Fight Back! News

News and Views from the People's Struggle

RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem

By Sol Márquez

Los Angeles, CA – For nearly three years, activists have been trying to get Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey to open her doors to them. This morning, March 2, the front door to Lacey’s house was indeed opened, but with a gun pointed at the activists.

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By Jess Sundin

Protesters cause cancellation of Amy Klobuchar event, demanding "Free Myon Burre

St. Louis Park, MN – Amy Klobuchar supporters couldn’t fill the gymnasium, March 1, at Saint Louis Park High School, even with the help of some 250 protesters demanding freedom for Myon Burrell, an innocent Black teen she sent to prison for life when she was the county district attorney. Myon Burrell’s family, the Racial Justice Network, Minneapolis NAACP, Black Lives Matter Twin Cities, Twin Cities Coalition for Justice for Jamar, Communities United Against Police Brutality, and Black Lives Matter Minnesota called for community members to mobilize to protest at the Klobuchar rally, two days before the primary vote. For more than a month, they’ve been calling on Klobuchar to drop out of the race. Hours after the protest, she announced she’s doing just that.

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By staff

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Twin Cities Coalition for Justice for Jamar (TCC4J).

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By staff

Minneapolis, MN – Minnesota progressives are urging voters around the country to reject Democratic Party contender Amy Klobuchar.

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By Troi Valles

Free him now!

Armanda Shackleford.

Chicago, IL – The courtroom was packed February 14. This was my fourth Gerald Reed court hearing. Usually, there is a crowd of folks who show up to support Gerald and his mother, Armanda Shackleford, who has been fighting for her son since he was arrested, tortured and framed in 1990. Shackleford sits in the front row, wearing her Free Gerald Reed t-shirt. Together we sit for an hour, two hours, three, and hear powerful men debate the innocence of a man whose sentence was vacated a year ago.

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By Chicago Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression (CAARPR)

Impeach Judge Thomas J. Hennelly

Fight Back! News Service is circulating the following statement from the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, the Chicago Torture Justice Center, and Mamas Activating Movements for Abolition and Solidarity.

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By Jess Sundin

Frank Chapman speaking in the South High library, at Black History Month event.

Minneapolis, MN – Hundreds of people came out for several events marking Black History month with Chicago’s Frank Chapman, who is a leading member of Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

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By Ted Pearson

A wolf in sheep’s clothing?

Chicago, IL – William Elias Conway, III is running against Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx in the March 17 Democratic Party primary election. He has flooded TV airways and cable channels with commercials promoting his ‘progressive’ agenda, pledging to “defend Chicago’s marginal communities from attacks from Donald Trump.”

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By Ethan Costello

Kenosha, WI protest demands justice for Chrystul Kizer.

Kenosha, WI – Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) organized a #FreeChrystul rally at UW-Parkside on February 5 that saw 40 protesters attend. The demonstrators congregated outside the building where District Attorney Mike Graveley, Chrystul Kizer’s prosecutor, was teaching his first class of the spring semester, on criminal law.

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By Ariana Holmes

Rally demands "Drop the charges against Chrystul Kizer."

Kenosha, WI – As the semester approaches, members of the UW-Parkside chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) have been hard at work. Kicking off the new year, SDS is leading a rally in support of the release of Chrystul Kizer, a Milwaukee teenager accused of killing her sex trafficker, Randall Volar III.

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By Sam Martinez

St Paul event to honor MLK, Marcus Golden, and Stolen Lives.

Saint Paul, MN – On January 20, Twin Cities Coalition 4 Justice 4 Jamar (TCC4J) held an evening event to honor the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., Marcus Golden, and “stolen lives” of community members lost to police crimes and terror.

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By staff

Monique Cullars-Doty, aunt of Marcus Golden.

St. Paul, MN – Saint Paul police were soundly condemned on January 14 for a decade of crimes against families and communities. Monique Cullars-Doty, a community activist, chaired a press conference that highlighted some of these crimes and called on the city council to freeze the Saint Paul Police Department budget until there is an end to these disgraceful acts, along with a guarantee of transparency in the future and justice for victims and their families. She then invited others to speak about their loved ones murdered by police.

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By Gabriel Montero

Chicago, IL – In a pair of upcoming cases, Associate Judge Thomas Hennelly will have the fate of three wrongfully convicted men in his hands. Given who put them behind bars, his rulings could send a signal that Chicago has firmly turned its back on the legacy of police torture and wrongful convictions that hangs over the city. But, given Hennelly’s direct involvement in prosecuting police torture victims and his attempt to hide racist constitutional violations, Chicagoans would be remiss to expect impartiality from the bench.

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By staff

Frank Chapman.

Chicago, IL – More than a 1200 joined together November 22, at the hall of the Chicago Teachers Union, to refound the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. The newly refounded Alliance will center its efforts on building the fight against police crimes and for community control of the police, and it will campaign for the release of political prisoners and the wrongfully convicted.

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By staff

Interview with Frank Chapman

Frank Chapman.

Fight Back! interviews Frank Chapman on the November 22-24 Chicago conference to refound the National Alliance against Racist and Political Repression.

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By staff

Frank Chapman.

Entrevista con Frank Chapman sobre la Conferencia Nacional para la Refundación de la NAARPR este 22 al 24 de noviembre, 2019. Lucha y Resiste!: ¿Pudiera compartir unas palabras sobre cómo se lucirá la conferencia para relanzar la Alianza Nacional en Contra de la Represión Política y Racista?

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By Lindsey Spietz

Kenosha, WI – When Cyntoia Brown’s case was brought forward to the media, there was a large public outcry for justice. How could a victim of human trafficking be imprisoned for killing her rapist and trafficker? Unfortunately, her case is not novel. Chrystul Kizer, a Milwaukee native, has been charged with multiple counts for defending herself against a sexual predator, Randall Volar III.

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By staff

Chicago, IL – Founded in 1973 as an organization that grew out of the movement to free the wrongfully imprisoned Angela Davis and other political prisoners, the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression is set to relaunch this November. This refounding, led by the Chicago Alliance against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR) and other organizations, will be taking place in Chicago, Illinois on November 22-24 at the Chicago Teachers' Union Hall.

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By Christina Kittle

Jacksonville, FL – There is no denying the separation between the community and city officials in Jacksonville, Florida when it comes to solutions on crime and poverty. Community advocates continually push for solutions that will tackle the social and economic roots of crime while local politicians continue to support more policing.

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By Joe Iosbaker

Review of book by Frank Edgar Chapman, Jr.

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Chicago, IL – I’ve been waiting for this book. I first read an earlier draft of Frank Chapman’s memoirs in 2014. I thought then and now that this needed to get published, first and foremost, because the revolutionary movement needs it. As a result of the prison abolition movement, there is a broad awareness of the injustice of mass incarceration, but this book sees the revolutionary side of the misery.

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