For this year’s holiday honoring Dr. King, we are printing 3 commentaries on King’s political thinking that are important for understanding today’s situation – Fight Back! editors.

Benton Harbor, MI – On June 17, the African American community of this southern Michigan city rebelled against police terror. Police chased down, without justification, a 28-year old Black motorcyclist, Terrance Shurn. According to witnesses, they rammed his motorcycle from behind, causing it to crash into an abandoned house. Shun was killed. The pursuing officers gave each other high-fives. The cops then kicked his body.

Workers' rights are under attack in South Carolina. Later this summer, five members of the International Longshoreman's Association (ILA) will be going on trial. Elijah Forde Jr., Kenneth Jefferson, Peter Washington Jr., Rick Simmons, and John Edgerton face up to 5 years in prison. They are changed with felony riot. In truth, they have done nothing wrong. They stood up to a union-busting shipping firm and exercised their right to picket. For that, South Carolina Attorney General Charlie Condon says they deserve “jail, jail, and more jail.”

Interview With Conference Participants who are members of the Twin Cities based Welfare Rights Committee and Low Income People Organizing for Power (Duluth).

On June 19-21, the founding convention of the Black Radical Congress (B.R.C.) was held in Chicago. Nearly 2000 people came together to exchange experience, and to discuss strategy on how to build the Black Liberation Movement.

Chicago, IL – There's no question that police targeted the Humboldt Park neighborhood this past summer. There's also no question that the Humboldt Park neighborhood fought back.

New York, NY – On February 25, people were outraged at the verdict of “not guilty” in the case of the four undercover police officers who shot and killed an unarmed African man. Four cops fired 41 bullets, hitting Amadou Diallo 19 times. They were acquitted.

San Antonio, TX – The League of United Latin American Citizens, the oldest Latino civil rights group in the U.S., has issued a call for a congressional investigation of the FBI's partnership with the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), a private investigative group staffed by former law enforcement officers and funded by the insurance industry.

Oakland, CA – “The Power of the youth, don't stop, don't stop,” chanted hundreds of students at the statewide youth conference held at Oakland's Freemont High School, May 6. The youth set the path for change in a state known for its repressive laws against young people and people of color.

East Los Angeles, CA – The campaign to defeat Proposition 21, the war on youth ballot initiative, climaxed with a statewide week of rage, and protests led by young people. Thousands of L.A. youth protested by walking out of school, and marching through the middle of East Los Angeles, chanting, “Schools not Jails!”

Eight years ago an annual celebration began in Chicago that just keeps getting bigger and better: People's Thanksgiving. During this celebration, thanks and recognition are given to fighters for justice, and the continuing struggle against oppression is also commemorated.

San Juan, Puerto Rico – Demanding a halt to the repression of activists working for the independence of Puerto Rico, about 1000 people rallied at the Federal Courthouse here, Jan. 10. Protests took place in ten other cities including, Chicago, New York City and Los Angeles.

From the Federal Penitentiary in Victorville, where he is currently serving two life sentences, Gerardo Hernandez is sending a joyous message of gratitude to the supporters of the campaign to free the Five: “It is the solidarity of the people which has made this victory possible.” Commenting on the Aug. 9 decision by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to revoke the sentences and to order a new trial, Hernandez, one of the Cuban Five, expresses his belief that the victory is certain.

On Mar. 9, the five Cubans – Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino, René González, and Fernando González – unjustly imprisoned in various federal prisons across the United States on charges of terrorism and espionage, challenged the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva to break the wall of silence that surrounds their case.

International Support Grows

On March 10, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Miami will hold a hearing on the case of the five Cuban nationals imprisoned in the U.S. on charges of conspiracy to commit espionage. In truth, the five were working to thwart efforts of anti-Cuba terrorists. The attorneys for Ramon Labanino, Gerardo Hernandez, Rene Gonzalez, Antonio Guerrero and Fernando Gonzalez will have only three minutes for each of the defendants to present the 24 aspects of the appeal, which will be heard by a panel of three judges.

San Francisco, CA – The Miami Five are five Cuban nationals – Fernando González, Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino and René González. On June 8, 2001, they were convicted by the Federal District Court in Miami on charges ranging from espionage, to failure to register as agents of a foreign government, to conspiracy to commit murder.

Chicago, IL – On November 17, 300 students and community activists protested against police brutality at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The rally challenged the administration's cover up of police brutality.

An Interview with Cherrene Horazuk

In recent months the U.S. Department of Justice has sent threatening letters to the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES), which works in solidarity with grassroots social justice movements and the left in El Salvador. The government is accusing CISPES of being an 'agent of a foreign power' – specifically of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), the leftist political party in El Salvador. This echoes the FBI's groundless accusations against CISPES in the 1980s, which led to a seven-year campaign of illegal U.S. government harassment against CISPES that the FBI later had to apologize for.

Police Frame-Up Exposed

Chicago, IL – On April 6, a jury of twelve women and men told the Chicago Police Department and the Cook County State's Attorney's Office that they didn't buy their story about a police shooting last happened last June 10th. Community members from the Lathrop Homes housing projects and anti-police brutality activists are now celebrating the verdict in the Agenor Roman case, though the jury's decision is a partial victory.

New York, NY – On Nov. 21, U.S. District Court Judge Thomas P. Griesa ruled in favor of Brad Sigal, Ydanis Rodriguez and David Suker, three former student activists at the City College of New York (CCNY). The students praised the court decision in the Sigal v. Moses case, calling it an important victory for student activists and the student media.

Buffalo, NY – Dr. Steven Kurtz, a Professor of Visual Studies at the State University of New York at Buffalo and cofounder of the award-winning art and theater group Critical Art Ensemble (CAE), has been cleared of all charges of mail and wire fraud. On April 21, Federal Judge Richard J. Arcara dismissed the government’s entire indictment against Dr. Kurtz as “insufficient on its face.” This means that even if the actions alleged in the indictment (which the judge must accept as ‘fact’) were true, they would not constitute a crime.