Fight Back! News

News and Views from the People's Struggle

injusticesystem

By staff

The photo is outside on a lawn and three people watch on as two other people shake hands.

New Orleans, LA- On June 25, FBI agents phoned Cuba solidarity activist Jack Reno Sweeney to attempt to interrogate him about his work. A week prior to calling him, they visited his former apartment, and then called his mother on June 24. They called his mother a second time two days later. 

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By staff

 Atlanta rally demands justice for Christon Collins

Atlanta, GA – On Saturday, August 10, around 70 protesters and the family of Christon Collins gathered in front of DeKalb County Jail demanding accountability from Sheriff Melody Maddox. Christon Collins was a 27-year-old veteran who died in the DeKalb County Jail after being denied medical treatment. Recently released video footage of Collins’ last hours was made available to the public last week, which showed him lying on the common floor for three hours with no help from the guards.

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By Sam Dohler

Tallahassee vigil for Sonya Massey.  | Fight Back! News/staff

Tallahassee, FL – On August 7, a dozen community members gathered at the Smokey Hollow Historic District for a vigil for Sonya Massey and other victims of police brutality. The vigil was hosted by the Tallahassee Community Action Committee (TCAC).

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By staff

Family members hold up photos of their deceased loved ones at the front of a church.

Atlanta, GA - On Sunday morning, August 4, around 50 community members gathered at Park Avenue Baptist Church for a service in memory of Sonya Massey and the lives taken by police murders in Georgia. Many families who lost loved ones to police murder were present and shared their stories. 

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By Toni Duplechain-Jones

Some of the participants in New Orleans vigil for Sonya Massey.

Baton Rouge, LA – On July 28, around 20 community members gathered in a local hair salon to hold a vigil for Sonya Massey, a Black woman who was wrongfully killed by state of Illinois Deputy Sean Grayson. The vigil took place five days after the release of body cam footage by Illinois police. The goal of the event was to link the killing of Sonya Massey to the killing of Alton Sterling by Baton Rouge police almost exactly eight years ago. Participants called for an end to the ongoing police brutality that plagues Louisiana.

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By Kristin Bonner

DC vigil demands justice for Sonya Massey.

Washington, DC – On Sunday, July 28, over 200 community members gathered at Freedom Plaza in downtown DC to hold a vigil for Sonya Massey. The vigil, organized jointly by the DC Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (DC Alliance) and community activists, featured prayers, stories, speeches and chants condemning the murder of Sonya Massey and other police violence.

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By Ash Stewack and Caeli Kean

Chicago protest against police crimes.  | Alec Ozawa/Fight Back! News

Chicago, IL – 500 demonstrators rallied in Federal Plaza and marched through downtown Chicago, July 27, to protest the atrocious police murder of Sonya Massey. Massey, a 36-year-old Black woman, was shot in the face in her own home after calling the police to report a potential intruder.

The officer who murdered her, Sean Grayson, a sheriff's deputy in Sangamon County, Illinois, was discharged for murdering Sonya. Grayson was previously discharged from the army for serious misconduct, had a pattern of DUIs, and was shuffled around to at least six different police departments over the span of four years.

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By staff

Family of Christon Collins holds press conference demanding justice for their loved one who died in Dekalb County, Georgia jail.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

Atlanta, GA – The family of Christon Collins, a 27-year-old veteran who died in Dekalb County Jail, held a press conference on Monday morning, July 22, to share new information about their son’s death.

Jonia Milburn, Collins’s mother, says she got mixed and confusing stories from the sheriff’s office. The family is asking for an independent investigation and for those responsible to be held accountable.

Emotions filled the room as Jonia Milburn talked about what she saw in the video of her son’s last moments in the jail. “My son laid on the floor for three hours with no care. Nobody noticed. No guards, no supervisors, no one but the inmates.” Milburn says the video shows her son losing balance and hitting his head, then lying on the floor for three hours in the common area of the jail with no one checking on him but the inmates. Documents shared by the family show that when Collins was finally attended to hours later, EMTs did not perform life-saving measures on him.

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By staff

Milwaukee march demands justice for D’Vontaye Mitchell and Samuel Sharpe Jr.

Milwaukee, WI – As the Republican National Convention came to an end on Thursday, July 18, hundreds of law enforcement officers and dozens of media outlets circled a crowd gathered for a rally at Red Arrow Park demanding justice for D’Vontaye Mitchell and Samuel “Jah” Sharpe, Jr.

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By staff

Milwaukee vigil for man killed by police near Republican National Convention.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

Milwaukee, WI – On Tuesday, July 16, five police officers with the Columbus, Ohio Police Department shot and killed 43-year-old Samuel “Jah” Sharpe Jr. These police officers came to Milwaukee to provide security for the Republican National Convention (RNC), but the shooting took place near 14th and Vliet Streets, which is more than seven blocks away from the RNC security perimeter.

Alan Chavoya, outreach chair of the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, stated, “We warned the representatives of the city, of the Milwaukee Police Department, over the past two years that they were exposing our city to this kind of violence with the 4500 out-of-town police officers coming in for the RNC.”

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