Nashville, TN – On Feb. 25 over 30 youth, mostly African American and Latino, rallied on Legislative Plaza at the State Capitol to demand an end to racial profiling and a repeal of Tennessee’s version of the “Stand Your Ground” law. The event was organized by the American Baptist College chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Protesters marched around the entrance to the Tennessee Legislature holding signs, handing out flyers and chanting, “No justice, no peace! No racist police!” “Brown skin is not a crime!” and “Black skin is not a crime!”

A number of organizations rallied, including Workers Dignity Project, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC). Protesters held signs saying, “Stand your ground is racial profiling,” “Give us peace. Don’t leave us in pieces!” and “50 years later.” This last one was referencing the 50 years since the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that SCLC played a pivotal role in winning.

Many at the rally spoke about the murders of African American and Latino youth by police, and by racists such as George Zimmerman and Michael Dunn. They demanded justice for Trayvon Martin, Jordan Davis, Oscar Grant and all the youth whose lives have been cut short by racist murderers. They spoke of the outrage they felt and the injustice of a system that lets child killers like Zimmerman walk free and allows Dunn to be found not guilty of murder in Jacksonville, Florida. They vowed to continue the fight to end racial profiling and the attacks on African American and Latino youth.

A lead organizer for the event, Evan Regis of the SCLC said, “The lynchings still continue and the lynchings of Black and Brown brothers and sisters allows us to see that the fight for freedom must also continue. Racial profiling has resulted in Black brothers being 80% of the prison population today and we need to stop the lynching and the discrimination against our brothers and sisters. Legislators are holding the noose around our Black brothers! Laws and policies are squeezing the breath out of our Black brothers! Legislators are still holding the noose on Black bodies. The fight for freedom still continues.”

#NashvilleTN #StudentsForADemocraticSociety #AntiRacism #RacialProfiling #SouthernChristianLeadershipConference #StandYourGround

Chicago, IL – 60 youth from the Arab American Action Network (AAAN), along with their supporters, held a rally and march here, Aug.15, to demand an end to racial profiling of Arabs and Muslims and and end to the criminalization of all communities of color. The youth who organized and led the protest reminded onlookers that harassment, surveillance and infiltration by the FBI and its local counterparts doesn't just happen in New York City and California, but is widespread in Chicago.

The key demands were: stop bullying and harassment of communities of color; end racist criminalization of Arabs, Muslims and all people of color; end the envestigation of the Midwest 23; and close National Security Loopholes in the federal ban on racial profiling.

The AAAN’s Youth Organizing Program has been providing political education, leadership development and organizing training for high school and college youth for close to ten years and has been focusing on FBI repression for the past three. Farreh Qatanani, youth leader with the AAAN and co-emcee for the day, said, “The FBI oppresses not only Arabs and Muslims, but all communities of color.”

After an early afternoon rally at Federal Plaza, the protesters chanted, “Out of our schools, out of our mosque! FBI go get lost!” while marching to the Chicago headquarters of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to protest another key part of the Department of Homeland Security's program of criminalizing Mexicans, Central Americans, Latinos in general, Arabs and Muslims, as well as other immigrants of color. There, Lulu Martinez of the Dream 9, who ‘self deported’ to Mexico but recently returned, talked about her experiences and the federal policies of detentions and deportations that have devastated her community for years.

#ChicagoIL #Palestine #PeoplesStruggles #Protest #Antiracism #RacialProfiling #AAAN #AAANProtest #AAANChicago

Minneapolis, MN – On March 29, the Million Hoodies event began here in early evening. Over 5500 people crowded the Northrop Plaza at the University of Minnesota, from all over the Twin Cities area. Excitement escalated as organizers began with chants such as, “What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!” There were speakers from all over the Twin Cities -students, professors and community members alike. For over an hour, they spoke about the significance of the murder of Trayvon Martin.

Leading up to the protest, in just one night, over 1000 people RSVPed as “attending” to a call for a march on a Facebook event started by Jenny Belsito. In just over a week, this number jumped to over 5000. The event went viral and the Minneapolis “Million Hoodies for Trayvon Martin” march and rally was planned. The event page became a place of solidarity, with links to petitions and “I am Trayvon” photos posted hourly. Even before the March 29 rally, the Twin Cities community was uniting against racial injustice and for the prosecution of George Zimmerman.

University of Minnesota student and event organizer Jenny Belsito declares that the event was about more than just wearing hoodies for one day. It was about the passion of the people for “fixing our criminal justice system, justice for Trayvon and ending racial discrimination and profiling…we need to stick together and keep the unity and fight until our demands are met!”

Gray clouds and rumors of rain did not deter the protesters from beginning the permitted march around the University’s mall area. For over 20 minutes, the thousands marched wearing their hoods chanting and demanding justice be brought not only to Trayvon, but to everyone suffering from racial injustice.

Later the rally-goers split up, with some staying to hear the last speakers and thousands of others taking to the streets in a non-permitted march. The march spanned two city blocks and stopped traffic down 4th Street and University Avenue. Police followed on foot and by car, but did not intervene. The marchers were animated as they chanted, “We are Trayvon Martin,” and “Being Black is not a crime!” as they rallied pedestrians and residents of the area to join the march.

The crowd returned to the Northrop Plaza to hear a concert by Sounds of Blackness.

Protests, rallies and marches are planned all over the nation in the upcoming weeks in honor of Trayvon Martin. Support continues to grow and will not cease until justice becomes a reality.

#MinneapolisMN #AfricanAmerican #RacialProfiling #TrayvonMartin

LULAC officials say – based on a yearlong investigation – that the FBI, working in conjunction with NICB, has engaged in a pattern of racial profiling designed to target minority-owned businesses and professionals of color.

Based on the findings, LULAC adopted a resolution at its national convention, held this summer in Washington, D.C. The resolution, in part, states the following: “LULAC denounces and condemns the practice of the FBI of engaging in racial profiling and the FBI's practice of targeting of small minority-owned businesses and the targeting of minorities and other professionals of color and hereby officially calls for a congressional investigation.”

The LULAC resolution has been ratified by the group's executive board, and will be distributed to LULAC councils across the country as part of the civil rights group's national action platform.

LULAC's investigation centered on an operation called Sudden Impact, a nationwide insurance-fraud sting conducted jointly by the FBI and the Palos Hills, Illinois-based NICB.

Following is a summary of the key findings of LULAC's investigation.

• The national FBI/NICB operation called Sudden Impact involved joint interrogation of suspects, joint search-warrant raids and joint access to medical records as well as a mega insurance industry computer database – raising serious questions about the right of privacy in this country.
• Freedom of Information Act documents obtained by LULAC and newspaper archive research point to a pattern of racial profiling being employed in Operation Sudden Impact, with minorities being targeted at a rate of nearly 8 to 1 compared to Anglos. The Freedom of Information Act documents also show that the FBI entered into a contract with NICB that outlines their joint investigative responsibilities.
• Press information from NICB indicates that the nonprofit NICB has an active lobbying arm in Congress, employs former FBI agents (including the former deputy director of the FBI) in high-level positions, and now has in place something called “Forewarn” – which is used to predict when and where crime, specifically insurance fraud, will occur. In addition, FBI officials have served on the NICB's board.
• A lawyer's office in San Antonio, Texas, was raided as part of an FBI/NICB operation, yet Freedom of Information Act documents indicate that FBI headquarters has no record of that lawyer ever being of “investigatory interest to the FBI.” In addition, the lawyer, who has never been charged with a crime, claims that the search warrant for the raid was issued improperly, potentially as part of a “rogue operation.” The attorney's wife was a leading environmentalist in the community who, at the time of the raid, was spearheading efforts to place restrictions on developers. The lawyer's law practice was destroyed due the publicity generated by the raid. Media coverage of the raid was prompted by a press release sent out by the FBI to local television stations and newspapers.
• An Iranian family say they have been framed as part of an FBI/NICB joint operation and can produce a five-foot high stack of documents to back up their claims. Among the charges the family makes is that documents in their case were altered, evidence withheld and witnesses intimidated.
• An African American lawyer in Houston claims his computer was loaded with racist slurs and threats as part of an FBI /NICB investigation. Charges against that lawyer were ultimately dropped.
• Another African American attorney (the husband of a former outspoken African American Texas state legislator) claims he has been wrongly convicted as part of an NICB investigation. Among the claims the attorney makes in his appeal is that hearsay evidence was used against him and that a witness who could have helped prove his innocence was not allowed to testify in court.
• An FBI informant claims, in a recorded conversation, that the FBI was targeting Iranians in San Antonio as part of Operation Sudden Impact.
• Joint operations between the FBI and NICB are ongoing through code names such as Sure Buck, Twisted Metal and Sudden Stop. In fact, as recently as June 23 of this year, a major NICB insurance-fraud bust was announced in Miami, FL. According to the press report, 49 of the 51 people arrested had Latino surnames.

FBI and NICB officials have dismissed LULAC's charges as baseless. And, NICB officials have gone as far as to threaten to impugn the credibility of LULAC officials if they continue to pursue the issue.

However, at least one elected official has not been scared off by NICB's attack-dog politics and is taking LULAC's findings seriously. U.S. Rep. Charles A. Gonzalez, D-Texas recently sent a letter to Louis Freeh, director of the FBI, calling on him to reveal the nature of the relationship between the NICB and the FBI.

The letter reads in part: “I understand that the FBI and the National Insurance Crime Bureau are currently operating a joint national investigation of medical insurance claim abuse. Civil rights activists in my district have contacted me with concerns about this investigation, and have expressed to me their belief that this investigation is unfairly targeting minority groups and may involve racial profiling.” LULAC officials also are currently working with members of Congress to introduce legislation designed to stop these kinds of activities by the FBI and the insurance industry, in order to protect the public in general and people of color in particular.

Julie Marquez is chairwoman of LULAC Texas' Legislative Affairs Committee and of the Criminal and Social Justice Committee.

#SanAntonioTX #News #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #LeagueOfUnitedLatinAmericanCitizens #FBI #RacialProfiling