St. Paul, MN – On February 8, in honor of Black History Month, the Minnesota Anti-War Committee (AWC) presented an educational panel titled “Black Against Empire: Perspectives On Liberation In Haiti, Congo, Sudan, and the U.S.A.”

The panel was held at Macalester College in Saint Paul. Experts, activists and community leaders spoke about the timelines, struggles and victories of African people throughout history against imperialist oppression.

The panelists included Frank Chapman, head of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NAARPR); Nick Tolliver, member of the AWC; Mohammed Farah, member of Healthcare Workers For Palestine, along with a written statement submitted by Ruben Joanem of the Haiti Justice Committee. Facilitating the event were Liz Bolsoni from the AWC and Trahern Crews from Black Lives Matter Minnesota.

“The bottom line is, we have to fight our way out of this. We can’t analyze our way out of it. We can’t pray our way out of it. We’ve got to fight our way out of it,” Chapman said. “We’re building a mass movement, and we’ve got to build even greater.” Chapman is the Executive Director of NAARPR, field organizer of its Chicago chapter, the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, and sits on the Central Committee of Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

“The exploitation of the Congo is the beating heart of the global capitalist system and our collective liberation from imperialism and capitalism is bound together with the liberation of the Congo,” said Tolliver, who provided a history of liberation struggles in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Tolliver is an anti-war activist and self-proclaimed “Black history nerd” who is passionate about Congo solidarity and African liberation.

Farah was born and raised in Khartoum, Sudan, and works as a hospital pharmacist in Minnesota while pursuing a graduate degree in public health. Farah expanded on the cultural foundation of Sudan found in art and poetry. He said, “Poets are the embodiment of the soul of a nation. It creates the spirit of Sudanese nationalism.”

As presentations and speeches concluded, a dialogue was opened between the panelists and the audience to further discuss issues that Black people have historically faced and how they tie in with modern struggles connected with capitalism and imperialism.

The final question asked was about the future of community organizing around Black liberation, to which Chapman closed with the statement, “Well, the future is always now. And the future belongs to those who are willing to fight for it.”

#StPaulMN #MN #AntiWarMovement #OppressedNationalities #AfricanAmerican #BlackHistoryMonth #International #Africa #Sudan #Congo #StudentMovement #NAARPR #MNAWC #BLM

New Orleans, LA – On Sunday, February 9, the family of Glenn Foster Jr hosted a press conference at noon in front of the Hale Boggs Federal Building in downtown New Orleans. As media came to town to cover the Super Bowl, Glenn’s mother, Sabrina Foster, seized the moment to bring light on her son.

Glenn Foster Jr was a professional football player who was found dead in police custody in 2021 after a traffic stop.

The conference began with chants demanding “We want answers! We want justice!” Then, Sabrina Foster told Glenn’s story: “I would like everyone to ask the question: What happened to NFL Saints player Glenn Foster Jr?”

Glenn Foster Jr. was traveling from New Orleans to Atlanta when he was pulled over for allegedly speeding in Pickens County, Alabama. He was then handcuffed, tased and put in jail. Three days later, on December 6, 2021, Foster was found dead in the back of a police car as police were transporting him. Speaking of the police who killed her son, Sabrina Foster said, “They don’t know who Glenn’s momma is. Just because it hasn’t been in the news doesn’t mean that we ain’t gonna come after you!”

Police and a state autopsy said Glenn Jr. died of natural causes due to a heart attack. But the 31-year-old athlete was in excellent health and had no prior history of heart disease according to the family.

“When I saw my son’s body with the wounds around his neck, and I saw the state autopsy say he died of natural causes, [I knew it was] a pack of lies,” said Glenn Foster Sr.

A second independent autopsy revealed evidence of strangulation, torture, and that Foster Jr. was repeatedly tased. “They say justice is blind. Not if you’re Black! The cops abused their authority and they took my son’s life,” exclaimed Foster Sr.

The family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit that was approved to move forward at the end of 2024. While they continue with legal proceedings, they ask the public to learn about their son’s case and uplift his story on social media.

The Fosters have also recently started a New Orleans chapter of Black Lives Matter Grassroots to continue the fight for their son and other families victimized by police brutality. For more information, follow @blm_nola on Instagram.

#NewOrleansLA #LA #InJusticeSystem #PoliceCrimes #KillerCops #BLM

St. Paul, MN - As Donald Trump was inaugurated the 47th president of the United States on Monday, January 20, people gathered in Saint Paul to make a promise that from day one they would resist Trump’s agenda. 

The day began at the Saint Paul Police Department’s Western District precinct. With temperatures dipping to negative five degrees, a single hearse led a caravan of over 100 cars in remembrance of Marcus Golden. At the young age of 24, Mr. Golden was murdered by Saint Paul Police on January 14, 2015. He is the nephew of Black Lives Matter Twin Cities organizer Monique Cullars-Doty. 

The caravan participants decorated their cars with Palestinian flags and signs in support of the defense of Black lives, immigrant rights, and reproductive rights. The caravan proceeded from The Saint Paul Police Department’s Western District precinct along University Avenue. Two young men exited their parked cars in subzero weather to wave a Palestinian flag in support as the caravan passed. The caravan participants honked as they continued east toward downtown.

Cullars-Doty spoke about the significance of the single hearse leading the caravan today. “The hearse is from the same undertaker who took my nephew Marcus Golden’s body from Ramsey County Coroner’s office, but it also represents all the revolutionaries this country has killed and silenced. It is also symbolic that we all follow the hearse because we are still fighting. So as this Trump administration rolls in, we cannot let our dreams die. It means we have to keep fighting.” 

A coalition of organizations led by Black Lives Matter Twin Cities (BLM-TC Metro), the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC), and Twin Cities Coalition for Justice (TCC4J) organized the car caravan and indoor rally.

In the shadow of the Minnesota State Capitol, the caravan arrived at Saint Paul College where 500 attendees filled the cafeteria to chants of “Black Lives, they matter here! and “Immigrants are welcome here!” 

Despite the somber occasion of Trump’s second inauguration, the room buzzed with enthusiasm as the emcees led the crowd in chants. Speaking for MIRAC was Manuel Pascual - a first generation Filipino immigrant who witnessed the violence of ICE raids against his community first hand. 

Pascual stated, “Immigrants and the working class are the backbone of this country. It is extremely important we don’t panic or fall into despair in this time of uncertainty. Instead, we organize. We take to the streets. We continue speaking up, showing up, and fighting for one another.” 

Charlie Berg, a member of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, affirmed the task ahead of everyone in the room: “It is up to all of us to unite the many in order to defeat the few. We need to make this country ungovernable! Our job is to take the fight to higher stages than ever before.”

Toshira Garraway, the founder of Families Supporting Families Against Police Violence, whose fiancé was murdered by the Saint Paul Police in 2009, inspired the crowd saying, “When we see someone being hurt or harmed or mistreated for any reason at all it’s going to take every nationality of people from every walk of life to stand up against the evil and the corruption in this world and we are going to win!”

Sarah Murphy from the Minnesota Abortion Action Committee who spoke about the fight for abortion access under Trump and the fight against the predatory crisis pregnancy centers that are run by the Christian right and embed themselves in predominantly Black and brown working-class communities and college towns to dissuade people from getting abortions.

The crowd also heard speeches from the Climate Justice Committee, the TCC4J, the Minnesota Immigrant Movement, among many others. Other groups were present to table and talk to community members and other organizers throughout the day to share information and get more community members involved in joining the fight against Trump. 

Closing out the program was Anti-War Committee and Free Palestine Coalition member Sabry Wazwaz, who connected the fights for Black and Palestinian liberation, stating, “This connection is not something new. It has always been there. They don’t want us to remind each other that our struggle is one struggle! If you go to Palestine, you will see murals all along the apartheid walls of Martin Luther King, of Malcom X, of George Floyd - because our struggle is one struggle!”

After the program, participants returned to their cars to caravan to the Minnesota State Capitol building where they ended the day of protest honking outside of the Minnesota State Capitol to send the message that Minnesotans will be in the streets to fight Trump’s agenda starting on day one, even in extreme subzero weather.

#StPaulMN #MLKDay #MLK #Trump #Inauguration #Minnesota #AntiWarCommittee #FreePalestineCoalition #FreePalestine #Abortion #AbortionAccess #ReproductiveFreedom #ReproRights #BLM #BlackLivesMatter

Minneapolis, MN – Disgraced former Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis leader, Bob Kroll, seeks President-elect Trump’s nomination to become U.S. Marshal for the Minnesota Judicial District. Kroll, a 30-year veteran of the Minneapolis Police Department, had a lengthy disciplinary record, including wrongful arrest and excessive force complaints, before his retirement in 2021.

Kroll settled a federal civil suit in 2023, banning him from serving as a police officer in Hennepin, Ramsey, or Anoka Counties for ten years. The lawsuit, filed by the ACLU of Minnesota, alleged that Kroll and his colleagues in the MPD retaliated against community members exercising their right to protest and used excessive force and chemical irritants without providing sufficient warning. The settlement also bars Kroll from serving in a leadership role in any law enforcement agency in those counties, or in any role on the Minnesota Board of Peace Officer Standards and Training, the state’s law enforcement oversight and licensing board.

Bob Kroll and MPD’s wanton brutality in response to the uprising in 2020, sparked by MPD’s execution of George Floyd, was the rule rather than the exception. Over the course of his career, Kroll amassed over 20 internal affairs complaints and was named in several lawsuits. In an April 2020 interview with STIM Radio host Maxwell Thomas Silverhammer, Kroll stated, “I’ve been involved in three shootings myself, and not a one of them has bothered me. Maybe I’m different.”

Alongside his violent career as a Minneapolis police officer, Kroll served as the president of the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis from 2015 to 2021.

“Police unions are not real unions, and police officers are not real workers. Police protect property and the rights of the ruling class. They don’t protect community,” said Angel Smith-El, an organizer with Minneapolis for Community Control of the Police. Several community organizations and a number of labor groups, including Education Minnesota, the Minnesota Nurses Association, and Minnesota AFL-CIO, called for Kroll’s resignation as police federation president after his comments in the wake of George Floyd’s murder.

Just days after that tragedy, Kroll sent a letter to police federation members praising their response to the protests, defending the officers who murdered George Floyd, and lamenting that MPD officers were “held back” from using sufficient gas munitions and less-lethal munitions on protesters.

“Bob Kroll has played such a nefarious role in policing in Minneapolis and beyond,” said Noah Schumacher, an organizer with the Twin Cities Coalition for Justice. “The fact that he has been barred from policing and has himself been involved in multiple shootings, which he refers to so flippantly, shows that he has no business in law enforcement anywhere. He embodies everything that the Trump administration is going to bring.”

Last weekend, Kroll’s attorney released a letter supporting his application to join the U.S. Marshals, which is involved in asset forfeiture, witness protection, transporting federal inmates, and providing security for federal courthouses and judges in Minnesota. While it is unclear what the selection process entails, the decision ultimately lies in the hands of the incoming administration.

Kroll’s bid for the federal position comes in the same week that the city of Minneapolis reached a tentative agreement with the Department of Justice (DOJ) in the form of a consent decree that would purportedly increase oversight and shift the department’s use of force policy. A similar DOJ consent decree in New Orleans has already been riddled with conflicts of interest, including a number of former New Orleans Police Department leaders on the payroll of the organization tasked with overseeing the consent decree. It is unclear how the existing consent decrees and other ongoing federal police reforms will be impacted by the Trump administration, which has been vocally supportive of militarized policing and violent crackdowns on political dissent.

Trump has repeatedly called for qualified immunity, creating another barrier to holding police accountable when they commit crimes on duty. The coming weeks and months will be informative, as community members watch to see how the incoming Trump administration will take up the Biden administration’s torch in the work to impede police reform and oversight.

On Monday, January 20, starting at noon, the Twin Cities Coalition for Justice, Black Lives Matter MN, the MN Immigrant Rights Action Committee and others will protest under the slogan “Fight for MLK’s Dream. Resist Trump’s Nightmare.”

#MinneapolisMN #MN #InJusticeSystem #Trump #MLK #TCC4J #BLM #MIRAC

Atlanta, GA - On Thursday, October 24, in Brunswick, Georgia, dozens of family, friends and community members gathered at Glynn County Courthouse as the defense counsel for the three men who have been imprisoned for the killing of Ahmaud Arbery pled their case for a retrial.

Background to a Georgia lynching

Ahmaud Arbery was a 25-year-old Black man who was jogging in his Georgia neighborhood of Satilla Shores on February 23, 2020, when three white me – Travis McMichael, his father Gregory McMichael, and their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan – killed him. The McMichaels were in one vehicle, armed, while Bryan was in another vehicle. The men used the two vehicles to block Arbery in. Bryan stayed in his vehicle while recording on his cell phone. Travis McMichael exited his vehicle and stood on the driver’s side holding a shotgun while Gregory McMichael stood in the bed of their truck holding a handgun.

As Arbery approached their truck from the back, he attempted to run past their vehicle while avoiding Travis by running on the passenger side. Travis advanced around the front of the vehicle toward Arbery. Ahmaud Arbery attempted to defend himself before being fatally shot three times by Travis McMichael as they struggled over the shotgun.

This murder case brought national headlines for two main reasons: the public release of the video that Bryan took on his cell phone and the racial motivation of the crime that came out clearly during investigation. 911 dispatch recordings show that two 911 calls were made on Arbery that day. The first was a neighbor complaining that he had stopped jogging to examine a construction site. The second was Gregory McMichael who said, ”I'm out here at Satilla Shores...There's a black male running down the street.“ In statements to the police, Gregory McMichael explained that he and his son were attempting to perform a citizen’s arrest on Arbery for thefts in the neighborhood.

Initially, the Waycross Judicial Circuit district attorney did not intend to arrest or charge any of the three men involved in Arbery’s murder, saying that his death was a “justifiable homicide” based on Gregory and Travis McMichael’s claims that Arbery initiated the physical altercation.

It wasn’t until the release of the video on May 5 to a local news station and the subsequent uploading of video clips online that public outcry forced the state to press charges on the McMichaels, and both father and son were arrested on May 7. On May 8, Roddie Bryan sought legal counsel and was interviewed by the Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI) on May 11 and 13. Two weeks later, Bryan was also charged and arrested.

Bryan’s statements to police included the fact that Travis McMichael had called Arbery a “fucking n***er” while standing over his dying body.

18 months later, each of the three men was found guilty of multiple counts of murder, aggravated assault, and false imprisonment. The McMichaels were sentenced to life without parole and Bryan was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole.

In addition to these state-level convictions, the three men were also convicted of a federal hate crimes charge in 2022. This past March, the 11th Circuit heard their appeal of that hate crime conviction, but it has yet to issue a decision.

Throughout 2020 during the George Floyd Rebellion, Ahmaud Arbery’s name was chanted alongside George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Elijah McClain and countless other names by millions of people in the streets demanding an end to racist violence. In Georgia, Arbery’s death led to the creation of a state Hate Crimes law which remains on the books today.

Killers pushing for retrial

This week, Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael and William “Roddie” Bryan appeared in court while their attorneys used increasingly outlandish tactics to get a retrial. The younger McMichael’s attorney, Pete Donaldson, headed up most of the day’s proceedings for the defense.

As he repeated himself at length, Donaldson’s Mr. Smith Goes to Washington-worthy performance drew laughs of disbelief from the gallery and led a nearby reporter to write “filibuster??” on his notepad.

In the case of all three men, their argument hinges on the assertion that members of the jury received “extraneous information” about the case that clouded their ability to carry out their duties without prejudice against the McMichaels and Bryan. To prove this, Donaldson called Juror 380 (jurors were only referred to by number to protect their anonymity) to the stand.

This was a controversial move among the gathered crowd as Juror 380 was the only Black person on the jury.

Donaldson’s questioning of Juror 380 went from strange and confusing to bizarre and groan-inducing over the course of the 45-minute exchange. Highlights included more than 50 individual uses of the phrase “hot dog” and asking Juror 380 to recount conversations in prayer with “the Lord.”

Juror 380 lives just a few short blocks from the courthouse where rallies took place in support of the Arbery family before and during the trial. Donaldson’s questions were intended to accuse Juror 380 of an inability to be impartial because, first, Juror 380 walked past a rally to order a hot dog at a local stand, and second, Juror 380 is a deeply religious person who prayed to “the Lord” about their role as a juror and admitted to feeling sorry for the Arbery family, imagining what could happen to their own children.

Bizarre arguments to get racist murderers off the hook

William Bryan’s attorney, Rodney Zell, took it a step farther and attempted to make a few additional arguments. Zell called Bryan’s original trial attorney, Kevin Gough, to the stand. During this exchange, the arguments by Bryan’s attorney centered on three major themes.

First, Zell attempted to paint a picture of improper communication between attorney Gough and law enforcement and/or prosecution by rehashing a timeline of events leading up to Bryan's eventual arrest.

Second, he attempted to establish the lack of mental fortitude of his client. During this section of examination, Gough used “stupid” and “lil dummy” in reference to Bryan, claiming that if Bryan had better verbal skills, he would not have made such incriminating statements to the police that led to his conviction. Incredibly, Gough said, “it’s not like he’s retarded,” but still had “very little” comprehension and was a shy man who was more likely to have just been going along with the stronger personality of Gregory McMichaels.

Finally, appealing attorney Zell revealed, through his examination of attorney Gough, that the latter had intended to make a ‘mistake of fact’ defense in the original trial and simply forgot to do so in his closing arguments. Under oath, Gough claimed that he “bungled it” and that clearly the new attorney intended to try to make a similar argument for retrial.

“Mistake of fact” is a legal defense when a defendant's mistaken belief negates the mental state required to commit a crime. The example Senior Assistant District Attorney Linda Dunikoski used to illustrate this defense was if Person A gave Person B’s credit card to her, and told her that Person B said it was okay for her to put a charge on the card, that she could then use a mistake of fact defense if she was later charged with theft.

Throughout the questioning and the rest of the court appearance, however, it was never made clear what “mistake of fact” Bryan might have been operating under during the murder that would then negate his guilt. The judge clarified for the court that assumptions cannot be used as basis for mistake of fact. Thus, Bryan’s assumption that Arbery was guilty of robbery or Bryan’s assumption that the McMichaels were not armed would not negate his guilt.

The day ended when the defense attorneys agreed to submit written briefs for the rest of their arguments. No date for continuing the hearing was scheduled.

Family and community react

Ahmaud Arbery’s father and aunt - Marcus Arbery and Diane Jackson - were among the gathered friends, family and community in attendance at the hearing on Thursday. The general attitude was that this hearing was cruel to the family and a waste of everyone’s time.

“They can tell they ain’t got nothing to stand on,” said Diane Jackson, referring to the defense attorneys, “but all they doing is opening wounds for the family. We tired of this...leave us alone, that’s all we ask.”

Many in the crowd shook their heads with disgusted dismay, lamenting that Juror 380 was singled out because of their status as the only Black juror. “If that don’t show you that racism is still strong!” Jackson declared, “It’s wrong.”

Laith Abdel Hader, an organizer with the Atlanta Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, left Atlanta at 4 a.m. to make the five-hour journey to Brunswick. They were joined by a dozen other concerned community members from the Atlanta Alliance and Black Lives Matter Grassroots Atlanta. Abdel Hader shared that their attendance at the rally was to support the Arbery family and ensure that the “white supremacist killers stay in prison where they should be.”

#AtlantaGA #JusticeforAhmaud #AhmaudArbery #AtlantaAlliance #BLM #Feature

Minneapolis, MN – On Monday, October 14 over 50 protesters gathered together on Indigenous People’s Day to tell Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance that he is not welcome in Minneapolis. Vance attended a private fundraiser in Minneapolis the same day, and held a press conference at the burned down Minneapolis former 3rd Precinct police station.

The protest was organized by the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) as part of a national week of action called by the Legalization for All Network to stand with Haitian immigrants in the fight for legalization for all, in the face of the intensely racist anti-immigrant rhetoric spewed by right-wing politicians at every turn.

Vance and the Trump administration continuously dehumanize immigrants to fuel their campaign that champions racist inequality above all else. Vance has been a major player in spreading disgusting lies about Haitian immigrants consuming pets in Springfield, Ohio. Since these lies have been popularized, threats and vandalism targeting Springfield immigrants have forced families to shelter at home, many too afraid to send their children to school.

The protest began with chants of “No hate, no fear, immigrants are welcome here!” as the crowd prepared to listen to speeches and hold banners and signs to the honks of supportive cars driving by.

A speaker from the Haiti Justice Committee of Minnesota called out the anti-immigrant lie Vance has been spewing that Haitian immigrants eat dogs and cats. “It was like watching a horror show because we know that it’s a lie.”

She continued: “The empty rhetoric that Trump and JD Vance are pushing regarding Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio is false propaganda due to a lack of sound plans to address serious and difficult issues such as global warming, homelessness, inflation, health care costs, and so forth. Without migrants the economy would be in a dire situation. The hospitality industry, the construction industry, and the agricultural industry rely heavily on the labor of immigrants.”

Alfreda Daniels, a Liberian immigrant and co-founder of the Black Immigrant Collective also spoke to the despicable use of immigrants as scapegoats to the country’s issues and how immigrants must be welcome regardless of how they came here, stating, “When I hear people like Vance and Trump say that people need to come in the right way, tell me, what is the right way? There is no ‘right way.’”

Protesters also heard from Noah Schumacher with Twin Cities Coalition for Justice (TCC4J) about the connections between struggles against oppression around the world and the fight for community control of the police, as, little did the crowd know, JD Vance was telling racist lies in his meeting with the Minneapolis Police Department outside of the former 3rd Precinct around the same time.

Schumacher stated, “Many of us here in the U.S. are so indoctrinated with the myths of how great the American Revolution is, we are never taught about the revolution that was a real leap forward for humanity: the Haitian Revolution. In Twin Cities Coalition for Justice, we see how the struggles for Haiti, Palestine, and across the globe are connected to our struggles here to get community control of the police.”

The protest concluded with a passionate speech from Mari Mansfield with MIRAC in support of legalization for all: “We have to stand up and fight back. We have to fight for immigrants, for the people who walked across the earth to be here, for the people who carried their children on their backs to be here. And to do that, we need legalization for all!”

The protest was led by the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) and featured speakers from the Black Immigrant Collective, Haiti Justice Committee of Minnesota, Black Lives Matter, the Minnesota Abortion Action Committee and the MN Anti-War Committee.

#MinneapolisMN #MN #ImmigrantRights #Haiti #MIRAC #HJCMN #BLM #MNAAC #MNAWC #TCC4J #Vance #Trump #Feature

Philadelphia, PA – Over 70 people took to the streets of North Philadelphia on May 1, International Workers Day. Community members and political organizations rallied together at the Philadelphia Peace Park, an area that has been liberated by the community from the Philadelphia Housing Authority’s racist management. It is now the site of a community garden where Peace Park volunteers are building a structure to hold community and educational events.

Although it is an international holiday and is more widely recognized in some countries than it is in the United States, the origins of May Day stretch back to Chicago in the 1880s. For over 100 years, May 1 has marked a day for the international working class to show solidarity as a class and support the rights of all.

The initial rally at the Peace Park stressed both the solidarity of those present in their fight against the oppressors and the memory of those fighters who live on through their contributions to the struggle.

The crowd formed up in the street and proceeded to the beat of drums to wave the red flag of socialism, the red, black and green flag of Black liberation, and the banners of embattled Palestine and the Philippines. Police shut down the roads three blocks in each direction of the demonstration as it moved. They marched chanting, “What’s the plan? Free the land! What’s the call? Free them all,“ to the office of the Philadelphia Housing Authority to deliver a statement demanding the deed to the land where the park is located. Marchers made it clear that Peace Park isn’t going anywhere and will not be surrendered back to the housing authority to be used for gentrification.

Organizers stopped two more times and took the mic to speak on imperialism, the history of Philadelphia, and the need for organization and solidarity in the international struggle against capitalism and national oppression.

Krystal Strong, representing Black Lives Matter Philly, spoke on the importance of organization and solidarity, stating “If you look at our history when we’ve been our strongest, when we’ve been the closest to liberation there's two things that we’ve done: the first is to join an organization, there is a place for every single member of our community, including the children, in our struggle; and we have connected across our organizations.”

Demonstrators finished their march back at the Peace Park where they shared a delicious and healthy meal.

Many organizations contributed to and supported the day’s events including the Philly Peace Park, We Charge Colonialism, African People’s Socialist Party, Philly Black Worker’s Project, Black Lives Matter Philly, Ubuntu Freedom, All-African People’s Revolutionary Party, Voices of the People Podcast, Anakbayan Philly with many others present including Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

#PhiladelphiaPA #PA #Labor #MayDay #FRSO #APSP #WCC #BLM #BWP #AAPRP #Anakbayan

St. Paul, MN – On April 12, at the weekly Women Against Military Madness (WAMM) protest for Palestine, 100 people the people of Gaza who have endured over 189 days of relentless, U.S.-funded and backed Israeli attacks.

Over 33,686 people have been slaughtered, mostly women and children, and those still alive face a deadly shortage of food, safe water, medicine and stand on the abyss of famine due to Israel’s total blockade, siege and bombing.

Ten speakers from multiple community organizations such as MN Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC), MN Workers United, Black Lives Matter – MN (BLM-MN), and many others spoke to the engaged crowd and shared in their outrage.

Barry Reich of Veterans for Peace Chapter 27 informed the crowd of his participation in the Freedom Flotilla Coalition in the coming weeks to journey to Gaza, along with Coleen Rowley of WAMM. The coalition aims to deliver up to 5500 tons of vital aid to Gaza and end Israel’s unlawful blockade and control over Gaza’s land and sovereignty. Reich stated, “We’re not compliant with Israel’s siege.”

Monique Cullars Doty of Black Lives Matter-MN emphasized, “As we fight for Black liberation, we stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people for their liberation as well and for the liberation of all oppressed people.” She announced that to express this solidarity, BLM-MN will demand a “Free Palestine” during their Juneteenth march for Black reparations on June 19.

Sarah Martin, a long-time member of WAMM, addressed the Deir Yassin massacre and its significance in the Palestinian fight for liberation. Martin stated, “April 9, 1948, just weeks before Israel became a state, the village of Deir Yassin, a small village on a hill just outside Jerusalem, was brutally attacked by Zionist forces. 150 to 200 Palestinians were slaughtered in the most barbaric ways.” This was one of countless massacres that led to the illegal occupation of Palestine by Israeli forces that year. The effects of this day on Palestine today are never-ending.

Martin concluded her speech by saying, “It’s natural and legal for people to resist occupation and oppression, but a huge price is paid. The Algerians who in their struggle for liberation from France lost a million lives, and the Vietnamese who lost 3 million people in their fight to free themselves from the U.S. empire. We know this would all end in a day if Biden cut off weapons and diplomatic support for Israel.”

Participants chanted “Victory to the resistance!” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!”

WAMM holds a rally every Friday from 4 to 5 p.m. in Saint Paul on the intersection of Summit and Snelling Avenues.

#StPaulMN #TwinCitiesMN #AntiWarMovement #International #MiddleEast #Palestine #WAMM #BLM

Los Angeles, CA – Thousands of supporters from South LA, along with multiple political forces, continued to denounce the killing of 29-year-old Dijon Kizzee by the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department (LASD) at a protest on September 12. Kizzee was shot 20 times by deputies from LASD’s South LA station for an alleged vehicle code violation that ended in a fatal altercation on August 31. Kizzee’s family called for murder charges against the sheriff deputies responsible for his death.

Organized by Coalition for Community Control of Police, Black Lives Matter-LA and several other organizations, the action started at the site where deputies shot and killed Kizzee. Protesters then marched through the neighborhood until arriving at a nearby intersection next to the sheriff's station. They were met with sheriffs in riot gear who blocked the main road of Imperial Highway with barricades and military vehicles.

Several families who have lost their sons to police killings denounced the LA County Sheriffs and LAPD. The groups called for prosecution of the police, the ousting of LA’s District Attorney Jackie Lacey, and voting Trump out in the 2020 November elections. Carlos Montes with Centro CSO spoke of the unity and solidarity that exists between the Blacks and Chicanos. He called for community control of the police and Black power, saying that once Black people are free, we will all be free!

Since the killing of Dijon Kizzee, actions at the South LA station have ranged from press conferences to protests. The South LA County South LA Sheriff's station has met these organized and spontaneous actions with violent repression and has shot teargas, rubber bullets and flashbangs at participants, including journalists and photographers. Participants have compared deputy repression to a warzone. In a few instances, the sheriffs declared the protests an unlawful assembly within five minutes, which they used as justification to instigate violence and ultimately ambush and arrest protesters for being present or “looking like protesters.” Sheriff press conferences have labeled protesters as “outside agitators'' to further divide and confuse the public on the actions occurring at the station.

#LACA #PoliceBrutality #PeoplesStruggles #Antiracism #BlackLivesMatter #PoliceCrimes #California #BLM #DijonKizzee

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from Centro Community Service Organization (Centro CSO).

The morning of August 12, 2020 the private residence of Black Lives Matter – Los Angeles co-founder Dr. Melina Abdullah was swarmed by an LAPD SWAT team. With their semi-automatic rifles pointed at her home, the team stood surrounding her home in tactical gear.

“We looked out the front window, and two officers stood and put their assault rifles and pointed them directly at us,” Abdullah said at a Cal State L.A. press conference. “And I realized they came for me. And they called out my address, said everyone needed to come out with their hands up.”

On the evening of August 12, Abdullah went live on her Instagram account thanking the over 300 people who privately messaged her after the swarm attack by LAPD SWAT. Abdullah stated on Instagram live that the police lie and aren’t to be believed, regarding any of the particulars of the attack.

In the early hours of August 12th, an 911 call falsely reported that there was a hostage situation at Abdullah’s home. To this alleged call, LAPD SWAT responded by showing up at the residence.

We Condemn This Attack

Those of us who are supporters and allies of BLM and Black liberation activists understand that intimidation, threats, and terror are commonplace by authorities. Recently District Attorney of Los Angeles’ husband David Lacey was charged with three misdemeanors after pointing a gun at BLM activists including Abdullah when they protested outside of the Lacey residence. The misdemeanor charges were placed on August 3rd by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra.

One of our own CSO members, longtime Chicano revolutionary Carlos Montes, had his home raided by the FBI and LA County Sheriff's SWAT on May 17, 2011. In another act of terror, the FBI could have seriously injured Montes. Carlos has also been the victim of threats of bodily harm, false accusations, rumors, and insults.

Additionally, family members of those killed by LASD and LAPD have been repeatedly harassed by LA County Deputies when they fight back. A sister of Paul Rea, who was killed by East LA Sheriffs, was arrested and kidnapped by deputies when she was visiting the memorial site for her brother. On other occasions, other families like Anthony Daniel Vargas’ (also killed by East LA Sheriffs) have been stalked by the same deputies Nikolis Perez and Jonathan Rojas who killed Vargas.

As we continue our struggle, we expect attacks. However, we will not let them quash our fight for justice. An attack on one of us, is an attack on all of us.

We will not allow for this attack to go unnoticed or unopposed. Whoever gave the false tip must be held accountable. We demand LAPD SWAT and District Attorney Jack Lacey issue apologies now to Dr. Melina as well as Black Lives Matter. Continuing with our mission to fight for and defend survivors as well as victims of police terror, we will never shy away from fighting back. Enough is enough!

Aftermath

One of our members drove past the Hall of Justice where Lacey’s office is located and noticed various LA Sheriff's patrol vehicles surrounding the building. This practice is not commonplace on a regular business day. We are left to wonder: Are they thinking the people will fight back after their terrorist act on Black Lives Matter?

Every Wednesday starting at 3:00 pm Black Lives Matter holds weekly protests outside of Lacey’s office located at 211 W Temple St. Los Angeles, CA 90012. We urge you to attend today, and every Wednesday to show your solidarity! Not one more killing by LASD or LAPD, and not one more life taken by authorities and justified as “within policy” by Lacey!

#LosAngelesCA #PoliceBrutality #CentroCSO #LAPD #Antiracism #BLM #DrMelinaAbdullah

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from Centro Community Service Organization (Centro CSO).

The morning of August 12, 2020 the private residence of Black Lives Matter – Los Angeles co-founder Dr. Melina Abdullah was swarmed by an LAPD SWAT team. With their semi-automatic rifles pointed at her home, the team stood surrounding her home in tactical gear.

“We looked out the front window, and two officers stood and put their assault rifles and pointed them directly at us,” Abdullah said at a Cal State L.A. press conference. “And I realized they came for me. And they called out my address, said everyone needed to come out with their hands up.”

On the evening of August 12, Abdullah went live on her Instagram account thanking the over 300 people who privately messaged her after the swarm attack by LAPD SWAT. Abdullah stated on Instagram live that the police lie and aren’t to be believed, regarding any of the particulars of the attack.

In the early hours of August 12th, an 911 call falsely reported that there was a hostage situation at Abdullah’s home. To this alleged call, LAPD SWAT responded by showing up at the residence.

We Condemn This Attack

Those of us who are supporters and allies of BLM and Black liberation activists understand that intimidation, threats, and terror are commonplace by authorities. Recently District Attorney of Los Angeles’ husband David Lacey was charged with three misdemeanors after pointing a gun at BLM activists including Abdullah when they protested outside of the Lacey residence. The misdemeanor charges were placed on August 3rd by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra.

One of our own CSO members, longtime Chicano revolutionary Carlos Montes, had his home raided by the FBI and LA County Sheriff's SWAT on May 17, 2011. In another act of terror, the FBI could have seriously injured Montes. Carlos has also been the victim of threats of bodily harm, false accusations, rumors, and insults.

Additionally, family members of those killed by LASD and LAPD have been repeatedly harassed by LA County Deputies when they fight back. A sister of Paul Rea, who was killed by East LA Sheriffs, was arrested and kidnapped by deputies when she was visiting the memorial site for her brother. On other occasions, other families like Anthony Daniel Vargas’ (also killed by East LA Sheriffs) have been stalked by the same deputies Nikolis Perez and Jonathan Rojas who killed Vargas.

As we continue our struggle, we expect attacks. However, we will not let them quash our fight for justice. An attack on one of us, is an attack on all of us.

We will not allow for this attack to go unnoticed or unopposed. Whoever gave the false tip must be held accountable. We demand LAPD SWAT and District Attorney Jack Lacey issue apologies now to Dr. Melina as well as Black Lives Matter. Continuing with our mission to fight for and defend survivors as well as victims of police terror, we will never shy away from fighting back. Enough is enough!

Aftermath

One of our members drove past the Hall of Justice where Lacey’s office is located and noticed various LA Sheriff's patrol vehicles surrounding the building. This practice is not commonplace on a regular business day. We are left to wonder: Are they thinking the people will fight back after their terrorist act on Black Lives Matter?

Every Wednesday starting at 3:00 pm Black Lives Matter holds weekly protests outside of Lacey’s office located at 211 W Temple St. Los Angeles, CA 90012. We urge you to attend today, and every Wednesday to show your solidarity! Not one more killing by LASD or LAPD, and not one more life taken by authorities and justified as “within policy” by Lacey!

#LosAngelesCA #PoliceBrutality #CentroCSO #LAPD #Antiracism #BLM #DrMelinaAbdullah

Waupaca, WI – Nearly 100 people turned out for a Black Lives Matter (BLM) rally in the rural Wisconsin town of Waupaca. This huge turnout for an action in such a small town came in the wake of two earlier events that faced a growing amount of harassment from police and white supremacists.

The violent arrest of activist Matt Banta at a march on August 2 and the subsequent rise in racist threats toward others contributed to the organizing of this larger event. Organizers of previous BLM actions in Waupaca have been targeted by white supremacists, with a mass armed counter-protest allegedly being planned.

Hosted at Riverview Park, the event started with an introduction from Kiki Monea, one of the lead organizers. A handful of speakers followed her, from the community and from different organizations from across the state that traveled to Waupaca.

One of the most significant speakers was Sarah Wunderlich or Big Sky Woman (her Oneida name translated into English), the aunt of Jonathon Tubby. She greeted the crowd in Oneida before continuing in English.

“The death of George Floyd has reopened old wounds that we are trying to heal. Our healing has been difficult as we try to make sense of losing our Jonathon,” Wunderlich said, reading from a statement prepared by the Tubby family.

She continued, “Jonathon’s death was preventable. The lack of communication between the Brown County Sheriff's Department and the Green Bay Police Department contributed to his death. To all those naysayers who are out there who keep telling us to let it go, accept it, move on – hell no.”

Jonathon Tubby was murdered on October 19, 2018 by Officer Erik O’Brien of the Green Bay Police Department. Green Bay is about an hour to the northeast of Waupaca. Monea explained afterward that the reason the Tubby family was invited to speak was to highlight that killer cops and police crimes exist everywhere, even just a short drive from the rural Wisconsin town.

After the comments, those in attendance took to Main Street in downtown Waupaca in spite of a heavy police presence. The march was led with a large banner made by the Coalition to March on the Democratic National Convention that read “We can’t breathe.” The white supremacists who threatened to organize a large, armed counter-protest were limited to less than a dozen people holding thin blue line flags, protected by a few police officers.

“Bringing the movement to small towns like Waupaca is crucial to the broader change. These communities have systematic oppression of minorities that has lasted generations,” said Monea, a Waupaca resident and one of the lead organizers. “We have been active in Waupaca for roughly three months, and are still faced with armed counter-protests, aggressive and heavy police presence, threats, and public defamation of those involved in event organization. Despite this, we will move forward.”

#WaupacaWI #PoliceBrutality #Antiracism #BLM #JonathonTubby #CoalitionToMarchOnTheDNC

Waupaca, WI – Nearly 100 people turned out for a Black Lives Matter (BLM) rally in the rural Wisconsin town of Waupaca. This huge turnout for an action in such a small town came in the wake of two earlier events that faced a growing amount of harassment from police and white supremacists.

The violent arrest of activist Matt Banta at a march on August 2 and the subsequent rise in racist threats toward others contributed to the organizing of this larger event. Organizers of previous BLM actions in Waupaca have been targeted by white supremacists, with a mass armed counter-protest allegedly being planned.

Hosted at Riverview Park, the event started with an introduction from Kiki Monea, one of the lead organizers. A handful of speakers followed her, from the community and from different organizations from across the state that traveled to Waupaca.

One of the most significant speakers was Sarah Wunderlich or Big Sky Woman (her Oneida name translated into English), the aunt of Jonathon Tubby. She greeted the crowd in Oneida before continuing in English.

“The death of George Floyd has reopened old wounds that we are trying to heal. Our healing has been difficult as we try to make sense of losing our Jonathon,” Wunderlich said, reading from a statement prepared by the Tubby family.

She continued, “Jonathon’s death was preventable. The lack of communication between the Brown County Sheriff's Department and the Green Bay Police Department contributed to his death. To all those naysayers who are out there who keep telling us to let it go, accept it, move on – hell no.”

Jonathon Tubby was murdered on October 19, 2018 by Officer Erik O’Brien of the Green Bay Police Department. Green Bay is about an hour to the northeast of Waupaca. Monea explained afterward that the reason the Tubby family was invited to speak was to highlight that killer cops and police crimes exist everywhere, even just a short drive from the rural Wisconsin town.

After the comments, those in attendance took to Main Street in downtown Waupaca in spite of a heavy police presence. The march was led with a large banner made by the Coalition to March on the Democratic National Convention that read “We can’t breathe.” The white supremacists who threatened to organize a large, armed counter-protest were limited to less than a dozen people holding thin blue line flags, protected by a few police officers.

“Bringing the movement to small towns like Waupaca is crucial to the broader change. These communities have systematic oppression of minorities that has lasted generations,” said Monea, a Waupaca resident and one of the lead organizers. “We have been active in Waupaca for roughly three months, and are still faced with armed counter-protests, aggressive and heavy police presence, threats, and public defamation of those involved in event organization. Despite this, we will move forward.”

#WaupacaWI #PoliceBrutality #Antiracism #BLM #JonathonTubby #CoalitionToMarchOnTheDNC

Oshkosh, WI – 30 community members came out, July 8, to protest the leadership of the Boys & Girls Club of Oshkosh. Community activists, artists, teachers, parents and children gathered peacefully on a corner armed with chalk, chants and messages of anti-racism and solidarity with the pro-Black Lives Matter workers.

When protests erupted around the country in late May over the police killings of George Floyd and countless others, the Boys & Girls Club released a statement of solidarity for the Black Lives Matter movement on their social media accounts in early June. The workers, who have been impacted by these repeated killings, were given no external guidance on how to respond or what types of conversations would be expected of them in their classrooms. They assumed the social media posts from the Boys & Girls Club were a green light for employees that wanted to show solidarity.

On June 9, an employee developed their weekly theme around solidarity and propped up signs in the windows that read “Black dreams matter,” “We stand united,” and “Black voices matter.” Supervisors and CEOs alike voiced their immediate concern for their reputation amongst donors and the “non-Black” children and families who would see those signs and feel “left out.” During business hours and despite the employee’s refusal to take down the signs, they were removed in front of a Black staff member.

Multiple private meetings with supervisors as well as two CEOs and the Boys & Girls Club ended with the conclusion from the organization that workers were to remain neutral and that they must not put “opinions” or “personal beliefs” in the windows for the public to see. This did not sit well with employees on the front lines and led to further actions in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.

Ten days later, the Boys & Girls Club's ‘neutrality’ remained firm and tensions were still unresolved between workers and management. This tension expanded further after a Black staff member who solely worked outside for recess experienced a heat-related emergency that was disregarded as hostility. Other staff members rushed to provide basic first aid while supervisors were nowhere to be found. The staff member working outside wrote “I can't breathe” in chalk in the parking lot as another way to speak out against the Boys & Girls Club of Oshkosh's awful working conditions and treatment towards Black staff. This chalk message was removed by maintenance after business hours.

The Boys & Girls Club sought legal counsel through their labor law attorney connections and spoke privately with donors about what could be done. Employees were left in an exhausting cycle of meetings that included repeating statements, workers being taken away from their classrooms, and threats of termination. Management demanded more time to reflect, welcomed suggestions via email, but remained firm on their position of neutrality as to not lose “critical” donations that keep programs running.

The hostility and subtle gaslighting experienced behind the scenes led to two Black staff resigning to preserve their mental and emotional well-being. A large meeting was called by staff to meet with superiors on June 25 and it was agreed by CEO Marc Dosogne that this meeting would take place as long as it was indoors, private, and no media was in attendance.

The meeting was only minimally effective, but employees were able to share experiences, anger, and explain how crucial it is to publicly defend the Black Lives Matter movement as an organization that serves dozens of Black youth. Workers demanded 100% solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, zero neutrality, real representation for front line staff at every board of directors meeting, shirts in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, and a possible paid day to volunteer and participate in a Black Lives Matter related action.

A week passed as if nothing had happened despite staff quitting and looking elsewhere for other positions. The staff and concerned parties reached out to grassroots organizations locally to help apply pressure and to expose this specific organizational branch's cover up of racist employer practices. The accounts of racism have sparked outrage in the community. Despite the outrage, the Boys & Girls Club still maintains direct connections with many powerful institutions including the Oshkosh Police Department, whose officers murdered and slandered an unarmed Black man named Isaiah Tucker back in 2017.

The day after the Black Lives Matter chalk-walk protest, social media accounts displayed the Boys & Girls Club of Oshkosh tagged with the Oshkosh Police Department thanking children for hand delivering candy and cards. Workers and their supporters in the community intend to hold future protests for tangible change, equality and genuine solidarity.

#OshkoshWI #PeoplesStruggles #Wisconsin #Antiracism #BlackLivesMatter #BLM

Oshkosh, WI – 30 community members came out, July 8, to protest the leadership of the Boys & Girls Club of Oshkosh. Community activists, artists, teachers, parents and children gathered peacefully on a corner armed with chalk, chants and messages of anti-racism and solidarity with the pro-Black Lives Matter workers.

When protests erupted around the country in late May over the police killings of George Floyd and countless others, the Boys & Girls Club released a statement of solidarity for the Black Lives Matter movement on their social media accounts in early June. The workers, who have been impacted by these repeated killings, were given no external guidance on how to respond or what types of conversations would be expected of them in their classrooms. They assumed the social media posts from the Boys & Girls Club were a green light for employees that wanted to show solidarity.

On June 9, an employee developed their weekly theme around solidarity and propped up signs in the windows that read “Black dreams matter,” “We stand united,” and “Black voices matter.” Supervisors and CEOs alike voiced their immediate concern for their reputation amongst donors and the “non-Black” children and families who would see those signs and feel “left out.” During business hours and despite the employee’s refusal to take down the signs, they were removed in front of a Black staff member.

Multiple private meetings with supervisors as well as two CEOs and the Boys & Girls Club ended with the conclusion from the organization that workers were to remain neutral and that they must not put “opinions” or “personal beliefs” in the windows for the public to see. This did not sit well with employees on the front lines and led to further actions in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.

Ten days later, the Boys & Girls Club's ‘neutrality’ remained firm and tensions were still unresolved between workers and management. This tension expanded further after a Black staff member who solely worked outside for recess experienced a heat-related emergency that was disregarded as hostility. Other staff members rushed to provide basic first aid while supervisors were nowhere to be found. The staff member working outside wrote “I can't breathe” in chalk in the parking lot as another way to speak out against the Boys & Girls Club of Oshkosh's awful working conditions and treatment towards Black staff. This chalk message was removed by maintenance after business hours.

The Boys & Girls Club sought legal counsel through their labor law attorney connections and spoke privately with donors about what could be done. Employees were left in an exhausting cycle of meetings that included repeating statements, workers being taken away from their classrooms, and threats of termination. Management demanded more time to reflect, welcomed suggestions via email, but remained firm on their position of neutrality as to not lose “critical” donations that keep programs running.

The hostility and subtle gaslighting experienced behind the scenes led to two Black staff resigning to preserve their mental and emotional well-being. A large meeting was called by staff to meet with superiors on June 25 and it was agreed by CEO Marc Dosogne that this meeting would take place as long as it was indoors, private, and no media was in attendance.

The meeting was only minimally effective, but employees were able to share experiences, anger, and explain how crucial it is to publicly defend the Black Lives Matter movement as an organization that serves dozens of Black youth. Workers demanded 100% solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, zero neutrality, real representation for front line staff at every board of directors meeting, shirts in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, and a possible paid day to volunteer and participate in a Black Lives Matter related action.

A week passed as if nothing had happened despite staff quitting and looking elsewhere for other positions. The staff and concerned parties reached out to grassroots organizations locally to help apply pressure and to expose this specific organizational branch's cover up of racist employer practices. The accounts of racism have sparked outrage in the community. Despite the outrage, the Boys & Girls Club still maintains direct connections with many powerful institutions including the Oshkosh Police Department, whose officers murdered and slandered an unarmed Black man named Isaiah Tucker back in 2017.

The day after the Black Lives Matter chalk-walk protest, social media accounts displayed the Boys & Girls Club of Oshkosh tagged with the Oshkosh Police Department thanking children for hand delivering candy and cards. Workers and their supporters in the community intend to hold future protests for tangible change, equality and genuine solidarity.

#OshkoshWI #PeoplesStruggles #Wisconsin #Antiracism #BlackLivesMatter #BLM

San José, CA – The COVID-19 pandemic that is sweeping through the United States, with over 600,000 confirmed infections and almost 25,000 deaths as of April 14, is hitting African Americans the hardest. While complete data has not been released by the federal government – just one of a long list of failures – early and partial data shows that nationwide, African Americans are dying at twice the rate of other Americans from COVID-19.

The hardest hit in terms of deaths per local population, has not been New York City – although the death toll there has been terrible, with 8000 known dead – but in majority Black counties in the South. There in the black belt, the historic site of the African American Nation, the death rate per capita has been higher than New York City, (although the numbers are much smaller).

In a number of states in Midwest, including Illinois and Michigan, the death rate for African Americans has been three times as high as their share of the population. In the city of Chicago and the state of Louisiana, both with large African American populations, the percentage of dead from COVID-19 who are Black is twice that of their population share.

The heavy toll in Black communities comes as no surprise given the history of national oppression of African Americans. Blacks are twice as likely as whites not to have any health insurance, and face discrimination in the health care system. Doctors often do not test sick African Americans for COVID-19 and limit their access to proper care.

African Americans also are more likely to work in jobs which cannot be done from home, leading Blacks in so-called essential jobs such as in transportation to be more exposed to the virus. The higher levels of stress, less access to healthy foods, and higher level of poverty all add to the danger of dying from COVID-19.

What the African American community needs are both all-encompassing programs, such as universal health care, which would leave no one without health care because of their inability to pay. At the same time, support for targeted programs – such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), which graduate a disproportionate number of Black professionals, and a restoration of affirmative action in college and medical school admissions – is needed to overcome a long history of exclusion of African Americans from health care professions.

Please join Freedom Road Socialist Organization for a live stream discussion of the COVID-19 crisis and its disproportionate impact on oppressed nationalities, African Americans in particular. Featuring Masao Suzuki and Frank Chapman. Sunday April 26 @ 3pm Eastern/12pm/Pacific. Links to the program available on all the Freedom Road Socialist Organization social media platforms. Facebook: FreedomRoadSocialistOrg, Twitter:@FreedomRoadOrg, Instagram:@FRSOorg

#SanJoséCA #Healthcare #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #AfricanAmericans #Antiracism #BlackLivesMatter #BLM #Covid19

Tallahassee, FL – On March 20, Tallahassee Police Department Officer Zackri Jones killed 31-year-old Mychael Johnson. Mychael Johnson was the second person shot and killed by Jones, and the first since Lawrence Revell became chief of police in January. Revell’s nomination in November and his later appointment led to protests due to his killing of George Williams, a Black teenager, in September 1996.

The Tallahassee Police Department has issued statements claiming that Johnson had attempted to steal a car and had fought with Officer Justin Davidson before being shot and killed by Jones. However, the family is questioning whether the police have told the full story.

“Mychael was fun, loving, intelligent, he was a giver, and a protector, he was a son, brother, father, and a great friend to have known,” Johnson’s sister Mildred Richardson said. “I think that there is way more to the story that we aren’t getting and the small details that we have received just doesn’t sound like him at all, it’s just not sitting well and adding up with the family.”

The family is also questioning whether the police were justified in using deadly force.

“What I think happened is that he was afraid, he wasn’t trying to hurt anyone, but he didn’t want to go back and have to spend time in a broken prison system,” said Mychael Johnson’s mother Evelyn Johnson. “I feel like he was running for his life because he was scared. It’s sad that I reached out to his probation officer, the police office, the Apalachee center, and the Leon county sheriff’s department, before this point. And the only thing that they assisted with was taking his life.”

The Tallahassee Community Action Committee (TCAC) has criticized the lack of transparency from TPD. They organized community members to call into police and city officials on March 25 to ask for the release of body cam or dash footage and for an independent investigation led by the community.

“We can’t let the police investigate themselves, as we see time and time again that the police never have a transparent process,” said TCAC President Regina Joseph. “We need an independent investigation for this case, and every case from now. That is why we are fighting for community control of the police. We need an elected body that will investigate all police crimes and bring peace and justice to our community.”

“I want people to know what type of person that he was, I don’t want his name to go in vain,” said Mildred Richardson. She continued, “And I also want people to be more aware of the police violence against the Black community, and that if we all stick together so many things can be accomplished.”

#TallahasseeFL #PoliceBrutality #PeoplesStruggles #Racism #Florida #BLM

Jacksonville, FL – On Oct. 21, the family of Keegan Roberts as well as members of the Jacksonville Community Action Committee gathered at the site of where Keegan was killed by racist Michael Centanni IV, to demand justice.

On July 20, Keegan Roberts, a Black worker, son, husband and father, was murdered in his own driveway by a white, racist, George Zimmerman-style vigilante. State Attorney Melisa Nelson and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office have still not arrested his killer.

Just weeks ago, State Attorney Melissa Nelson ruled her office wouldn’t press charges against Centanni due to a lack of evidence. This promoted outrage in the Black community and the family of Keegan Roberts.

Around 30 protesters chanted, “Justice for Keegan,” and “If we don’t get it, shut it down.”

Speakers such as Keegan’s mother Cecelia Shepard talked about how she won’t rest until justice is served.

“I told Melissa Nelson, you get to go home to your kids. Mine laid there and died. I had to carry mine on my shoulders and my granddaughter I buried. So it is not a joke to me, it may be a joke to them,” Shepard said.

Christina Kittle with the Jacksonville Community Action Committee and the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) talked about why a Jacksonville Police Accountability Council (JPAC) is needed to hold cops accountable – like the ones who failed to run a transparent investigation after Keegan’s murder and failed to arrest Centanni.

Kittle led the crowd with chants of, “What do we want? JPAC! When do we want it? Now!”

Lauren Cephus, of the Black Commission, spoke and led a chant of “Justice will be served” to the crowd.

Denise Hunt, a prominent local Black activist said at the vigil, “I told y’all about Melissa Nelson and we fought to get Angela Corey [previous state attorney] out but it’s two different white women with the same white supremacist agenda.”

The family of Keegan and the JCAC have also been working with the national civil rights organization Color of Change which has collected over 55,000 petition signatures nationwide demanding Justice For Keegan. They plan to drop those at State Attorney Melissa Nelson’s office soon.

#JacksonvilleFL #PeoplesStruggles #Florida #Antiracism #BLM #JusticeForKeegan #Kegan

Minneapolis, MN – Chanting, “If Jamar don’t get it, shut it down!” hundreds of people marched Dec. 19 in frigid weather from the Fourth Police Precinct in north Minneapolis to city hall demanding justice for Jamar Clark. Clark, a 24-year-old African American man, was shot in the head and killed by the Minneapolis police on Nov. 15 on Plymouth Avenue in north Minneapolis, sparking an 18-day encampment at the Fourth Precinct to protest his killing. Today’s march was the largest protest since police dislodged the occupation in front of the Fourth Precinct on Dec. 3.

The protest was organized by the Twin Cities Coalition 4 Justice 4 Jamar Clark, and had four demands: prosecution of the cop who killed Jamar Clark, with no grand jury; immediate release of videotapes of Jamar’s shooting; federal domestic terrorism charges against criminals who shot five protesters on Nov. 23; and community control and oversight of police.

The march started at the Fourth Police Precinct in North Minneapolis. Marchers stopped and several people spoke at the site on Plymouth Ave where Jamar Clark was killed, then they continued marching to the county Incinerator. From there they marched through downtown Minneapolis, stopping in front of symbolic sites including the Hennepin County Juvenile Detention Center, before arriving at Hennepin County Government Plaza for a closing rally.

Speaking at the rally near the incinerator, Loretta Van Pelt of the Welfare Rights Committee and Freedom Road Socialist Organization said, “We are sick of waiting for justice. Why should we have to ‘wait’ for the police to be prosecuted? Why should we have to ‘wait’ for them to release the tapes? Those police did not ‘wait’ before shooting our young brother, Jamar Clark! They did not ‘wait’ to terminate his life, nor to terminate and terrorize the lives of Black and brown people. Well we sure as hell won’t wait. We demand justice now! Don’t ‘wait’ for a state-appointed grand jury to soften this disgusting murder. Prosecute the police who killed – who shot our child in the head! Prosecute the police!”

Endorsers of the march included Black Lives Matter Minneapolis, Anti-War Committee, Idle No More, Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) Minnesota Peace Action Coalition, US Palestinian Community Network-Minnesota Chapter, Minnesota Break the Bonds Campaign, American Muslims for Palestine – Minnesota, Al-Aqsa Institute of Minnesota, Students for a Democratic Society at UMN, Socialist Action, Socialist Alternative, Women Against Military Madness (WAMM), Save The Kids (Augsburg), National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum (NAPAWF), Stop Bullying Now Movement, Communities United Against Police Brutality,15NOW, Showing Up For Racial Justice MN, People of Color Union Members (POCUM), Twin Cities IWW General Defense Committee Local 14, and the Welfare Rights Committee.

#MinneapolisMN #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #MN #BlackLivesMatter #JamarClark #BLM