement literature such as George Jackson, Angela Davis, and Malcolm X.

He also became a brilliant and outstanding jailhouse lawyer on his own behalf. He survived his torture, and he won his release in an historic feat by convincing a new State’s Attorney that the law was violated when he was given consecutive sentences for acting out instead of concurrent sentences.

Since his release in 2018, he crafted a bill to limit the use of solitary confinement to 10 days within a 180-day period, based on the 8th Amendment of the United States Constitution, seeking to end the cruel and unusual punishment perpetrated against incarcerated people.

As a result of the victories he accomplished in struggle against the racist system of mass incarceration, Anthony was framed by the Rock Island police and accused of being in possession of a firearm and ammunition. The state of Illinois gave this case to the federal government, which then portrayed him as a career criminal.

In another historic win, representing himself, Anthony got a hung jury in that federal trial. The government was outraged when he out-lawyered them! They immediately pushed him towards a second trial with only 19 days to prepare. Anthony filed a very reasonable motion for continuation, but the judge denied the motion, openly collaborating with the prosecution.

They also picked the jury in a manner that was different than the way they did in the first trial. They made sure that only people who were pro police and had very conservative politics were on the jury.

In his opening statement to the jury, Anthony let them know he was not going to get a fair trial. He faced an all-white, conservative jury and a white supremacist judge working with white prosecutors.

Working with the Alliance for almost 50 years, I have never seen a case where the prosecution presented no evidence to the jury, but only explanations as to why they had no evidence. All the expert witnesses testified to why they didn't have fingerprints or DNA on the firearm or bullets they claim were in Anthony’s possession. They had only circumstantial evidence.

They showed a video to connect him with the gun, but it did not show him dropping the gun.

We sat through the entire trial watching the prosecution tell the jury what happened while showing a video that contradicted their claim; lecturing the jury about the forensic evidence, only to admit that there was no forensic evidence and why.

It was the most racist, kangaroo style prosecution I've ever seen.

Finally, the judge knew exactly when they were going to bring back the guilty verdict because he told us to be there by 9:45 am. Once we entered the courtroom, we could see by the way that the marshals were lined up surrounding Anthony, that there was going to be a guilty verdict. I think they knew this when the trial closed on Wednesday, the moment that they made the closing statements to the jury and the jury went out for deliberation, because it was 100% their jury.

As they used to do in the old Deep South, this is a classic frame-up case with the judge, the prosecution, and the jury lined up solidly against the Black defendant.

#ChicagoIL #PeoplesStruggles #NationalAllianceAgainstRacistAndPoliticalRepressionNAARPR #AnthonyGay

Chicago, IL – On Martin Luther King Jr Day, January 17, the family of Dr. King led a march for voting rights across Frederick Douglass bridge in Washington DC. At the same time, a coalition of over a dozen community organizations and labor unions organized a caravan of over 100 cars up King Drive in Chicago for the same purpose. Activists in both cities and across the country have voiced their support of the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement (JLVRA) Act.

In a statement on the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression website, NAARPR executive director Frank Chapman said, “Getting these bills passed means stopping the reactionary Republican Party from suppressing the right to vote, from blatantly denying masses of Black, brown, and poor people the right to vote. This is a racist, Republican-engineered war against our people. And unless we stand up and fight back it will be a one-sided war.”

Republican lawmakers have passed 34 laws restricting voting rights in 19 states in 2021 alone. These laws are a part of a decades-long push by the right wing to erase the gains made by Black people and other oppressed nationalities in the U.S. during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

With wind whipping their signs and the windchill at ten degrees, a press conference was held before the caravan. Bishop Travis Grant, executive director of Operation Rainbow PUSH, said the Republican lawmakers “are in the spirit of Bull Connor and George Wallace, blocking the [JLVRA] Act, the George Floyd Justice Act, and the Freedom to Vote Act.” Bishop Grant also pointed to the regressive policies of these same lawmakers regarding health care, education and labor unions. Erica Bland, executive vice president of SEIU Healthcare Illinois, linked the ongoing struggle for voting rights to the democratic struggles Black people fought during Reconstruction: “We are here to say that labor is with the movement. One day longer, one day stronger.”

Bland and other speakers called out Democrat senators as well, particularly Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema, as being the “white moderate stumbling blocks” Dr. King referred to in his Letter From a Birmingham Jail. Dr. Lashawn Lattrice with Make Noize for Change said, “we are holding these politicians accountable by forming coalitions across the country to say that we will not stand for voter suppression.”

Reverend Jamie Fluker with Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation (SOUL) also connected the modern struggle for voting rights to the legacy of Dr. King, as well as other civil rights icons such as Fannie Lou Hamer. “Today we invoke their spiritual courage and their persistent thirst for justice,” Reverend Fluker said.

The final speaker was Bertha Escamilla, mother of torture survivor Nick Escamilla and member of the MAMAS, an organization of mothers and other family members fighting to free torture survivors and other wrongfully convicted people. Escamilla spoke on the link between struggling for voting rights and the fight against the criminal legal system that incarcerated her son.

Other organizations that endorsed at the rally were NAACP, BLM Chicago, the Arab American Action Network, the US Palestinian Community Network, the National Alliance for Filipino Concerns, Justice for Nick, Indivisible Chicago, and Indivisible Chicago South Side. This coalition is one of many across the country organizing together with chapters of NAARPR to fight against systemic racism.

#ChicagoIL #OppressedNationalities #AfricanAmerican #NationalAllianceAgainstRacistAndPoliticalRepressionNAARPR #MartinLutherKingJrDay

Chicago, IL – Two years after the refounding of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NAARPR) in November 2019, over 125 NAARPR members and affiliates from around the country convened for the second NAARPR conference in Chicago starting on Saturday, December 4. They shared updates about their work fighting against police crimes and for community control of the police, among other areas of struggle, then voted on resolutions and new leadership for the next two years.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic the conference was attended only by delegates from NAARPR chapters and affiliated organizations. The plenary sessions on the first day of the conference were livestreamed on the Chicago AARPR Facebook page so people who could not be there in person could participate virtually.

Saturday morning began with an opening plenary on the purpose of the conference and the work of NAARPR. The meeting was facilitated by NAARPR co-chair Michael Sampson. Delegates heard speeches from SEIU HCII President Greg Kelly and NAARPR executive director Frank Chapman, as well as a video statement from Angela Davis, a leader of the original NAARPR. Davis stressed that the fight to free political prisoners is an ongoing part of the struggle against systemic racism.

SEIU HCII played a key role in this fight by putting the strength of their 90,000 members behind the Empowering Communities for Public Safety legislation in Chicago, the most progressive police accountability ordinance in the country, and a step towards community control of the police. Kelly cited the murders of Michael Brown and Laquan McDonald as reasons why his union was motivated to get involved in the fight for police accountability.

Chapman spoke on the necessity of the alliance between community organizations like NAARPR and unions like SEIU, saying “the objective is to build the biggest, baddest mass movement this country has seen in a long time.”

The floor was then opened for delegates to report on the work their chapters have done over the past two years. Many spoke about the uprising in the wake of the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, the most massive uprising in U.S. history. NAARPR affiliates organized protests of tens of thousands of people in various cities around the country, including cities like Jacksonville, Florida which had never seen protests of that size before. Other initiatives described by delegates included fighting for justice with the families of people killed by the police, successful efforts to cut police budgets, actions in solidarity with anti-imperialist movements, campaigns to free survivors of police torture and wrongful conviction, defenses of protesters against political repression, and struggles for community control of the police.

The rest of the first day consisted of a plenary on community control of the police, one breakout session discussing the fight against political repression, one breakout focusing on the importance of the families of those killed or harmed by the police in the struggle, and a final plenary session summing up the lessons learned during the opening day of the conference.

The wide variety of speakers demonstrated the progress NAARPR has already made towards building the mass movement.

Sunday’s sessions focused on electing new leadership and voting on the actions NAARPR would resolve to take over the next two years. Delegates voted on seven resolutions: to defend and expand voting rights, to free political prisoners, to defend the right of immigrant families to stay together by fighting deportations, to free Alex Saab from the political repression of the U.S. empire, to continue to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian liberation struggle, to support the Filipino people’s fight against U.S.-backed terror, and to build class struggle unionism. Delegates then ratified the NAARPR bylaws and formally elected the officers and executive board of the National Alliance. The leadership reflects the Black led, multigenerational character of the organization.

Delegates left the conference expressing feelings of pride in the work done since NAARPR’ s refounding two years ago, as well as optimism and excitement for the years ahead building the movement for community control of the police across the U.S. Monique Sampson, co-founder of the Jacksonville Community Action Committee and newly elected NAARPR national desk secretary, led the delegates in a chant written by freedom fighter and former political prisoner Assata Shakur: “It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win. We must love and protect one another. We have nothing to lose but our chains.”

#ChicagoIL #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #NationalAllianceAgainstRacistAndPoliticalRepressionNAARPR

Jacksonville FL – On April 21, the Jacksonville Community Action Committee (JCAC) organized a rally, uniting with the National Alliance against Racist and Political Repression call for protests to respond to the Chauvin trial and to demand justice for the countless number of victims of police crimes in Jacksonville and throughout the country.

Jacksonville is one of the many cities that have been plagued with countless murders at the hand of law enforcement.

The day after the guilty verdict, over a 100 people gathered in front of the Duval County Courthouse to demand justice for victims of police crimes. Christina Kittle, an organizer with JCAC, reiterated to the crowd that even with the Chauvin guilty verdict, we still must keep up the fight. She also shared the importance of community control of the police. Charity Baker, the mother of Leah Baker, a 28-year-old woman who was brutally shot and killed by JSO officers, spoke to the crowd and shared her daughter’s story. She also reminded the crowd that the fight for accountability wouldn’t be as prominent without the voice of the people.

The importance of the voice of the people was reiterated throughout the rally. The crowd chanted “The people united, will never be defeated.” Monique Sampson, another organizer with JCAC, emphasized to the crowd that “George Floyd sparked an entire movement. His death was not in vain. The guilty verdict wasn’t the result of the jury being the jury, it was the result of the peoples movement taking the street and changing the tide all over this country and all over the world.”

#JacksonvilleFL #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #JacksonvilleCommunityActionCommitteeJCAC #DerekChauvin #NationalAllianceAgainstRacistAndPoliticalRepressionNAARPR

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NAARPR).

The day of decision is coming. Closing arguments will soon take place in the case of Derek Chauvin, one of the four cops who killed George Floyd on a Minneapolis street, and the entire world will be watching as the jury begins deliberations. We settle for nothing less than justice!

The National Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression or NAARPR is calling for protests around the country, that will coincide with day that the jury reaches a verdict. It is critical that all of us who are sick and tired of police getting away with racist murders stay in the streets and make it clear that we expect nothing less than Chauvin getting the maximum sentence. Only this can bring justice for the family of George Floyd.

Derek Chauvin, a white police officer killed George Floyd in broad day light, in front of numerous witnesses. Chauvin along with his three accomplices knew they were being taped. They did not care because they believed could get away with it. Whether it is a knee to the neck or bullets in the back, this racist and murderous policing in the United States must stop. Now.

This past summer we saw a powerful rebellion against police crimes and racist inequality. Millions of people across the country hit the streets in one of the largest protests ever. On March 8, the opening day of the trial more than a thousand people rallied in Minneapolis, and protests in at least 18 other cities showed their solidarity with Minneapolis by demanding justice for George Floyd!

We have the right to control those who police our communities. We want killer cops off the streets. We want justice for George Floyd, and all whose lives have been upended by police crimes. Join us!

Justice for George Floyd!

Convict Derek Chauvin!

All power to the People!

National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NAARPR)

#UnitedStates #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #NationalAllianceAgainstRacistAndPoliticalRepressionNAARPR

Los Angeles, CA – On March 8, Centro CSO and supporters joined the National Alliance Against Racist Political Repression (NAARPR) for a national day of action. March 8 was the first day of the trial of Minneapolis killer cop Derek Chauvin for the killing of George Floyd. Floyd's killing sparked worldwide outrage and led to the largest rebellion against police brutality in U.S. history.

Dozens of participants met up on the intersection of Cesar Chavez Avenue and Soto Street in Boyle Heights, chanting “Jail killer cops!” “No justice, no peace!” and “Black lives, they matter here!” to demand justice for George Floyd and all victims of police crimes. The protest’s location was exactly one block away from where LAPD officer Eden Medina killed 14-year-old Jesse Romero in 2016.

Centro CSO members were joined by Black and Chicano young people in chanting and demanding justice for George Floyd.

Maria, the mother of Daniel Hernandez who was killed in April by LAPD officer Toni McBride, spoke about the need for solidarity between races in the fight against police brutality. March 8 was a significant day for the trial to win justice as it also fell on International Women's day.

For more information regarding how to fight back against racist police, join Centro CSO. Attend the monthly meetings online every third Wednesday on Zoom. Contact CSO online for more info: @CentroCSO on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok.

#LosAngelesCA #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #CentroCSO #GeorgeFloyd #NationalAllianceAgainstRacistAndPoliticalRepressionNAARPR

Los Angeles, CA – Boyle Heights joined the call from the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NAARPR) for protests on November 4 to demand a people’s mandate and that Trump concede. Hosted by Centro CSO at Mariachi Plaza, the rally featured many family and friends of Chicanos and Chicanas killed by police in Los Angeles. Protesters celebrated the electoral defeat of District Attorney Jackie Lacey, a crucial victory for the movement against police crimes in Los Angeles. Lacey has notoriously refused to file charges on over 600 cops for killing Blacks, Chicanos and Latinos in LA County during her two terms in office.

Luis Sifuentes, a member of Centro CSO, kicked off the rally with a speech calling for community control of the police through a CPAC (Civilian Police Accountability Council), the end of ICE raids, and the defense of public education. “We need to recognize that we live in a time where women in detention centers are forcibly sterilized, where children have died under ICE custody, where children have disappeared by the thousands, where families are separated at the border, where refugees are falling ill from COVID-19 and dying. It’s outrageous!” said Sifuentes. “And this isn’t the time to slow down, this is the time to stand up, and fight back!” He led the crowd in chants of “Stand up! Fight back!”

Throughout the rally, the relatives of Jesse Romero, David Sullivan, Daniel Hernandez and Cesar Rodriguez spoke about their loved ones, the importance of DA Lacey’s loss, and the need to continue struggling. Minerva Garcia described the murder of her friend Vanessa Marquez, a famous Chicana actress killed by South Pasadena police in 2018. She explained how Marquez should not be remembered for her death, but rather her anti-war activism and efforts to fight sexual harassment in the entertainment industry decades before the #MeToo movement. The family of Paul Rea, killed by the East LA Sheriffs in 2018, also attended the rally in solidarity.

Other speakers included Kareem Youseff from the U.S. Palestinian Community Network and artist Sammy Quetzalli. Youseff connected the struggles for Chicano and Palestinian liberation before presenting some lessons from the Egyptian revolution for the fight against Trump. Quetzalli spoke of his own experience surviving LAPD brutality and performed an original poem. “We need to fight against police brutality on all fronts – through the legal system, in the streets, at the polls,” said Quetzalli. “There’s not just one avenue. There’s not just one approach.”

Lucia Torres, a leader of CSO Youth, gave two speeches, one directed at Trump, one directed at Biden. “I’m a woman and Trump wants to take my right to abortion and birth control away. Trump wants to take away the right to my own body as a woman,” said Torres. “I am queer and Trump wants to take my right to love and marry whoever I choose away.”

Zada Musica, a Chicana musician from Boyle Heights and member of Centro CSO, closed the rally with a number of songs inspired by the uprising in Los Angeles and across the U.S. against police terror.

The final vote count for POTUS is nearing an end. Sol Marquez, who helped lead the rally and who is a member of CSO as well as Freedom Road Socialist Organization, was featured in an FRSO panel on November 8. The online panel discussed the next steps post-election and can be watched here.

#LosAngelesCA #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #ChicanoLatino #PoliceBrutality #CentroCSO #NationalAllianceAgainstRacistAndPoliticalRepressionNAARPR

Chicago, IL – Over 100 people on foot, and an 80-car caravan with about 200 riders, gathered in downtown Chicago, September 19, to protest police crimes, state repression of activists, demand that federal troops and agents be sent home, and to call for community control of the police. The demonstration was part of a national day of action called by the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and was organized by the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.

“Our people are being arrested and charged for protesting all across the country. Some are being charged with felonies,” said NAARPR Executive Director Frank Chapman, “We demand freedom for the Tallahassee 19. These are 19 of our comrades who were arrested and are being prosecuted. We demand that all charges be dropped. And this is why we are fighting for community control of the police.”

Speakers included representatives from Black Lives Matter Chicago, SEIU Local 73, Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, the U.S. Palestinian Community Network, Los Brown Berets Chicago, and others.

“I’m proud to say that Local 73 was one of the first unions to support CPAC, the legislation for community control of the police in Chicago,” said, Angie Ross, a strike captain for SEIU Local 73. “Many of our members and their families are victims of police crimes.”

#ChicagoIL #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #ChicagoAllianceAgainstRacistAndPoliticalRepression #NationalAllianceAgainstRacistAndPoliticalRepressionNAARPR

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

Milwaukee, WI – In the early evening of August 20, around 500 people gathered in Dontre Hamilton (officially Red Arrow) Park in downtown Milwaukee to mark the final day of the Democratic National Convention. The turnout in spite of the pandemic and the vastly diminished physical presence in the city for the convention was a testament to the hard work and dedication of the organizers with the Coalition to March on the DNC.

“No matter who anybody votes for, no matter who wins, we’re always going to be out in the streets. We’re always going to be fighting for justice,” said Omar Flores, an organizer with the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression and a leader in the Coalition.

The event represented something of an historic moment for Milwaukee and for the state of Wisconsin. As people everywhere have risen up against police crimes, families from all across the state victimized by police convened in Milwaukee at the demonstration.

The families of Alvin Cole, Joel Acevedo, Jay Anderson, Jonathan Tubby, Dexter Baxter and Isaiah Tucker all came together at the park where Dontre Hamilton was murdered in April 2014. Maria Hamilton, Dontre’s mother and a mother of the movement in Milwaukee, was present to open the evening’s speeches. A statement was also read on behalf of the family of Jason Pero.

This marked the first time in recent memory that families from multiple cities in Wisconsin and representing multiple nationalities united in one place for one purpose. They came to share their stories of losing their loved ones to racist killer cops, and to join their voices with the Coalition in demanding justice and action from Democrats like Joe Biden and Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett.

“We cannot focus on a Democratic Convention when a national crisis is going on,” said Taleavia Cole, Alvin’s sister. “Joe Biden, Ms. Harris, do you know what’s going on here? Do you know that one officer killed three people of color within five years?”

The speeches from the families were gut wrenching, both for them and the people in attendance. The love and solidarity were palpable as members of families who had never met embraced one another, to comfort each other in their shared struggles, and to reassert that justice would be done for all if they fought together.

Frank Chapman, the Executive Director of the National Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression, spoke after all of the families had the opportunity to share their solemn stories about killer cops and crooked district attorneys. Chapman has been active in the movement against police crimes for 50 years. He said that the issues of police crimes and national oppression extend back in time far longer than that.

“This country was founded on genocide and slavery. Let’s be clear, because you can be awful damn confused if you don’t know the kind of quagmire that you’re in,” Chapman said. “And the quagmire that we’re in is this: this is not a broken situation, the system ain’t broke. The system was designed to do exactly what the hell it’s doing.”

After Chapman’s comments, those gathered in the park began to march, with a large banner at the front that read “We can’t breathe.” Leading the way behind the banner were the families of the victims. Taleavia Cole led chants, demanding justice and saying the names of those they were demanding justice for.

The march route traversed a good portion of downtown Milwaukee and included several important stops along the way. The first of those stops came at the District 1 Police Station, otherwise known as the Police Administration Building. People chanted “We can’t breathe” before Kobi Guillory, an organizer with the Chicago Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression, spoke to the crowd.

“This uprising started a few months ago, started at the end of May, because people were outraged by the murder of George Floyd, by the murder of Breonna Taylor, by the murder of Ahmaud Arbery,” Guillory said. “The only people we can expect change from are ourselves. These politicians do not move unless we make them move,” said Guillory

After that, the people made their way to the Wisconsin Center where the convention was hosted. On the way, the march passed by a large billboard that read “3% of the U.S. military budget could end world hunger,” which prompted a “No justice, no peace, U.S. out of the Middle East!” chant. The march came to a stop right outside the center, with people pressed up against the chain link fencing that had been erected as a part of the hard security zone.

After a speech at that stop, the march continued to Milwaukee’s Homeland Security building, where the Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and the federal agents deployed to the city as part of President Trump’s Operation Legend are housed. A few spoke here, specifically about the crisis facing immigrants and undocumented people, particularly in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Finally, the march completed the round trip and ended back at Dontre Hamilton Park where the event was closed out with several more speakers. The first of these final speakers was Ryan Hamann, a lead organizer with the Wisconsin district of Freedom Road Socialist Organization. He spoke about the uprising in the context of the broader political struggle.

“What cannot be lost in all of this is the fundamentally political nature of the fight being waged. Black people, Chicano or Latino people, indigenous people – they are all a part of oppressed nations within the U.S.,” Hamann said. “The struggle against these crimes is not just one of social justice, but quite literally of national liberation – of Black liberation, Chicano and Latino liberation, and indigenous liberation.”

The event officially concluded with a few pieces from a social justice collection played by the Black String Triage Ensemble. Many connections were made over the course of the event that will undoubtedly come into play as the movement against police crimes in Milwaukee and across Wisconsin continues to develop. The people won’t stop until all victims of killer cops have won justice.

#MilwaukeeWI #PoliceBrutality #Antiracism #CoalitionToMarchOnTheDNC #NationalAllianceAgainstRacistAndPoliticalRepressionNAARPR #protestMarch

Milwaukee, WI – In the early evening of August 20, around 500 people gathered in Dontre Hamilton (officially Red Arrow) Park in downtown Milwaukee to mark the final day of the Democratic National Convention. The turnout in spite of the pandemic and the vastly diminished physical presence in the city for the convention was a testament to the hard work and dedication of the organizers with the Coalition to March on the DNC.

“No matter who anybody votes for, no matter who wins, we’re always going to be out in the streets. We’re always going to be fighting for justice,” said Omar Flores, an organizer with the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression and a leader in the Coalition.

The event represented something of an historic moment for Milwaukee and for the state of Wisconsin. As people everywhere have risen up against police crimes, families from all across the state victimized by police convened in Milwaukee at the demonstration.

The families of Alvin Cole, Joel Acevedo, Jay Anderson, Jonathan Tubby, Dexter Baxter and Isaiah Tucker all came together at the park where Dontre Hamilton was murdered in April 2014. Maria Hamilton, Dontre’s mother and a mother of the movement in Milwaukee, was present to open the evening’s speeches. A statement was also read on behalf of the family of Jason Pero.

This marked the first time in recent memory that families from multiple cities in Wisconsin and representing multiple nationalities united in one place for one purpose. They came to share their stories of losing their loved ones to racist killer cops, and to join their voices with the Coalition in demanding justice and action from Democrats like Joe Biden and Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett.

“We cannot focus on a Democratic Convention when a national crisis is going on,” said Taleavia Cole, Alvin’s sister. “Joe Biden, Ms. Harris, do you know what’s going on here? Do you know that one officer killed three people of color within five years?”

The speeches from the families were gut wrenching, both for them and the people in attendance. The love and solidarity were palpable as members of families who had never met embraced one another, to comfort each other in their shared struggles, and to reassert that justice would be done for all if they fought together.

Frank Chapman, the Executive Director of the National Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression, spoke after all of the families had the opportunity to share their solemn stories about killer cops and crooked district attorneys. Chapman has been active in the movement against police crimes for 50 years. He said that the issues of police crimes and national oppression extend back in time far longer than that.

“This country was founded on genocide and slavery. Let’s be clear, because you can be awful damn confused if you don’t know the kind of quagmire that you’re in,” Chapman said. “And the quagmire that we’re in is this: this is not a broken situation, the system ain’t broke. The system was designed to do exactly what the hell it’s doing.”

After Chapman’s comments, those gathered in the park began to march, with a large banner at the front that read “We can’t breathe.” Leading the way behind the banner were the families of the victims. Taleavia Cole led chants, demanding justice and saying the names of those they were demanding justice for.

The march route traversed a good portion of downtown Milwaukee and included several important stops along the way. The first of those stops came at the District 1 Police Station, otherwise known as the Police Administration Building. People chanted “We can’t breathe” before Kobi Guillory, an organizer with the Chicago Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression, spoke to the crowd.

“This uprising started a few months ago, started at the end of May, because people were outraged by the murder of George Floyd, by the murder of Breonna Taylor, by the murder of Ahmaud Arbery,” Guillory said. “The only people we can expect change from are ourselves. These politicians do not move unless we make them move,” said Guillory

After that, the people made their way to the Wisconsin Center where the convention was hosted. On the way, the march passed by a large billboard that read “3% of the U.S. military budget could end world hunger,” which prompted a “No justice, no peace, U.S. out of the Middle East!” chant. The march came to a stop right outside the center, with people pressed up against the chain link fencing that had been erected as a part of the hard security zone.

After a speech at that stop, the march continued to Milwaukee’s Homeland Security building, where the Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and the federal agents deployed to the city as part of President Trump’s Operation Legend are housed. A few spoke here, specifically about the crisis facing immigrants and undocumented people, particularly in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Finally, the march completed the round trip and ended back at Dontre Hamilton Park where the event was closed out with several more speakers. The first of these final speakers was Ryan Hamann, a lead organizer with the Wisconsin district of Freedom Road Socialist Organization. He spoke about the uprising in the context of the broader political struggle.

“What cannot be lost in all of this is the fundamentally political nature of the fight being waged. Black people, Chicano or Latino people, indigenous people – they are all a part of oppressed nations within the U.S.,” Hamann said. “The struggle against these crimes is not just one of social justice, but quite literally of national liberation – of Black liberation, Chicano and Latino liberation, and indigenous liberation.”

The event officially concluded with a few pieces from a social justice collection played by the Black String Triage Ensemble. Many connections were made over the course of the event that will undoubtedly come into play as the movement against police crimes in Milwaukee and across Wisconsin continues to develop. The people won’t stop until all victims of killer cops have won justice.

#MilwaukeeWI #PoliceBrutality #Antiracism #CoalitionToMarchOnTheDNC #NationalAllianceAgainstRacistAndPoliticalRepressionNAARPR #protestMarch