Denver, CO – After a nearly two year campaign, the Denver chapter of Students for a Democratic Society won a significant milestone in their campaign to demilitarize the campus police. After four months of work plagued with delays and obfuscation by campus administrators, SDS fought to successfully get a resolution passed that takes the power from the Auraria Campus Police from being able to obtain military weapons from the 1033 program – a federal program designed to transfer surplus military equipment from the U.S. Department of Defense to local law enforcement.

The resolution states that the Auraria Campus Police Department (ACPD) can no longer accept any weapons, including armored, track-driven, or weaponized vehicles under Section 1033. ACPD would now have to request permission to order this ordinance from the Auraria Board of Directors. The ACPD will have to publicly announce their intentions of obtaining military gear 60 days before the acquisition, with a detailed explanation of what it is they intend to acquire, and host two public forums in which they invite students, faculty and community members of Auraria campus to speak on the proposed acquisition.

This procedure serves as a significant obstacle to any future acquisitions of military weapons or vehicles. SDS first became concerned with the militarization of the ACPD when the students learned that the campus police had previously used this program to obtain several M-16 rifles, the very same used by the U.S. military in Vietnam.

The department will no longer be able to move these weapons of war onto the Auraria campus under the cover of an administration turning a blind eye, but will instead have to expose their intent to militarize to the campus community; a community that has been mobilized around this issue and that have said loud and clear; this campus is not a war zone.

This resolution was won in spite of the Auraria Board of Directors delays and initial refusals to even bring the resolution to a vote. The board tried a variety of tactics to deter those undertaking this campaign, but the SDS employed a diversity of tactics and dynamism that kept the pressure on, leading to the achievement of this milestone. It was through call-ins, speakouts, marches, and disruptions that forced the hand of the board of directors, which led to the board’s passing of the resolution.

The campaign was supported by multiple student and faculty organizations, such as the Anti-Racist Action and Advocacy, the United Campus Workers, the Metropolitan State University Federation of Faculty/AFT, the Auraria Cross Disability Alliance, and the Black Student Alliance.

This win ensures that the members of the Auraria campus can rest easier knowing that the shared campus is now safer for the students and faculty with the previously unchecked access to military weapons and vehicles for the ACPD now under more stringent limitations.

#DenverCO #DenverStudentsForADemocraticSociety

Tallahassee, FL – On February 16, organizations from around the state came to Tallahassee to stand up for reproductive rights and against HB5. On that day, the Florida House debated the unconstitutional and restrictive anti-abortion bill, HB5.

HB5 would eliminate any abortions after 15 weeks, with no exception in cases of rape, incest or human trafficking, and criminalize medical professionals who provide abortions.

Standing against this bill are organizations from around the state including FSU/UNF/USF Students for a Democratic Society, Tampa Bay Community Action Committee (TBCAC), Tallahassee Community Action Committee (TCAC), and statewide chapters of Planned Parenthood.

Kill the bill: Students fight back

To begin the day, Florida chapters of Students for a Democratic Society held a rally of around 70 people on the Historic Florida Capitol steps to demand reproductive rights for all. “The fact that [SDS chapters] drove hours across Florida with just a few days' notice to fight this bill shows the dedication we have,” stated Cas Casanova of FSU SDS. The students spoke on topics ranging from the future of Roe v. Wade to how HB5 impacts oppressed groups. One SDSer asserted that Florida Republicans’ “facade of concern for the Black community is just another attempt to gaslight us into silence.”

This was SDS’s second statewide action against HB5; the first action ended with the House trying to silence SDSers to no avail. In the face of repeated repression, FSU student Alana Felton of FSU GenAction stood up and declared “We will not go away, and we will not be silenced!”

Defeat the abortion ban: The community continues the struggle

After the student protest, the Tallahassee Community Action Committee held a protest of over 30 people to further the demands of reproductive justice.

“Reproductive justice is an issue that affects everyone, whether you have a uterus or not,” said Delilah Pierre, field director for TCAC.

Taylor Cook, a speaker at both TCAC and SDS’s protest, talked about the bill’s effects on working-class communities in Florida: “These bills are an attack on Black and brown people and on poor people.”

While the community was rallying, the Florida House abruptly began debating HB5. TCAC quickly ended the rally and flooded the gallery.

All day occupation: Planned Parenthood v. abortion ban

While the protests continued outside, Planned Parenthood chapters from around the state occupied the Capitol gallery the entire day. Beginning with a march to the capitol, Planned Parenthood was still at the capitol after midnight.

With a force of more than 100 volunteers, Planned Parenthood demanded that HB5 be voted down in the House. “Abortion bans are dangerous, racist, classist and deeply invasive and we’re going to keep fighting them,” stated Ally Walchak from Planned Parenthood.

Bill passes, struggle continues

As sponsoring Representative Erin Grall ® began her closing remarks, which were riddled with disgusting anti-abortion arguments, SDSers began chants of “My body, my choice.” Police and capitol staff aggressively grabbed the students, pushed them out of the hall, and demanded they leave. As the SDSers and Planned Parenthood representatives exited the elevator to leave, they were confronted and detained by Capitol Police at the order of the Florida Speaker of the House Chris Sprowls.

Every single pro-choice advocate, no matter if they chanted, was ‘trespassed’. This means that, for the next year, if they step inside of the Florida House, they will be arrested on the spot. Lauren Brenzel, a Planned Parenthood activist who never chanted and refused to take the trespassing charge, was subsequently arrested and held overnight in jail.

While Florida Republicans have fast tracked this bill through the legislative process, the bill remains unconstitutional as it violates Roe v. Wade. The Florida Republicans are hoping to pass this unconstitutional bill in hopes that Roe v. Wade will be overturned by the Supreme Court this summer. Students, community organizations and individuals around the country will continue to stand against repressive anti-abortion bills.

Dare to struggle! Dare to win!

#Tallahassee #abortion #DenverStudentsForADemocraticSociety #HB5

As of September 1, abortion is outlawed in Texas once a fetal heartbeat can be detected. Heartbeats begin about six weeks after conception, before many women even realize they may be pregnant. Women who are suspected to have received an illegal abortion and doctors suspected to have performed an illegal abortion can be sued a minimum of $10,000 if the case is won.

Roe v. Wade has guaranteed women the right to an abortion since 1973. The enactment of this Texas bill infringes on a constitutional right that has been in place for nearly half a century. “This is more than an abortion issue, this is a human rights issue,” states Jae Nokes, a member of SDS. “If we're going to be forced into childbirth, then childcare needs to be free; there needs to be maternity leave in every workplace; birth control and education about birth control that goes beyond abstinence training needs to be available and widespread. These are demands we have had even before the Heartbeat Act, but they’re things these male lawmakers have probably never even considered in their lives.”

This bill also stands to have a disproportionate impact on low-income and oppressed peoples. Economically disadvantaged women already face discrimination and lack of access to resources within the healthcare system. This bill clearly demonstrates a democratic failure within the Texan and U.S. legal system. With several other states attempting to enact their own version of this bill, it is clear that this is an issue that goes far beyond just Texas. The response to the bill has ignited protests across the country, and SDS resolves to continue the fight for women’s rights.

#DenverCO #LGBTQ #PeoplesStruggles #DenverStudentsForADemocraticSociety

Denver, CO – Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) rallied here April 29, as a part of their campaign to disarm and defund the Auraria Campus Police Department.

SDS has been working to disarm and defund ACPD since the summer of 2020. Since then, police funds on campus actually did go down by 6%, but when compared to a 9.7% general budget cut due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the police are actually receiving a larger percentage of the total budget – despite only one in three classes being held on campus.

SDS demonstrations on campus were cited by the police as one of the key reasons for the establishment of a Police Advisory Board at the end of 2020. SDS demands were to create a Civilian Police Accountability Council (CPAC), but, instead, a toothless advisory board was created.

Kyle Burroughs, of SDS, quoted the ACPD Community Advisory Board’s mission statement in his speech, noting the claim the board has been founded “in an effort to increase dialogue.” Burroughs stated, “The main problem is that the mass demand surrounding police is not to increase dialogue, but, rather, to allow for punitive consequences for bad police, to prevent police violence, to put an end to racist policing and police injustice, and, ultimately, to have community control of the police.”

Further language in the Community Advisory Board’s mission statement indicates that the non-democratically elected appointees will “make recommendations,” “provide feedback,” “address topics,” and “generate new ideas or solutions for consideration” by the ACPD. The rally renewed the demands by SDS to establish a CPAC in place of the Advisory Board for the ultimate goals of disarming and defunding ACPD. Burroughs spoke on this, saying “The relationship between the police and campus community should be one where the campus community has complete control over the police, not one where the community has ‘open dialogue’ or ‘discussion’ or ‘suggestions for consideration.’”

Further concerns about the activities of the ACPD were addressed by Burroughs in his speech, who spoke of a Black SDS member experiencing the problems of police injustice firsthand after being banned from campus for voicing dissent against the police on his social media. The police went as far as obtaining a warrant to search the student’s home for weapons only to find nothing there. Even after winning his court case, the student is still banned from campus and has to attend weekly meetings with the dean which he has described as “belittling” and “dehumanizing,” and he says his experience is one of racial bias on the part of the university.

The ACPD enjoys a $4.2 million budget. It is unwilling to disclose what its expenditures are, even after students attempted to gain this information via the Colorado Open Records Act. It was deemed “contrary to public interests” to tell the public what weapons were held by the campus police. The police can apparently lie and withhold information from the community, but the community gets punished for speaking out against the police.

SDS has resolved to continue fighting for CPAC on campus and in the surrounding community. Disarming and defunding are the main demands of the campus community surrounding the police and establishing community control of the police would get the campus closer to those demands.

#DenverCO #InJusticeSystem #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #Antiracism #civilianPoliceAccountabilityCouncilCPAC #DenverStudentsForADemocraticSociety #AurariaCampusPoliceDepartment

Denver, CO – Denver Students for a Democratic Society hosted local Denver activist Shareef Aleem for an event about radical Black history in the U.S., Feb. 25, as a part of Black History Month. At the event, Aleem discussed the history of radical Black activism, as well as how Black art and culture has been seized and stolen for generations. Aleem, an activist for over 20 years, has been involved in numerous groups, particularly in the peace movement and in the movement for police accountability.

“Anything Black people have in this country, somebody spilled their blood over,” Aleem noted in his speech. Aleem then went on to mention slave rebellions, actions against white supremacy, and the founding of groups like the Black Panther Party as part of the tradition of radical Black activity.

Aleem stated that reparations for slavery have not been given to Black people in the U.S.

Aleem urged the audience to learn about and celebrate Black history beyond Dr. King, encouraging people to gain an understanding about the Black Panthers, Nat Turner, Marcus Garvey, and the histories of jazz, blues, rock and roll, hip-hop, and punk. Aleem finished by reminding that “Black resistance continues; we don’t always know how it will look, but it continues.”

#DenverCO #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #DenverStudentsForADemocraticSociety