Salt Lake City, UT – More than 30 people marched through the streets here, Aug. 25, to demand justice for Dillon Taylor, Danielle Willard and Mike Brown. Protesters were outraged at the recent killing of Dillon Taylor, an unarmed man, at the hands of the Salt Lake City Police, as well as other killings by the police, such as Danielle Willard and Ferguson, Missouri’s Mike Brown.

Gregory Lucero of the Revolutionary Students Union stated, “We have to stand against police brutality now, to demand that these killer cops get proper punishment and prevent this from happening ever again.”

Protesters marched to several Utah landmarks, including the federal building, the state courthouse and the police department to make their voices heard. Speakers at each stop told of their stories about harassment and grief at the hands of Salt Lake City’s cops. At the police station, Dillon Taylor's aunt relayed a message of hope and support to the protesters, thanking them for their determination to fight police brutality. Fatima Badran, the organizer of the protest, also spoke to those in the march, saying, “This is how justice is won. By making our voices heard and standing up against police brutality, we can make a difference.”

The march is one among many across the county this past week in a show of solidarity with protesters in Ferguson. The demands of the march included justice for the people of Ferguson and removing the National Guard. The crowd also called for harsh punishment for the officer who killed Utah’s Dillon Taylor.

Christopher Manor, of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) stated, “These actions show people locally that the same systems of oppression that are being faced around the country are still present and problematic here and that we can fight them.”

#SaltLakeCityUT #PoliceBrutality #Ferguson #JusticeForMichaelBrown #HandsUp

Milwaukee, WI – Over 250 people gathered for a rally here, Aug. 16, to stand in solidarity with the struggle in Ferguson, Missouri, where more than a week of militant protests have erupted since 18-year-old Michael Brown was murdered by a Ferguson police officer.

The Milwaukee demonstration also focused on the last couple years’ victims of police violence and white vigilantes. It was organized in coordination with the families of Dontre Hamilton, Corey Stingley and Derek Williams. Protesters demanded the immediate arrest of the racist killers.

Dontre Hamilton, an unarmed 31-year-old Black man, was shot 15 times by a Milwaukee Police officer as he tried to take a nap on a public bench in Milwaukee this past spring. Corey Stingley – a 16-year-old Black child – was strangled by three adult white men after stealing and returning a bottle of alcohol at a corner store in the suburb of West Allis. Derek Williams, a 24-year-old Black father of three, begged for his life for over 30 minutes in the back of a Milwaukee Police squad car after he was violently arrested, eventually dying while an officer listened to music in the front seat of the squad, ignoring Williams’ cries for help. These cases happened in the last three years and none of those responsible for the murders have been held accountable for their actions.

Protesters gathered in Red Arrow Park in downtown Milwaukee, the site of Dontre Hamilton's murder this past spring. Speakers pointed out that Michael Brown’s and the Milwaukee victims' murders did not happen in a vacuum, but rather these murders are part of the racist discrimination and national oppression African Americans have been facing for hundreds of years.

Jorge Maya of Youth Empowered in the Struggle spoke, making the connection between the violence perpetrated against young Black men to that of the Milwaukee Police and Sheriff's Departments terrorizing immigrant communities in Milwaukee through deportation and racial profiling. “The police are not here to protect common people, they protect people with property. Just as innocent people like Michael Brown are arrested and killed for no reason, many immigrants are arrested and deported for having done nothing wrong. The system is not broken, it is working perfectly,” said Maya.

Micaela Magel of Students for Justice in Palestine spoke of the militarization of local police departments to U.S. imperialism, the ongoing assault on the Gaza strip and the occupation of Palestinian lands, stating, “From Milwaukee to Ferguson to Palestine, we demand the end to killings and oppression of innocent civilians.”

Police in the Saint Louis area as well as the Milwaukee County Sheriff have participated in a national ‘counter-terrorism’ training hosted in Israel to learn the newest techniques of their military.

The protesters then marched in the street for several blocks to the Police Administration building where family members of Corey Stingley and Dontre Hamilton spoke.

“See those police officers over there,” said Nate Hamilton, Dontre Hamilton’s brother, pointing towards two officers on motorcycles watching the crowd at the police station, “They don't give a fuck about us. We should be able to film them, ask them about their jobs but we can't … We have got to tear the walls down, that's what it said in the bible to tear the walls down.”

The crowd, then about 100, marched toward the 43/94 highway to shut down the highway exit at 10th Street. The crowd stayed for an hour chanting “No justice, no peace” and “Hands up, don't shoot!” as cars began to pile up at the blocked exit. The Milwaukee County Sheriff's office was forced to eventually close the exit from the highway and allow the over a dozen cars to turn around to get back on the highway. The protesters had successfully shut down the major exit to downtown Milwaukee.

The crowd then marched back towards the starting point of the rally, singing We Shall Not be Moved beginning the chorus with several of the names of murdered Black youth by police and white vigilantes in Milwaukee and the rest of the country.

Demonstrators then shut down a major intersection in downtown Milwaukee at Water and Wisconsin Avenue, with Craig Stingley, Corey Stingley's dad, addressing the crowd. “Did my son deserve to die, because he stole some alcohol and then gave it back? Should Michael Brown have died for supposedly stealing some cigars? I know if that would have been a white boy he wouldn't have been killed…the plainest of all our civil rights is the right to life, and it was taken. These are hate crimes,” said Stingley.

Everyone then marched back to Red Arrow Park for a moment of silence and closed the four-hour event out with a prayer for justice for families in Milwaukee, Ferguson and the world.

This event was co-sponsored by Occupy Milwaukee, Occupy Coalition, Milwaukee Anti-War Committee, Youth Empowered in the Struggle, Students for Justice in Palestine, Ma'Ruf, the Milwaukee Committee to Stop FBI Repression and African American Roundtable.

#MilwaukeeWI #PoliceBrutality #Ferguson #JusticeForMichaelBrown #HandsUp

Ferguson, MO – Following Governor Jay Nixon’s announcement of a state of emergency here, police and state troopers launched an attack on protesters who were demanding justice for Mike Brown. In the early morning hours of Aug. 17, police used tear gas and carried out arrests.

#FergusonMO #PoliceBrutality #JusticeForMichaelBrown #HandsUp

Jacksonville, FL – The entire country is carefully watching what is going on right now in Ferguson, Missouri after the police murdered 18-year-old African American Michael Brown on Aug. 9. Black people around the country are the most interested, and in the South, where Black people often constitute a majority or large plurality in some areas, people want real change. Community members in Jacksonville came together and held a rally and march downtown here, Aug. 16, for Michael Brown and his family.

The main demands of the action were to jail the killer cop, end police brutality and terror, and to get justice for Michael Brown. Organizers in the Jacksonville Progressive Coalition (JPC) also made it a point to link their struggle against State Attorney Angela Corey, the attorney in the Trayvon Martin and Jordan Davis murder cases who failed to get justice for these young Black men. It's the same system protecting killer cops and murderous vigilantes, and Angela Corey is a symbol for that corrupt system here in Jacksonville.

About 100 people gathered at Hemming Plaza Saturday evening and began chanting as news vehicles drove up. Several interviews were conducted by the local media of protest organizers. Connell Bam Crooms, a Black warehouse worker at UPS and a member of Teamsters Local 512 in Jacksonville, was the first speaker to address the crowd. “Its been 50 years since the Civil Rights Act and here we are still having a conversation about race. Black men in America are viewed as disposable, as evident by the ridiculous rates blacks are imprisoned or murdered by the police compared to whites. Our leaders and their corporations view us as good for nothing but sports and manual labor. You'd be hard pressed to find a Black man in an administrative capacity with a degree and the expertise to make important decisions. If we aren't doing labor for big capital, we are either dead or causing trouble – or so our leaders would have us believe.”

After a round of speakers, the crowd began marching downtown to the Police Memorial Building to confront the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office (JSO) and slam them for police brutality in the community.

This comes hot on the heels of Operation Ceasefire, a racist campaign by JSO where police officers attempted to enter over 18,000 homes in the majority-Black Northside of Jacksonville. The JSO officers used this campaign to invade people's right to privacy and terrorize the Black community on a large scale under the pretext of “making people safer” by searching for contraband. JSO also installed surveillance cameras all over the Black community.

Along the way, the crowd chanted, “From Ferguson to Palestine, occupation is a crime,” and “Justice for Michael Brown.” Other chants included “Same thing every time, being black is not a crime,” and “Ferguson, JSO, killer cops have got to go!”

After the march had taken the street and blocked off a lane of traffic on their mile-long march, they got to the Police Memorial Building and assembled on the steps. Several speakers gave fiery speeches to the crowd, including Opio Lumumba Sokoni, president of the local Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

At the end of the speeches, the crowd continued to chant, “Hands up, don't shoot!” and took a group photo with their hands held up in a sign of defiance. The people then got into a single file line and led a procession up to the door of the Police Memorial Building where they laid down their signs for all those who had suffered from police brutality, like Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, Jordan Davis and Michael Brown.

People vowed to continue the fight for all victims of police brutality. Many plan to attend the next meeting of the Jacksonville Progressive Coalition on Aug.17 at 5:00 p.m. at 966 N Liberty Street. The JPC meets every third Sunday of the month at the same place and time.

#JacksonvilleFL #PoliceBrutality #Ferguson #JusticeForMichaelBrown #HandsUp #PoliceBrutalityJ

Ferguson, MO – Governor Jay Nixon, a democrat, held a press conference here, Aug. 16, where he announced a state of emergency in Ferguson, placing the town under a curfew from midnight to 5:00 a.m. This announcement comes on the heels of peaceful protesters being tear gassed by riot police in the early morning hours.

The press conference turned into utter chaos when the state of emergency announcement was made, as members of the crowd yelled, “Why hasn't the killer cop been charged?” and “Why hasn't Darren Wilson been indicted? Answer the question! Stop killing our people, police, and stop it now!”

Members of the community are angry at this decision. The press conference barely addressed the investigation into the killing Michael Brown at the hands of white police and only focused on suppressing uproar from the Ferguson communities pursuit of justice.

This reporter was able to talk to Justin Hansford, a Black law professor at Saint Louis University, who was present at the press conference. Hansford said, “The person who is supposed to prosecute the officer who killed Michael Brown has a notorious bias against Black men.”

#FergusonMO #PoliceBrutality #JusticeForMichaelBrown #HandsUp

Ferguson, MO – With rain coming down around 8:00 p.m. here Aug. 15, more than 700 community members are out in force again, protesting the killing of Michael Brown at the hands of the Ferguson Police Department. People from all over the country are pouring into this Saint Louis suburb to support the community.

Protesters have taken over West Florissant Street, with bumper-to-bumper traffic and cars honking in a symphony of support. Drummers have even set up shop at the Quick Trip gas station, entertaining the crowd and chanting, “No Justice, no peace!”

#FergusonMO #PoliceBrutality #JusticeForMichaelBrown #HandsUp