PFLP salutes the Black struggle in the US: The Empire will fall from within
Fight Back News Service is circulating the following Aug. 19 statement from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP):
News and Views from the People's Struggle
Fight Back News Service is circulating the following Aug. 19 statement from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP):
On Aug. 9, Michael Brown was murdered by the police in Ferguson, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. The African-American youth was only 18 years old. He was unarmed and committed no crime, yet was brutally shot by the police after they stopped and harassed him while he walked to his grandmother's house. Michael had a bright future ahead of him, as he was set to start classes at Vatterott College just a few days later. His family was proud of their son.
Tampa, FL — University of South Florida computer engineering professor Sami Al-Arian was set free today in Virginia. Federal prosecutors decided to finally drop his case today after his family waited in legal limbo for five years. The judge who delayed the ruling presides over a court nicknamed the “rocket docket” for its speed of settling cases.
Jacksonville, FL – On June 10, Circuit Judge James Daniel pushed back Marissa Alexander's retrial date from July 21 to Dec. 1. Alexander is a 33-year-old African-American mother facing 60 years in prison for firing a warning shot to fend off her abusive husband. Originally convicted of assault with a deadly weapon and sentenced to 20 years in prison, Alexander received a new trial in 2013 when a District Court of Appeals judge overturned the decision.
Milwaukee, WI – 150 people gathered on the steps of Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm's office, Jan. 17, to demand justice for Corey Stingley. Stingley, a 16-year-old Black male, was strangled to death by three white customers after a store clerk accused him of theft.
West Allis, WI – Family and friends of Corey Stingley organized a rally outside VJ's Food Mart, Dec. 15, where the 16-year-old was strangled by white vigilantes one year ago. Supporters demanded charges be filed against the people responsible for killing Stingley.
Jacksonville, FL – The Civil War may have ended in 1865, but people in Jacksonville continue to struggle against the remains of the racist Confederate States of America in 2013. With more than 157,000 petitions signed and growing mass pressure on the Duval County School Board, community activists are waging a campaign to rename Nathan Bedford Forrest High School.
Jacksonville, FL – On Sept. 26, a Florida appeals court ordered a new trial for Marissa Alexander, the African American mother given a 20-year prison sentence for firing a warning shot to fend off her abusive husband. The announcement comes after more than a year of protests across the country that raised the demand, “Free Marissa now!”
Sanford, FL – Sixty people rallied in Sanford, Florida, to demand justice for Trayvon Martin on Friday, July 12. The protesters gave speeches and press interviews on the last day of George Zimmerman’s murder trial at the Seminole County Criminal Justice Center. Members of the Sanford community, the NAACP, the Tampa and Tallahassee chapters of Dream Defenders, the New Black Panther Party, Students for a Democratic Society, union members, and others waved signs “Justice for Trayvon Martin” and “We are all Trayvon”. They chanted “No Justice, No Peace” while cops and media looked on.
Fight Back! is calling for protests in the wake of the verdict of the George Zimmerman trial. The trial of George Zimmerman is now concluded and the jury is deliberating. Across the United States, people are awaiting the verdict on this racist killer who stalked and shot dead 17 year old African-American student Trayvon Martin in February 2012. Odds are there is not going to be any justice for Trayvon Martin in the courtroom. The vigilante murder of an African-American will likely not result in a guilty verdict on a murder charge. Fight Back! is calling on people to protest the verdict!