Santa Ana, CA – On December 1, two officers from Santa Ana Police Department (SAPD) shot and killed a man in downtown Santa Ana near Broadway and 2nd Street. SAPD stated that people called about a man loading a rifle. Nearly 30 bullet holes scar the wall where he was shot for holding what turned out to be a non-lethal airsoft gun.

The name of the victim has not been released but reports state that the man was “Hispanic”, in his thirties and pronounced dead when he arrived at the hospital.

The next day, members of Community Service Organization, Orange County (CSO OC) began flyering downtown Santa Ana to reach the victim’s family and to spread awareness about the killing. Many people walk down Broadway unaware they are passing an execution site.

Fewer people know about the site just one block away in the CVS parking lot, where SAPD shot unarmed Salvadoran immigrant Miguel Chavez in 2022. At least eight officers chased his vehicle into the lot and surrounded him with guns drawn. Officers Jonathan Chavez and Sean Anthis fired three “less-lethal” rounds into Miguel Chavez and Officer Mark Shifflett sicced a police dog on him. Chavez died two days later from bite injuries. The death was ruled a homicide by the coroner, but all three officers were cleared of wrongdoing by Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer, two years after the killing.

In Santa Ana police are largely shielded from accountability. The “Critical Incident Reports” they must share within 45 days smear the victim and justify police actions. While Miguel Chavez had no criminal record or history of drug use to be used against him, officers said they saw a weapon, but no weapon was found. Meanwhile, these reports are not required to share officer names. As a result, when impacted families and the public are most desperate for answers, they don’t learn about which officers are responsible or about their history of violence.

That is why CSO OC is in the process of building a campaign to demand that SAPD release officer names after police killings. Rain Mendoza, a member of CSO, said, “Our demand comes from impacted families and our study of police policy in Santa Ana. The demand is part of a step-by-step process in which we take power from the police who repress and kill us, and we give that power back to the people.”

To get involved in CSO OC’s police accountability campaign, reach out to us on our social media, @cso.oc on Instagram, Orange County CSO on Facebook, or email us at orangecountycso@gmail.com.

#SantaAnaCA #InJusticeSystem #ChicanoLatino #CommunityControlofthePolice #CSOOC

Tacoma, WA – Tacoma residents gathered outside the Tacoma Public Utilities auditorium on July 2, to make their last statements ahead of the finalization of the city’s new charter.

Every decade, the city of Tacoma convenes a Charter Review Committee, or CRC to assess and make changes to how the city is run. In 2024, 24 recommendations were made by the CRC, some of which include the formation of a Climate Accountability Commission, a Policing Accountability Board, and removing power from the city manager to place it back to the mayor and city council.

The crowd outside the temporary city council chambers urged the council to pass all CRC recommendations with cries of “Democracy across the nation! Pass every recommendation!” and “Let us vote!”

The outcry for accountability for the police and the climate comes after the murder of Manuel “Manny” Ellis and the subsequent acquittal of the Tacoma police officers who killed him, and the construction of a mega-warehouse in South Tacoma, respectively. Many of the decisions made by the city are single-handedly made by Tacoma’s unelected city manager, Elizabeth Pauli.

Ann Dorn, member of the Tacoma Democratic Socialists of America, stated, “We want to vote on where executive power is placed, and we want this under the control of the people.”

“We already told the city that we wanted change ten years ago, and nothing good has changed for us. We get murdered, we get pollution, we get violation of treaty rights – we get nothing, and they get everything!” said Gemini Gnull, member of Climate Alliance of the South Sound.

Once inside the chambers, the people made their thoughts known to the council during the public hearing section.

“Tacoma is called the City of Destiny, but what destiny has this current city government designed for the 250,000 Tacomans who rely on it? A destiny of Amazon warehouses, LNG plants, police brutality and lung disease,” Sean Renning, a Tacoma resident, testified. “The Bridge Industrial warehouse is the greatest travesty this city has suffered since the Ruston copper smelter a century ago.”

During the meeting, the city council did not bring up the Policing Accountability Board, presumably because it would not move forward in the charter. Attentive Tacomans recognized this and made note of it in their statements to the council.

“It looks likely the policing accountability recommendation from the charter commission is not going to be put forward to voters, and that concerns me,” said Sean Arent, member of Washington Against Nuclear Weapons. “I think this is something our city cares about, and I think public safety ranks as a top concern for most Tacomans and we should have democratic control over that system.”

The filibustered meeting finally ended after four hours, leaving residents uncertain about their future but ready to keep fighting back.

#TacomaWA #CommunityControlofthePolice #Environment

By Destiny Spruill and Jacob Buckner

Chicago, IL – Two factors have made public safety a lynchpin issue in the upcoming mayoral election between Brandon Johnson, former teacher supported by the Chicago Teacher’s Union, and Paul Vallas, former CEO of Chicago Public Schools, backed by the Fraternal Order of the Police (FOP). First is the rise in the crime rate in the city in recent years. The second, and principal, reason is the law-and-order backlash that followed the historic protests of the George Floyd Rebellion.

Groups like the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR) are fighting to make sure that the city’s supposed concern for public safety prioritizes police accountability for its Black, Latino, indigenous and working-class residents. These residents face the highest rates of incarceration and violent police raids and have been the most likely to face the full force of the police state.

You can’t discuss public safety without discussing the struggle for community control of the police – a struggle for democratic rights.

“This mayoral election is historic. It is the first time in four decades that we’ve had a truly progressive candidate for mayor – Brandon Johnson. For the first time in history, the people of Chicago have a real choice between the old reactionary, recycling of the status quo and taking a progressive road towards advancing the democratic right of the people,” says Frank Chapman, the executive director of the National Alliance Against Racist Political Repression (NAARPR).

The movement for community control of the police in Chicago began over 50 years ago. CAARPR played a leading role in the 1970s and starting 11 years ago has led it through its Civilian Police Accountability Council (CPAC) campaign. They believe that electing Brandon Johnson is an important piece in the broader struggle for police accountability. Understanding the history of CAARPR’s CPAC movement is crucial in assessing the needs of Chicago’s most vulnerable populations. It is also crucial in evaluating how we can chart the way forward.

CAARPR and its struggle for community control of police in Chicago

By 1968, the first citywide attempt at community control was started by the Black Panther Party (BPP), which initiated a number of programs that demanded to transform the power structure of the police and its effect on the lives of Black Chicagoans. The Panthers believed that community control of the police was a political necessity for Black community members to decide for themselves how public safety would be implemented. Their demands were clear: violent police officers must be held accountable through community boards, the people must decide the funding of the Chicago Police Department (CPD), and the power of supervising and administering the police department must be transferred to the citizens of Chicago. The National Alliance Against Racist Political Repression (NAARPR) took up these demands and created a model to bring these demands to legislation.

Starting in 2012, CAARPR, the Chicago branch of NAARPR, provided a model based on the principle set forth by the Panthers, and on legislation that had been developed by the National Alliance in the 1970s. Decades later, the need for this movement continued as racist policing in Chicago increased as a result of the heightened power of the CPD. In 2012, 22-year-old Rekia Boyd was murdered by an off-duty police detective named Dante Servin. Following community protests, the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression began a ten-year process of building a movement to pass an ordinance that would create community-controlled police boards in all 22 Chicago police districts. This movement became known as the Civilian Police Accountability Council (CPAC) campaign.

CAARPR spent the next years in working-class neighborhoods most affected by police violence and spoke to survivors and community members about their public safety needs. These efforts continued from the murder of Laquan McDonald in 2014 to the murder of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor in 2020. When George Floyd was murdered, the National Alliance Against Racist Political Repression called for a national day of protest on May 30. In Chicago, 20,000 marched or car caravanned into the Chicago Loop. In the following weeks, over 100,000 marched in Chicago. Every protest called for “CPAC now!”

The campaign collected over 60,000 signatures with an average of 1000 signatures in 38 wards. Their efforts proved that victory is only possible with the leadership and experience of the community. This mass movement created the conditions for passing legislation.

By 2021, CAARPR had the support of 19 of the 50 city council members. A competing police accountability legislation, the Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability (GAPA), had the support of 26 of the 50 city council members. Council members of the Socialist Caucus of Chicago told GAPA that they would not cast a vote to support their legislation unless they came to an agreement with the CPAC legislation proposed by CAARPR. After then-mayor Lori Lightfoot refused GAPA’s demand to include control of police policy in their legislation, negotiations between CAARPR and GAPA began, and a compromise was reached two months later.

The Empowering Communities for Public Safety (ECPS) ordinance was passed in the city council and officially created two bodies for police accountability: the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA) and the police district councils, for which there were elections in February. These bodies have the following powers: Directly investigating crimes of police violence; determining Chicago Police Department policy; hiring and firing the Chief Administrator of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA); holding hearings about police superintendents; and recommending preventative, proactive, community-based and evidence-based solutions to violence.

These District Councils and the CCPSA go beyond stopping vicious and racist police officers, they hold a model for community members directly affected by racist police violence to see justice and build a regenerative model to change public safety.

Many of the candidates for these boards had never run for public office – they are motivated by their own experiences with police violence. Cynthia McFadden, for example, ran for the board because she was inspired by her father who fled the South due to extreme violence only to be murdered by Chicago police the day of his arrival. Coston Plummer was motivated by his older brother who was forced by Chicago police to falsely confess to a murder when he was just 15 years old. These candidates believe that ECPS represents the will of communities impacted by police violence to finally experience justice.

On February 28, 2023, for the first time in history, residents of Chicago had the opportunity to vote for these boards – resulting in 39 of 66 district councilors being elected from the movement for police accountability. CAARPR, alongside their partners in their community, expanded this grassroots campaign and made it possible to succeed.

From CPAC to ECPS to Brandon Johnson

“The terms of this election were set by the murder of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Across the U.S., 26 million people called for justice – including Brandon Johnson. Brandon Johnson has received the support of the Chicago Alliance because he alone included police accountability and working with ECPS in his platform and campaign. Paul Vallas received support from the FOP to maintain injustice. On February 28, the Black community voted against the FOP and for justice through democratic control of the police in the district council elections,” says Joe Iosbaker, cochair of the Labor Committee of CAARPR.

During a mayoral forum on public safety at the UIC Forum on March 14, Paul Vallas put forth his vision of police accountability by saying, “Community policing fundamentally means, you have beat officers on every beat. So every single beat is covered by a patrol car, manned with officers. Officers know the community, and are known by name and by badge number, by the community.” Vallas has seized on rising concerns for public safety – which have steadily grown as the city of Chicago experiences more violence and believes the only way forward is to increase police presence and grant them more control over the city. Chicago’s FOP, an organization that is nationally known for its hostility towards Black and brown people, threw its support behind Paul Vallas. He welcomed its endorsement and thanked “Chicago’s finest, men and women of the FOP who sacrifice their lives to make our city safer. Reducing crime and making Chicago safer are my top priorities.”

Brandon Johnson has built his public safety platform with the intention of addressing the “root causes of violence and poverty.” Johnson’s campaign for Chicago mayor is not only about the use of community control boards, but about creating an overall model of safety which positions the needs of the community at its center. Johnson argues that public safety is not only about stopping police violence but about investing in generative initiatives such as mental health care and housing.

Johnson believes these measures will prevent systemic violence from attacking Chicago communities. One of his initiatives involves getting rid of the racist “Gang Database,” which currently “labels more than 280,000 people – 95% people of color as gang members without requiring evidence of gang affiliation or informing them of their listing.” The Gang Database has been used to profile and surveil Black neighborhoods, resulting in heightened Black and Latino arrests. Johnson also supports the Anjanette Young Ordinance, which will stop no-knock warrants. He believes in collaborating with the democratically elected District Councils to manage police accountability and decide the Chicago Police Department's policy.

Each of Johnson's initiatives interconnects with the overall needs of the community, including mental health. Within mental health initiatives, Johnston aims to Launch Crisis Response Teams with non-police personnel, reopen all 14 mental health centers, and expand the 988 mental health crisis hotline to 24 hours.

The fight for Brandon Johnson is the fight for justice for the Black and Latino community In Chicago

The mayoral election between Brandon Johnson and Paul Vallas will decide if the city continues the struggle for a public safety plan that includes Black and Latino Chicagoans and its working-class neighborhoods. The grassroots work of the last ten years – the struggle for democratic control of the police – could be upheld through Brandon Johnson’s leadership. For ten years, Chicagoans have fought for police accountability, affirmative mental health treatment, and housing for all community members. Many believe Brandon Johnson’s candidacy represents the work that Black Chicagoans have put toward a movement to see their own collective needs met against systemic violence.

Throughout the ten-year CPAC campaign, CAARPR created a grassroots movement that won a historic ordinance to hold the police accountable. CAARPR responds to the calls for public safety this way: “Black and brown communities are over-policed and under-protected. There’s a reason that 70% of violent crimes in our neighborhoods go unsolved. No one trusts the police. And why would they? After generations of police crimes, like the reign of torturer Jon Burge!” In the words of Frank Chapman, “We want to hold the police accountable for what they do, and what they don’t do.”

CAARPR’s current task is to uphold the advances made by the district council elections through the election of Brandon Johnson, but they will carry forth the mission toward real police accountability, in partnership with the local community, well beyond this mayoral election. We will continue to look to them as leaders in our struggle against state-sanctioned violence.

#ChicagoIL #InJusticeSystem #OppressedNationalities #US #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #Antiracism #PoliticalRepression #Elections #ChicagoAllianceAgainstRacistAndPoliticalRepression #CommunityControlOfThePolice #BrandonJohnson

New York, NY – Nearly three years after the George Floyd uprising of 2020, New York City’s Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) has released the findings of its investigations into the New York Police Department’s misconduct during the protests. But rather than addressing the increasing brutality of the cops, the results of the investigations show how an unelected, ineffective review board becomes a tool of the state that harms communities and activists while empowering the police.

From the very beginning, the CCRB’s ability to investigate complaints of police misconduct during the 2020 protests was severely limited by the agency’s jurisdiction, which only allows it to investigate complaints that involve use of force, abuse of authority, and offensive language. As a result, of the over 750 complaints received, the agency was able to investigate only 321.

This basic weakness of the CCRB – which it shares with unelected review boards across the United States – should be alarming. If the agency intended to exercise oversight of the police cannot even hear the majority of our complaints, it enables the police to act against us with impunity.

But the roadblocks to the CCRB’s ability to investigate only worsened from there. For example, one of the first steps in investigating any complaint is to identify the cops involved. However, during the protests, NYPD officers wore black bands to cover their badge numbers. The NYPD claims that cops were told to wear the armbands to honor officers who died from COVID, an obvious bit of irony, given that the NYPD has repeatedly refused to comply with COVID safety regulations like masking and vaccine mandates, even during the height of the pandemic when New York City was the epicenter of cases in the U.S.

This supposed concern for COVID became even more blatantly false when NYPD officers refused to participate in virtual interviews with CCRB investigators throughout 2020. In doing so, individual officers had the support of the immensely powerful police union, the Police Benevolent Association (PBA).

The PBA was able to force the Civilian Complaint Review Board to negotiate with it to get officers to agree to be interviewed and won a deal extremely helpful to the cops: officers could have their union representative present during the interviews and could keep their cameras off, while investigators had to have their cameras on, and in some cases had to rotate their computers to show the cops the inside of their homes and prove that they were alone during the interviews, creating an unequal power dynamic that favored the police.

This example shows why it is crucial that an effective review board have the power to negotiate with police unions from a position of relative strength. Whatever else the PBA does, it is incredibly good at protecting officers at the expense of working class communities, organizers, and others in the labor movement.

Another key part of the CCRB’s investigations was video evidence of the incidents at hand. But once again, the CCRB’s inability and unwillingness to exercise real power over the police grants an obvious advantage to the NYPD. The CCRB is reliant on the NYPD itself to provide body camera footage that is relevant to investigations and the NYPD determines what counts as relevant footage. Unsurprisingly, in the investigations of the 2020 protests, CCRB requests for body camera videos routinely turned up irrelevant and unhelpful footage – if the requests were answered at all.

Beyond official investigations, access to body and dash camera footage is a common demand of the families of those impacted by police violence. For example, the family of Ronald Anthony Smith, a Black man struck and killed by a speeding police officer in Brooklyn in April 2022, spent most of that year demanding the CCRB get the NYPD’s footage of Smith’s death released.

So, an oversight body’s ability to access police footage is incredibly important for both the purposes of investigating police misconduct and for providing emotional closure to victims of police violence. To be effective, an elected oversight board would need to have direct access to police footage – the CCRB’s reliance on the NYPD for footage distracts organizers’ and sidetracks their time and effort toward pressuring the CCRB, while the NYPD retains the real power.

Finally, the CCRB’s lack of funding further hamstrings the agency. As the investigations dragged on into 2021 and 2022, ex-cop Eric Adams was elected as mayor of New York City. Since being elected, Eric Adams has slashed the budgets for several city agencies, including the CCRB, leaving the agency critically understaffed with one in five positions unfilled.

Meanwhile, Adams continues to inflate the already bloated NYPD budget, which has reached over $11 billion. The very officers involved in the complaints the CCRB is supposed to investigate continue to receive raises, with many officers making nearly $200,000 a year, despite the laundry list of allegations against them. It is therefore critical that an elected review board take away the power to set the police budget from cop cronies in city hall so that those resources can be used to fund programs that help rather than harm the community.

“Protests against police brutality bred more instances of police misconduct,” wrote Civilian Complaint Review Board Chair Arva Rice in the introduction to the report, adding “If this misconduct goes unaddressed, it will never be reformed.” Yet, in the final report the CCRB substantiated just 88 complaints related to the 2020 uprising, and the NYPD has imposed discipline in only 42 cases. As an unelected, toothless body, the CCRB is incapable of addressing police misconduct; it is limited in its scope, it is dependent on the NYPD’s cooperation, and it has no ability to enforce its findings. The CCRB creates the illusion of oversight, while in practice empowering the NYPD to act with impunity.

As the NYPD continues to gain even more power to terrorize our communities through Eric Adams’ despicable pro-cop policies, the fight for community control of the police is more important than ever. We need a civilian police accountability council that can address the long legacy of police brutality, and put the power to decide when and how our communities are kept safe in the hands of the people.

#NewYorkNY #PoliceBrutality #CommunityControlOfThePolice #StopPoliceCrimes

Chicago, IL – 300 Chicagoans braced against the cold night, January 30, to protest the brutal police slayings of Tyre Nichols, Keenan Anderson and Manuel “Tortuguita” Teron. The eight-degree weather did not deter the crowd as they clustered together to stand in solidarity with protests that have broken out across the country in the wake of the release of the video footage that depicted multiple officers beating Nichols to death.

Frank Chapman, field organizer of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR), made it clear that there is an answer to the people’s cries for justice. “We’ve got a solution in Chicago; February 28 is the solution.” On February 28, Chicagoans will be voting for the first time ever to elect civilians to District Councilor positions, which is seen by many as a step in the fight towards gaining community control over the police.

The rally was called by CAARPR with support from organizations such as Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation (SOUL), Rainbow PUSH, Good Kids/Mad City, and United States Palestinian Community Network (USPCN). Referring to the district council elections, Nick Seuss from USPCN, told the crowd that, “The first step is to take power from the police and give it to the people.”

Bishop Tavis Grant from the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition reminded the crowd, “We’ve got a democratic option: vote.” This point could not be more true with the February 28 elections for District Councilors quickly approaching for Chicagoans.

12th Police District Council candidate, William “The Kid” Guerrero, drew parallels to what happened in Memphis to what goes on in Chicago: “This is for Adam Toledo, Tortuguita, and Tyre Nichols.”

After a brief march and chanting, “I believe that we will win!” and “Who keeps us safe? We keep us safe!” the group disbanded. Overall, one of the messages that rang loudest Monday night was first said by 15th District Council candidate Arewa Karen Winters, who quoted Assata Shakur: “We have nothing to lose but our chains!”

#ChicagoIL #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #Antiracism #PoliticalRepression #ChicagoAllianceAgainstRacistAndPoliticalRepression #CommunityControlOfThePolice #TyreNichols

Two weeks before, on January 5, the Tampa city council passed the city charter amendments in a 5-3 vote to be put on the March ballot. Mayor Castor’s veto, which came two days before the veto deadline, effectively prohibits this charter amendment from appearing on the ballot for Tampa voters. However, it was possible for the Tampa city council to override the mayor’s decision at their January 19 city council meeting.

Demonstrators urged that the Tampa city council unite in overriding Mayor Jane Castor’s veto and give the opportunity for Tampa residents to vote this year.

The protesters waved signs such as “Castor vetoes democracy” and “Community control of TPD” as their peers gave passionate speeches about the importance of independent counsel on the Citizens Review Board (CRB). The proposed charter amendment for independent counsel would’ve allowed voters to decide whether the CRB could obtain independent legal counsel.

The Citizens Review Board was created in 2015 due to public pressure against the discriminatory “Biking while Black” program, to investigate and review disciplinary cases and issues of importance regarding the police department and Tampa community members.

The January 18 action was led by the Tampa Bay Community Action Committee joined by speakers from the American Civil Liberties Union, Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society, and the Restorative Justice Coalition.

Demonstrator Angel D’Angelo from the Restorative Justice Coalition stated, “The veto from Mayor Jane Castor is yet another example of the abuse of power government officials have enacted on the people in Tampa. If she has any respect for the people, she would not once again deny us the option to vote on matters we care about like she did with rent control. The next best step is that our city council override the veto and that we elect council members that will stand up to this abuse.”

The mayor’s decision to veto the amendment thwarts the democratic process of allowing taxpayers and concerned citizens alike the opportunity to vote on the matter. Unsurprisingly, Mayor Jane Castor was in the Tampa police force for 31 years and served as the police chief from 2009 to 2015. Her tenure in the Tampa Police Department has made her presence a strong barrier for police accountability in the city.

On January 19, the day after the protest, the Tampa city council overrode four out of the five of Mayor Castor’s vetoes. The issue of the Citizens Review Board obtaining independent legal counsel was the charter amendment that did not receive the supermajority vote necessary to override the veto.

Council members Joseph Citro, Charlie Miranda and Guido Maniscalo voted against. The majority of residents who spoke during the public comment section were in favor of the overriding Mayor Castor’s veto on the CRB charter amendment. Later that night, Councilwoman Lynn Hutak introduced an ordinance with the same language as the CRB charter amendment that city council will put to vote on February 2. If it passes, it will go into effect without the need of Tampa voters.

Simon Rowe from Tampa Bay Community Action Committee said, “We know that people have a right to determine how they’re policed. It may be an uphill battle, but that doesn’t mean we’ll stop fighting until real progressive change happens in Tampa. Jane Castor cannot stand in the way of democracy forever.”

#TampaFL #PoliceBrutality #CommunityControlOfThePolice #TampaBayCommunityActionCommitteeTBCAC

In the 18 months since Chicago reached a turning point with the passage of the Empowering Communities for Public Safety (ECPS) ordinance, the coalition that won the ordinance has fought against the obstruction of the mayor and pro-police members of the city council to implement it. The current stage in the fight against police tyranny is the elections for the local office of police district council coming up on February 28.

Freedom Road Socialist Organization calls on all progressives to be a part of the next step forward in the history of liberation struggles for Black people and other oppressed nationalities by getting out the vote for pro accountability candidates.

ECPS was won by a broad coalition of progressive organizations representing diverse sectors of the working-class and oppressed communities. The ordinance established a citywide Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA) with the power to set Chicago Police Department (CPD) policy, give input into the budget and the hiring and firing of CPD leadership.

The current CCPSA is an interim Commission nominated by the city council and selected by the mayor. Future Commissions will be nominated by the district councils, who will also have the task of gathering the ideas and experiences of the people in their districts regarding the police. Throughout 2022, the ECPS coalition searched for district council candidates interested in holding the police accountable. Over 100 candidates, mostly Black, brown and working class, stepped forward to run. The coalition helped them gather petition signatures to get on the ballot, and now over 60 pro-accountability candidates are on the ballot for February.

Candidates who are running to expand democracy and hold police accountable are up against those backed by the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), who want to protect the status quo of police killing and torturing oppressed people with impunity. Fortunately, the FOP-backed candidates are vastly outnumbered by pro-accountability candidates. However, the FOP represents the white supremacist ruling class, which has far more money to put into elections than progressive organizations do. In order for our advantage in numbers to overcome the FOP’s war chest, we need the active participation of as many people as possible in the upcoming elections.

The passage of ECPS was a massive step towards Black and indigenous people, Chicanos, immigrants and other oppressed people being able to democratically govern their own communities. We encourage all people who want an end to police tyranny to get involved in this fight.

We call on the people not only to vote for pro-accountability candidates on February 28, but also to help mobilize voters whether or not they themselves are eligible to vote. We all have a part to play in determining who polices our communities and how our communities are policed. We have a world to win and nothing to lose but our chains.

Go to http://chicagoecps.com to find out who's running in your district.

Go to https://www.caarpr.org/volunteer to get involved in mobilizing people to vote.

#Chicago #PoliceBrutality #FreedomRoadSocialistOrganizationFRSO #CommunityControlOfThePolice

Chicago, IL – The November 8 midterm election is important around the country, as the seemingly formidable reactionary wave in electoral politics continues. In general, the task in most states is to defeat the most reactionary and backwards candidates.

In Illinois, we can make some gains, passing the Workers’ Rights Amendment. In Chicago, we have progressive candidates like Delia Ramirez for Congress, and Anthony Joel Quezada for 8th District Cook County Commissioner.

But the leading edge of the struggle to defend democratic rights is the movement for police accountability. In Chicago, election day is an opportunity for grassroots activists to get petitions for the municipal elections in February. There are over 100 people running for the newly created position of councilor in the 22 police districts. These district councils will be the front line for holding the Chicago Police Department accountable, to help determine who polices in Black and Latino communities, and how those communities are policed.

Each candidate needs a minimum number of signatures of voters registered in the police district where they live. Because 80% of the people running have never run for office before, many candidates for district council will be at the polling places in their community to ask for their signature to get them on the ballot.

These district councilors will nominate people to sit on a citywide Commission for Public Safety. The councilors have some powers; the commission has more, including the power to hire and fire the head of the body that investigates the thousands of complaints received every year against cops. It will also have the power to rewrite the police rule book, to eliminate foot chases, eliminate raids of homes where doors are kicked in, and end stop-and-frisk and other racist practices.

Frank Chapman, field organizer for the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, says about this election day, “Here is an unprecedented opportunity for us to strike a blow for democracy by doing all that we can do to get people on the ballot.”

Former Black Panther Lovie Bernard runs for District Council

In the 4th Police District on the far South Side of Chicago, Lovie Bernard is circulating petitions. Lovie was prompted to run by Alderman Greg Mitchell, one of the members of the Black Caucus of the City Council, which was key to the passage of the legislation Empowering Communities for Public Safety that brought about the district council elections. Alderman Mitchell suggested her to run because she has been an organizer in his election campaigns for many years.

The borders of the 4th District are 75th Street on the north; Lake Michigan on the east; and it includes Ford Motors’ Chicago Assembly, their oldest continuously operated Ford plant in the country.

As a teen, Lovie joined the Black Panther Party (BPP) in Chicago. She lived on the West Side at that time, just a few blocks from the Panther Party office. She attended meetings and rallies with Fred Hampton, chairman of the Illinois party. She remembers being in the Episcopal Church of the Epiphany on the Near West Side at Ashland and Adams where the Panthers would hold rallies, and remembers the Young Lords being there as well.

She remembers the night that the Chicago police killed Fred Hampton in a 4 a.m. raid. She went to his apartment that morning when Defense Minister Bobby Rush and the other Panthers opened it up so the community could see that Fred and Panther member Mark Clark had been assassinated. She also remembers attending the funeral.

Her family moved back to the South Side after Fred was killed.

If you search “Lovie Bernard Black Panther Party Chicago,” you’ll see a Getty Images photo of her. The caption reads: “At the opening of the Black Panther Party's Spurgeon Jake Winters Free People's Medical Center (at 3850 West 16th Street), the clinic's first patient, Lovie Bernard (left), is examined by nurse Florence Watson, Chicago, Illinois, January 4, 1970.”

The clinic was named for Panther Jake Winters, a Panther who was killed in a shootout with the Chicago police a few weeks before Fred Hampton and Mark Clark were assassinated.

Community control of the police

Black Panther Party chairman Bobby Seale coined the term community control of the police to describe the aim of the Panthers in their campaign to police the police. After the laws in California changed and didn’t allow armed patrols, the Panthers changed tactics. The party in Chicago developed a campaign in the 1970s to get community control of the Chicago Police Department through a petition drive to have it as a binding referendum.

When asked why she is running to hold the police accountable, Lovie Bernard shared an incident that came to mind. She was in the car with Alderman Mitchell, and a police car rolled up on her and the alderman. The cops started to give the alderman the business. Mitchell informed them, “I am the alderman of this ward.” The cops stopped harassing him, and apologized for their treatment of him, but Lovie said to them, “How you gonna harass the alderman?”

#ChicagoIL #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #ChicagoAllianceAgainstRacistAndPoliticalRepression #CommunityControlOfThePolice #EmpoweringCommunitiesForPublicSafetyECPS

The event uplifted voices of the victims of police crimes and their families who come from various communities who face the brunt of racist police brutality, including African American, Chicano and indigenous nationalities.

Thomas “TC” Armstrong, a Black man, shared his story about how Denver PD beat him to a coma on November 11, 2005. He was stopped on the street by DPD officers for “suspicious activity.” He was placed in handcuffs as his wallet and other items were taken by police. He was later beaten and tased by six to eight police officers for over 30 minutes. He was beaten across his head, face, chest, arms and genitals so severely he wanted to die. So he tried to play dead, hoping the cops would stop. He was placed in a body bag and taken to University of Denver Hospital, where he tried to escape, only to be beaten again. He was placed in a medically-induced coma, which Armstrong says was “so that I’d forget what they did to me.” Folks at his local church call him “Lazarus” after “coming back from the dead.” After a series of lawsuits gone wrong, Thomas “TC” Armstrong is still seeking justice and encouraging folks to organize against police brutality.

Next, a cousin of Paul Castaway, Donny, shared the story of his cousin. Paul Castaway was an indigenous man struggling with schizophrenia murdered by Denver police officer Michael Traudt on July 12, 2015. On that day, Paul was dealing with the news that a member of his family was recently diagnosed with leukemia. While the police and the district attorney claimed this was a case of so-called “suicide by cop,” Donny and his family reject this narrative. They say that more could have been done to safely help Castaway through his mental health crisis and are still seeking justice from DPD and the city.

Ari LeDoux of the Denver-Aurora Community Action Committee shared her experiences with Denver police, which had a profound effect on the crowd. LeDoux described how Jayland Walker’s murder and the murder of other Black and brown people by police remind her of the violence that her family have experienced for generations. She remarked, “You may only see the one brown face on the news, but I see the mothers, the fathers, the siblings, cousins, friends, classmates, I see the sheer pain eroding from their eyes, the way their bodies shake, shoulders crumble, the screams, I can feel it all. In their eyes, I see my mother’s eyes, my father’s shoulders, I feel my own bones shaking because their pain is a reflection of mine. Their loss is a reflection of mine.”

The action was organized by the newly-formed Denver-Aurora Community Action Committee, and cosponsored by Students for a Democratic Society, Young Communists League, and Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

Throughout the speeches, folks in the crowd chanted things like, “Cops and Klan go hand in hand!” and “When killer cops are on patrol, what do we want? Community control!” Organizers with DACAC and their coalition partners will continue to struggle against police brutality by organizing for a civilian police accountability council in Denver, Aurora, and the surrounding metro area.

#DenverCO #PoliceBrutality #CommunityControlOfThePolice #JaylandWalker

On July 3, the Akron, Ohio Police Department released bodycam footage of the police murder of Jayland Walker. This footage was released after a week of demonstrations in Akron demanding justice. Police officers shot at Walker 90 times, hitting him over 60 times and killing him. The police confirmed that Jayland was unarmed when they shot him.

“This is just another example of police officers gunning down unarmed Black folks in this country,” said David Jones, a member of TBCAC. “We’re here today on July 4, the day people celebrate freedom in this country but we can’t be free while Black people are murdered by the cops in this country.”

The protest also highlighted similarities to the police killing of Jonas Joseph, a Haitian-American man murdered by Tampa Police Department officers.

“Jonas was a 26-year-old, killed in 2020 and in much the same circumstances as Jayland, killed during a traffic stop,” said Joe Nohava, a member of TBCAC. “TPD murdered Jonas after firing 125 rounds at him and his car. And in Jonas’s case, the cops lied, saying at first that he had fired at them, then when that was discovered to be a lie, they then claimed he had a gun in his hand, then that turned out to be a lie.”

The protest also demanded community control of the police. All of the speakers noted that the only way to address police killings was through the establishment of democratically elected Civilian Police Accountability Councils (CPAC). CPAC would allow members of the community to determine how they’re policed, including the ability to hire and fire police officers, set the police budget, and implement police department policies.

#TampaFL #PoliceBrutality #CPAC #CommunityControlOfThePolice #TampaBayCommunityActionCommitteeTBCAC

Los Angeles, CA – In a historic move, the Civilian Oversight Commission voted in favor of a resolution to support a charter amendment giving the LA Board of Supervisors, the Civilian Oversight Commission (COC) and Office of Inspector General stronger oversight of the LA County Sheriff's Department. The vote also included the ability of the Board of Supervisors to remove a Sheriff for misconduct. Members of Centro CSO, impacted families of police killings, Black Lives Matter-LA, the ACLU, and Check the Sheriffs Coalition joined the meeting and spoke in favor of the Board of Supervisors placing a November 2022 ballot measure to win community control over the LA County Sheriff's Department and Sheriff Villanueva.

“It is time we hold Sheriff Villanueva accountable” said Luis Sifuentes of Centro CSO who spoke in favor during public comment, “this department has way too much power if they can interfere and block investigations on them, that’s why I urge the COC to create a commonsense structure of checks and balances.”

Stephanie Luna, who is the aunt of Anthony Vargas, also spoke. Vargas was killed by East LA Sheriffs August of 2018, and during the COC meeting Luna stated, “We have a current sheriff that has allowed deputy gangs to thrive with no consequence, has allowed the criminalization and displacement of our houseless neighbors, defied multiple subpoenas, allowed the harassment of grieving families by his deputies – which he himself participates in with my family, actively takes part in coverups involving beatings within the county jail, and has dared to target anyone who seeks to expose their misconduct. Villanueva has publicly targeted my family, and the family of Paul Rea, including [Rea’s] minor sibling in multiple press conferences. He has used our loved ones’ murders to advance his own political agenda stating that we are the only families that have come forth with these claims of harassment and disputing our claims of the existence of deputy gangs. Deputies regularly harass family members of those they have killed!”

During the meeting, the COC asked attorneys who were representing the ACLU and helped draft the charter amendment multiple questions. The charter amendment would give the elected officials the ability to remove the LA County Sheriff, give the Board of Supervisors more power – by giving them the ability to create policies against LASD, and to make the LASD Civilian Oversight Commission permanent. The amendment change would allow for the inspector general to investigate LASD and the LA Sheriff and ensure membership of community members directly impacted by LASD and the criminal legal system.

After questions, a vote was called by COC member Sean Kennedy who was chairing the meeting. Only two COC board members voted against the resolution to the charter amendment; a majority voted in favor of the charter amendment.

Expressing her happiness for the charter amendment victory was also Leticia Vazquez, mother of Marco Vazquez Jr. Vazquez was killed on October 9, 2019 by deputies from the Pico Rivera Sheriff’s Department. Vazquez said after witnessing the victory, “A charter amendment and other reforms are much needed to change the abuses and misconduct of Sheriff Villanueva and LASD. Former Sheriffs Lee Baca, Paul Tanaka, Alex Villanueva, and whoever wins the sheriff race should not have absolute power. This victory opens the doors to other changes that are much needed to help check the sheriff!”

Carlos Montes with Centro CSO said, “We have raised the demand for community control of the police for years, and this is a major step forward. In the 90s during the LA County Koltz Commission hearing on deputy gangs, the demand for civilian community control was raised and we only won Advisory Committees at each LASD station. These committees were appointed by local captains; this was a sham and unacceptable. That’s why we continue with the fight for community control of police and organize with the Check the Sheriffs Coalition to win the democratic right for civilian community power over the police.”

The next steps for the fighters of community control of LASD and Sheriff Villanueva are to convince the LA County Board of Supervisors to pass a measure to place the charter amendment in the November 2022 ballot. Centro CSO has teamed with the Check the Sheriff Coalition and the National Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression to ensure LA defeats the crimes brought on the people by killer cops and deputies.

If you wish to join Centro CSO’s Police Brutality Committee and become part of the movement, attend their monthly meetings which happen every first Thursday of the month, 7 p.m. (Pacific Time) via Zoom. You may contact CSO at 323-943-2030, CentroCSO@gmail.com, or @CentroCSO on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Facebook.

#LosAngelesCA #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #CommunityControlOfThePolice

Chicago, IL – 300 protesters showed up for the first in-person city council meeting in a year, April 21, to demand passage of an ordinance called Empowering Communities for Public Safety (ECPS). Coming out of nine years of efforts by over 100 community organizations, labor unions, churches and other faith-based groups, the ordinance is a merger of two bills: CPAC (Civilian Police Accountability Council, proposed by the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression), and one proposed by GAPA (the Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability). ECPS combines elements of the CPAC and GAPA bills to create the most democratic police accountability system in the country.

According to a statement from the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, “ECPS will give communities a decisive role in shaping public safety in their neighborhoods and determining the authority they have over the CPD and create a pathway for community control of the police.”

The two coalitions came together after Mayor Lori Lightfoot covered up the racist police raid of the home of Anjanette Young in 2019. The video of Young being forced to stand naked in her home, handcuffed, for 13 minutes while white police officers searched her home for a felon who lived next door, was released to the public in December. Lightfoot denied knowledge of the raid or and tape, and then later admitted she had tried to keep the tape from being released.

Danny Glover traveled to Chicago for the rally

Actor Danny Glover joined the protest after catching the redeye flight from California. Shivering in the snow, he said to the youthful crowd, “Your faces, your voices, your feet, your marching, your organizing is essential right now.”

Gus Newport, mayor of Berkeley, California in the 1980s, who at the time enacted legislation for community control of the police that had been originally drafted by the Black Panther Party, travelled with Glover. He said, “This ordinance you all have put forth is the greatest thing I’ve seen post the Civil Rights movement.”

Protesters also celebrated the conviction of Derek Chauvin, who murdered George Floyd in Minneapolis in May 2020, and also demanded justice for 13-year-old Adam Toledo, murdered by the Chicago Police Department on March 29. Police video released weeks after the murder showed the child had his hands in the air when the cop shot him.

#ChicagoIL #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #CommunityControlOfThePolice #EmpoweringCommunitiesForPublicSafetyECPS

Fight Back News Service is circulating the text of remarks by Frank Chapman of The Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR), given at the February 19 with the Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability (GAPA).

We all recognize the struggle for justice when it comes to police crimes and misconduct has been a long and torturous one, consuming generations and the lives of so many people from Fred Hampton and Mark Clark, to Rekia Boyd and Bettie Jones, to Flint Farmer and Laquan McDonald and many, many more that space will not allow us to mention. And let us not forget the hundreds that have been tortured, framed and wrongfully convicted, like Gerald Reed, the Hernandez brothers, Anthony Porter, Tamon Russel and again many more that this space will not allow us to name. We say their names and pay honor to their memories because those who have been murdered by police officers and who are survivors of police torture and crimes are the fuel of our movement. The demand for police accountability is fundamentally our people demanding justice.

What is really important about today is that this is the day that our movements (both CPAC and GAPA) are sitting at the table with members of the City Council to come to some basic agreements about how we can enact a City Ordinance that will guarantee our people their inalienable democratic right to say who polices our communities and how our communities are policed.

So, we have basic agreement that a city-wide police accountability council elected/selected by the people must have the final say on police policy. This is the question we are united on and we are determined not to let Mayor Lightfoot undermine our unity and this historic opportunity to empower our communities to hold the police accountability.

Our respective organizations, members of the City Council and the mass movement demanding that police be held accountable by the people they are policing are committed to overcoming our differences and advancing the cause of the people.

All power to the people!

#ChicagoIL #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #CAARPR #CommunityControlOfThePolice

Earlier that day at around 11 a.m., Gregory’s family was joined by their attorney, Kevin O’Conner, and organizers from various groups for a press conference on the steps of city hall.

The demands were for a federal investigation of the case, as well as an end to protections for killer cops that are currently in the Florida Officers’ Bill of Rights, so that evidence such as the remaining body camera footage can be subpoenaed by other agencies outside of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.

Continuing these demands, the Day for Devon pushed on with a 6 p.m. rally at the Duval County Courthouse. Over 275 people gathered to remember Devon’s life as well as demand the state attorney indict the killer cops.

“Jacksonville is a new battleground,” Bishop Tavis Grant of Rainbow Push Coalition-Chicago said to the crowd. “We can no longer have these militarized zones in cities across the country, particularly here in Jacksonville. We must unite around this nation in cities such as this and send the leaders a message.”

Attorney Kevin O’Conner spoke about the frustrations that legal representation for families of police victims face by being denied access to evidence in a timely manner. “I once had a case where the original report said a police shooting was justified, but upon receiving all of the video evidence in a timely manner, we were able to prove the initial report was a lie and there was justice for that family. But with Devon’s case, it’s already been almost a month – it’s disrespectful to the family, to the community and to the justice process.”

“We need to continue to push for the abolishment of the Florida Officers’ Bill of Rights, outdated legislation that gives police extra protections when they commit a crime against the community. And while we push for the destruction of Jim Crow remnants, we must also push for the creation of a Jacksonville Police Accountability Council to ensure community control of the police,” stated Christina Kittle with the Jacksonville Community Action Committee.

Kittle continued “With community control of the police in the form of such council, external investigations with access to the same raw evidence as the state attorney would even the power imbalance and ensure transparency.”

Families who have suffered from other various of police crimes were also in attendance to show solidarity with Devon Gregory’s family, including the family of Marcellis Stinnet, a Jacksonville man killed by police outside of Chicago; the mother of Leah Baker, a young woman killed by five-time killer-cop JSO John Nobles; the mother of Vernell Bing Jr., a young man killed by two-time killer-cop JSO Tyler Landreville; and Brittany Williams, a survivor of police brutality perpetuated by the same killer cop, Tyler Landreville, that killed Vernell Bing Jr.

Many groups were involved in the December 11 action, including the Jacksonville Community Action Committee, The Northside Coalition of Jacksonville, The Rainbow Push Coalition, Black Lives Matter-Jacksonville, BLM-Alabama and BLM-Lake County Chicago, Women’s March Jacksonville, and others

Follow up actions are being planned for January of 2021.

#JacksonvilleFL #AfricanAmerican #JacksonvilleCommunityActionCommittee #CommunityControlOfThePolice #DevonGregory

Earlier that day at around 11 a.m., Gregory’s family was joined by their attorney, Kevin O’Conner, and organizers from various groups for a press conference on the steps of city hall.

The demands were for a federal investigation of the case, as well as an end to protections for killer cops that are currently in the Florida Officers’ Bill of Rights, so that evidence such as the remaining body camera footage can be subpoenaed by other agencies outside of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.

Continuing these demands, the Day for Devon pushed on with a 6 p.m. rally at the Duval County Courthouse. Over 275 people gathered to remember Devon’s life as well as demand the state attorney indict the killer cops.

“Jacksonville is a new battleground,” Bishop Tavis Grant of Rainbow Push Coalition-Chicago said to the crowd. “We can no longer have these militarized zones in cities across the country, particularly here in Jacksonville. We must unite around this nation in cities such as this and send the leaders a message.”

Attorney Kevin O’Conner spoke about the frustrations that legal representation for families of police victims face by being denied access to evidence in a timely manner. “I once had a case where the original report said a police shooting was justified, but upon receiving all of the video evidence in a timely manner, we were able to prove the initial report was a lie and there was justice for that family. But with Devon’s case, it’s already been almost a month – it’s disrespectful to the family, to the community and to the justice process.”

“We need to continue to push for the abolishment of the Florida Officers’ Bill of Rights, outdated legislation that gives police extra protections when they commit a crime against the community. And while we push for the destruction of Jim Crow remnants, we must also push for the creation of a Jacksonville Police Accountability Council to ensure community control of the police,” stated Christina Kittle with the Jacksonville Community Action Committee.

Kittle continued “With community control of the police in the form of such council, external investigations with access to the same raw evidence as the state attorney would even the power imbalance and ensure transparency.”

Families who have suffered from other various of police crimes were also in attendance to show solidarity with Devon Gregory’s family, including the family of Marcellis Stinnet, a Jacksonville man killed by police outside of Chicago; the mother of Leah Baker, a young woman killed by five-time killer-cop JSO John Nobles; the mother of Vernell Bing Jr., a young man killed by two-time killer-cop JSO Tyler Landreville; and Brittany Williams, a survivor of police brutality perpetuated by the same killer cop, Tyler Landreville, that killed Vernell Bing Jr.

Many groups were involved in the December 11 action, including the Jacksonville Community Action Committee, The Northside Coalition of Jacksonville, The Rainbow Push Coalition, Black Lives Matter-Jacksonville, BLM-Alabama and BLM-Lake County Chicago, Women’s March Jacksonville, and others

Follow up actions are being planned for January of 2021.

#JacksonvilleFL #AfricanAmerican #JacksonvilleCommunityActionCommittee #CommunityControlOfThePolice #DevonGregory

Earlier that day at around 11 a.m., Gregory’s family was joined by their attorney, Kevin O’Conner, and organizers from various groups for a press conference on the steps of city hall.

The demands were for a federal investigation of the case, as well as an end to protections for killer cops that are currently in the Florida Officers’ Bill of Rights, so that evidence such as the remaining body camera footage can be subpoenaed by other agencies outside of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.

Continuing these demands, the Day for Devon pushed on with a 6 p.m. rally at the Duval County Courthouse. Over 275 people gathered to remember Devon’s life as well as demand the state attorney indict the killer cops.

“Jacksonville is a new battleground,” Bishop Tavis Grant of Rainbow Push Coalition-Chicago said to the crowd. “We can no longer have these militarized zones in cities across the country, particularly here in Jacksonville. We must unite around this nation in cities such as this and send the leaders a message.”

Attorney Kevin O’Conner spoke about the frustrations that legal representation for families of police victims face by being denied access to evidence in a timely manner. “I once had a case where the original report said a police shooting was justified, but upon receiving all of the video evidence in a timely manner, we were able to prove the initial report was a lie and there was justice for that family. But with Devon’s case, it’s already been almost a month – it’s disrespectful to the family, to the community and to the justice process.”

“We need to continue to push for the abolishment of the Florida Officers’ Bill of Rights, outdated legislation that gives police extra protections when they commit a crime against the community. And while we push for the destruction of Jim Crow remnants, we must also push for the creation of a Jacksonville Police Accountability Council to ensure community control of the police,” stated Christina Kittle with the Jacksonville Community Action Committee.

Kittle continued “With community control of the police in the form of such council, external investigations with access to the same raw evidence as the state attorney would even the power imbalance and ensure transparency.”

Families who have suffered from other various of police crimes were also in attendance to show solidarity with Devon Gregory’s family, including the family of Marcellis Stinnet, a Jacksonville man killed by police outside of Chicago; the mother of Leah Baker, a young woman killed by five-time killer-cop JSO John Nobles; the mother of Vernell Bing Jr., a young man killed by two-time killer-cop JSO Tyler Landreville; and Brittany Williams, a survivor of police brutality perpetuated by the same killer cop, Tyler Landreville, that killed Vernell Bing Jr.

Many groups were involved in the December 11 action, including the Jacksonville Community Action Committee, The Northside Coalition of Jacksonville, The Rainbow Push Coalition, Black Lives Matter-Jacksonville, BLM-Alabama and BLM-Lake County Chicago, Women’s March Jacksonville, and others

Follow up actions are being planned for January of 2021.

#JacksonvilleFL #AfricanAmerican #JacksonvilleCommunityActionCommittee #CommunityControlOfThePolice #DevonGregory

Tallahassee, FL – On October 22, more than 40 students and community members gathered at Integration Statue and marched to Wescott Fountain. Students for a Democratic Society held the annual protest at Florida State University in honor of the National Day of Protest Against Police Brutality. The assembly gathered with the demands of community control of FSU Police Department, that State Attorney Jack Campbell drops all charges levied against the #Tally19, and permanent removal of the Francis Eppes statue.

The protest took place in the midst of recent violence towards protesters. On August 29 an assault on a Black Lives Matter protest took place with a white supremacist threatened protesters and police with a gun. The next day, State Attorney Jack Campbell announced that no charges would be levied against the racist, citing Florida’s Stand Your Ground law in saying that his actions were justified as they were in self-defense.

This, among other acts of violence taken against Black Lives Matter protesters, is part of a pattern from both the municipal and state law enforcement agencies and government officials of allowing anti-racist protesters to be the target of violence and using the opportunity to declare assemblies gathered in anti-racist protests ‘unlawful’ and arresting as many attendees and leaders as possible. When local organizations involved with the Black Lives Matter movement gathered on September 5 in response to a grand jury finding the police officers who killed Mychael Johnson, Wilbon Woodard and Tony McDade justified in their use of deadly force, a mass arrest of these organizers occurred, with police outnumbering protesters three to one. Those unjustly arrested by police and charged with misdemeanors and felonies have been dubbed the Tally 19.

Among the speakers at the October 22 protest were two of the #Tally19. President of the Tallahassee Community Action Committee Regina Joseph addressed the assembly, speaking on the targeted attack on organizers by state and municipal law enforcement agencies, including Tallahassee PD and FSUPD. Having marched to Wescott Fountain, she informed the crowd about the little-known history of the spot where protesters stood.

Joseph stated, “Right here where we stand is where they hung Black people, and it is very fitting that they would put Francis Eppes’s statue, the so-called ‘founder’ of FSU, who owned 91 slaves and used money from his slave-catching militia and the Confederacy to fund one of the first police departments in the entire country, the Tallahassee Police Department. FSU is very much tied to the racist subjugation that the people are experiencing.”

Another member of the #Tally19, recent City Commission candidate Trish Brown, addressed the crowd and spoke about the need for community control of the police to combat the ongoing political repression occurring nationwide and particularly in Tallahassee.

Brown stated, “We must unite together. We must strategize, we must organize, and we must come together and take power away from the police and put it into poverty-impacted people’s hands; put it into student’s hands; put it into Black and brown people’s hands where it belongs! It belongs with the citizens and civilians and the people of our community and across the nation. The people united will never be defeated!”

“We need a CPAC; we need a Civilian Police Accountability Council. Having control over the police, like I said, and having money being put back into student’s and civilian’s hands, they won’t come after us no more!” continued Brown

This is the first time a protest has been held since COVID-19 social distancing restrictions, limiting certain gatherings to ten people, were lifted on campus. In the previous months, a protest such as this may have been shut down. Meanwhile home football games, with Doak Campbell stadium filled with tens of thousands of people, many of whom were not required to wear masks or social distance, as during the first home game, were allowed to go on. After a subsequent spike in cases on campus, FSU President John Thrasher and his wife tested positive for COVID-19.

But now that risks of COVID-19 infection are gradually lowering about six weeks after that spike in cases occurred, Students for a Democratic Society plans to continue mobilizing the campus and greater Tallahassee communities to put FSUPD under the community control of a CPAC and drop all charges against the #Tally19.

Jonce Palmer (they/them) is a Tallahassee activist.

#TallahasseeFL #StudentsForADemocraticSociety #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #CommunityControlOfThePolice

Oshkosh, WI – Over a dozen protesters from many parts of eastern Wisconsin answered a call put out by United Action Oshkosh (UAO). People rallied on October 24 to demand justice for Isaiah Tucker and community control of the police.

Community members participated in a motorcade through an area of Oshkosh that typically does not see protests outside the standard political campaign yard signs. The area of town chosen to meet up was picked specifically to help bring confidence to the Black and brown residents who lived in that area.

Despite local COVID-19 cases spiking, making the northeastern part of Wisconsin a ‘hotspot’ and one of the worst places on the planet for new cases, people lined up in their cars decorated with signs and their megaphones in tow ready to make some noise. Safety was a number one factor for local organizers as they completely understand the dangers COVID-19 presents to their most vulnerable neighbors.

“We encourage social distancing and mask wearing. We have extra masks for people who do not have them and hand sanitizer for everyone. We ask that people who are not feeling well stay at home,” said Abby Ringel, of the Wisconsin Women’s Equity Coalition and a participant in the action. “We typically also have a few vehicles that travel with us and people that aren’t comfortable marching in the large group are encouraged to caravan with us.”

Staying in cars created barriers between others as well as the community members that either followed along or cheered them on.

Aside from demanding police accountability, local grassroots groups like Food Not Bombs and the Wisconsin Women’s Equity Coalition believe that working together directly in their actions while serving their communities is crucial.

“It is important for us to show solidarity with other communities because this is one fight. The problem is systemic and without widespread action, there will be no systemic change. It is important that we band together to have the greatest effect,” continued Ringel.

#OshkoshWI #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #IsaiahTucker #CommunityControlOfThePolice

Chicago, IL – During a series of questions around racial injustice and law enforcement, the issue of community control of police was raised during the September 29 presidential debate, the first of three scheduled between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden. An issue that only had strong roots in a few cities six months ago is now a topic of national interest in the campaign for the highest office in the land.

“The power of our movement manifests itself in the biggest and boldest way in the wake of the George Floyd protests. In the demonstrations that we called, we had over 100,000 people mobilized across this country under the Alliance banner,” said Frank Chapman, Executive Director of the National Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression. “That is what got us into the debate: cause and effect.”

For those who missed it, moderator Chris Wallace asked this direct question, “I do want to talk about this issue of law and order though, and in the joint recommendation that came from the Biden-Bernie Sanders task force, you talked about quote ‘reimagining policing.’ What does re-imagining policing mean and do you support the Black Lives Matter call for community control of policing?”

Biden avoided the question, advocating instead for ‘community policing,’ and sidestepping the issue of putting communities in control of the law enforcement patrolling the streets.

#ChicagoIL #PoliceBrutality #civilianPoliceAccountabilityCouncilCPAC #CommunityControlOfThePolice

New York, NY – Members of the New York Community Action Project (NYCAP) joined with organizations from across the city, September 13 to officially launch a campaign for a Civilian Police Accountability Council (CPAC) in NYC. The launch of a CPAC campaign in the five boroughs follows on the heels of similar campaigns across the country, in cities like Chicago, Milwaukee, Dallas and Jacksonville.

As a community organization based in the South Bronx, NYCAP began raising the demand for a CPAC in New York after members of the organization attended the re-founding conference of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NARAPR) last year.

One important lesson that the New York Community Action Project members took away from the NARAPR conference is that CPAC offers a winnable, concrete demand that can unite as many people as possible – whether they be abolitionists, people who want to defund the police, or simply people who want the cops to do their jobs better and stop profiling them. All of these changes become possible in a world where the people have real power over the police, from their budget and training all the way to the equipment they carry and the discipline they face.

Today’s meeting also marked the creation of the New York City Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NYAARPR), a New York City affiliate to the National Alliance. NYCAP hopes that the NYAARPR can provide a way for organizations and communities in the five boroughs to unite in support of the demand for a CPAC in New York City, and also give us a way to organize in support of the days of action called for by the National Alliance.

Participating in the National Alliance’s days of action is a crucial way to spread the conversation around community control nationwide, and one of the first steps the New York City Alliance is taking as a coalition is to build for the national day of action on September 19. The national day of action is not only raising the demand for community control of the police, but is also demanding justice for recent victims of police murders including Breonna Taylor, Daniel Prude, Jacob Blake, Miguel Vega and Trayford Pellerin, and the withdrawal of federal troops and agents from our communities, where they have been sent to suppress the people’s righteous uprisings for justice.

If you are an individual in NYC and want to help fight for a CPAC while also supporting the National Alliance, join NYCAP today. On the other hand, if you’re already in an organization and want to support the National Alliance and to support NYCAP’s CPAC campaign, join the New York City Alliance (NYAARPR) by emailing us at nyaarpr@gmail.com.

#NewYorkNY #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #CommunityControlOfThePolice