Berkeley, CA – I just heard about the passing of Yuri Kochiyama from my father, another Nisei (second generation Japanese American) political activist, who lives in Berkeley about a mile from where Yuri was living. I didn’t know Yuri well, having only met her once when we were both attending the same program in the Asian American community. Nevertheless, she was the single most prominent individual Asian American activist of the 20th century and her life and politics pioneered the Asian American movement born in the late 1960s.
Tallahassee, FL – Students prevented the proposed split of the Florida A&M University-Florida State University (FAMU-FSU) College of Engineering this 2014 legislative session. Student activists organized and protested at the Florida legislature to force Republican politicians to back off. FAMU is an historically Black university and African-American students view the proposed split as a racist attempt to create separate and unequal colleges.
Milwaukee, WI – 35 people rallied outside the office of Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm, April 17, to protest his refusal to prosecute the killers of 16-year-old Corey Stingley. In 2012, the Black high school student was strangled to death by three white adult men after being accused of shoplifting.
Tallahassee, FL – About 150 members of Dream Defenders, an organization dedicated to fighting against racism while building the power of Black and Brown youth, marched into the Florida Capitol, March 3 to confront the Florida law makers and Governor Rick Scott with chants and protest on the first day of legislative session.
Tallahassee, FL – More than 200 people from Jacksonville, Orlando and Miami met at the steps of The Old Capitol in Tallahassee for Florida’s first Moral Monday rally, March 3. The NAACP organized the rally and was joined by other coalition members. Protesters discussed a people’s agenda for the next 60 days of the Florida legislative session, which began on March 4.
Milwaukee, WI – Dozens of students at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee rallied on campus to protest racial injustice and racial profiling, February 26, the second anniversary of the murder of Trayvon Martin.
Jacksonville, FL – Protests continue to grow outside the murder trial of Michael Dunn. Dunn is the racist vigilante who shot and killed 17 year old African American youth Jordan Davis for playing loud music. Forty people chanted, “Turn up for Jordan Davis” and “Murder is a crime, Michael Dunn should do the time” outside the Duval County Courthouse on February 14.
Jacksonville, FL – On February 12, the prosecution and defense attorneys in the trial of Michael Dunn made closing arguments. Dunn is the racist vigilante who shot and killed 17 year old African American youth Jordan Davis. The jury began deliberations at 5:02 p.m. and met for several hours before agreeing to reconvene on February 13.
Jacksonville, FL – CNN wants to make out the killing of 17-year-old Jordan Davis and the first-degree murder trial of his killer, Michael Dunn, to be an irrational dispute over loud music. How else do you explain the headline, “Loud music' murder trial begins” from Feb. 5? CNN is hardly alone, as reporters and pundits try to downplay comparisons to the George Zimmerman trial and make the Dunn trial about anything except racism.
Raleigh, NC – An estimated 80,000 to 100,000 people mobilized early in the morning of Feb.8 for the annual Historic Thousands on Jones Street in Raleigh, organized by the NAACP. This march was in conjunction with the start of the Moral Marches for 2014, intended to continue the momentum from last year's Moral Monday movement, in which thousands of protesters demonstrated at the doorstep of the state capitol. Over 900 people were arrested during acts of civil disobedience during the 2013 protests, refusing to give up their right to assembly.
