Chicago, IL – This week, Chicago saw elections for mayor and city council in which almost all the candidates ran on platforms opposing outgoing Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Progressive victories were won in a number of wards across the city, including by Maria Hadden, a young, Black, queer woman who unseated Joe Moore in the far Northside Rogers Park neighborhood. Moore had been a progressive 25 years ago but is now a staunch ally of the mayor and a defender of big money developers. Hadden was recently a board member of Black Youth Project 100, and hers was a major win for progressives in the first round of elections.
Chicago, IL – 300 people came out to rally for justice for Laquan McDonald, Sept. 5, at the courthouse at 26th and California to mark the opening of the first-degree murder trial of police officer Jason Van Dyke.
Chicago, IL – City council allies of Mayor Rahm Emanuel held a hearing in the South Side neighborhood of Roseland Tuesday night, May 15, to consider several pieces of legislation on police accountability. They attempted to use a rigged process to smother the voices of the mainly Black movement for community control of the police. For six years, the movement has supported legislation to create an elected, civilian police accountability council (CPAC).
Chicago, IL – On the morning of Aug. 3, International President Mary Kay Henry of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) placed SEIU Local 73 in trusteeship. This immediately removed from office the principal officers of the local, including President Christine Boardman and Secretary Treasurer Matt Brandon. Henry cited the “dysfunctional” relationship between Boardman and Brandon as the main reason for her action.
Fight Back News Service is circulating following June 1 statement by Frank Chapman, Field Organizer, Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR).
Chicago, IL – In response to the announcement of over 1000 layoffs of teachers and staff, the Chicago Teachers Union rallied, marched and occupied the Bank of America (BoA) on LaSalle Street, Feb. 4.
Protests in Chicago have been occurring for weeks in reaction to a mass cover-up by the Chicago Police Department, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Cook County State Attorney Anita Alvarez. LaQuan McDonald was a 17-year-old African American teen who was murdered – shot to death by Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke in October 2014. Shortly after the murder, killer cop Van Dyke and the Chicago police tried to claim that McDonald had threatened the officer’s life. However, recently released police cruiser dashcam footage showed McDonald walking away from police officers as Van Dyke fired 16 bullets into his body. Many of those shots occurring as McDonald lay dying on the ground.
Chicago, IL – Chanting, “How many shots? 16 shots!” the second walk-out in a week took the streets in downtown Chicago Dec 18. Protest organizers like Lamon Reccord and Rousemary Vega called for Mayor Rahm Emanuel to resign because he covered up the murder of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald for 13 months.
Chicago, IL – On Friday, Dec. 18, people in Chicago will again walk out of school and off their jobs to call for Mayor Rahm Emanuel and State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez to resign. The protesters will assemble outside Chicago City Hall, around Daley Plaza.
Chicago, IL – #ResignRahm was trending today, Nov. 9, on Twitter, as high school students and office employees walked off their jobs to march outside city hall. What started as a joke Facebook event resulted in thousands of people in a protest demanding that Mayor Rahm Emanuel resign.
