There was a high tide of struggle on many fronts in 2017. The pace and intensity of the struggles this year makes it easy to forget some of the things we have accomplished, which makes it all the more important to look back and review the lessons from this year’s resistance so we can move forward stronger.

Since there were so many Fight Back! articles covering important struggles this year, there’s no way we can include everything that was important. So we’ll do the best we can by highlighting five key articles from each month.

If there were other Fight Back! articles you liked this year that aren’t listed here, let us know which one in the comments!

First, we’d like to recognize the people that Fight Back! honored who passed away in 2017 and say in their honor: ¡presente!

• On the passing of fighter for justice and people’s lawyer Ted Dooley
• Lynne Stewart tribute
• Margaret Sarfehjooy, prominent Minnesota peace activist, remembered
• Marianne Hamilton presente!
• Great Chicana revolutionary Yvonne de Los Santos will always be remembered
• Josephine Wyatt, fighter for African American freedom and socialism remembered
• People’s Thanksgiving honors memory of Pat Hunt

Now, here are 5 important Fight Back! articles for each month of 2017.

January

1. Young Black activists tell why they disrupted the Jeff Sessions confirmation hearing
2. 1 million-plus join Women’s March on Washington DC
3. The election of Donald Trump and women’s liberation
4. 25 campuses hold walkouts on Inauguration Day
5. Trump’s election sets up potential new attacks on unions

February

1. Thousands join ‘8 Days of Resistance’ to Trump’s executive orders in Chicago
2. The Farce of the Deal: Trump, the TPP and trade
3. Frank Chapman speaks on Black liberation and socialism
4. Record turnout for San Jose Day of Remembrance
5. Trump executive orders on policing are new threat to African Americans and Latinos

March

1. UNF students sit in demanding justice, sanctuary campus
2. Progressives clash with Trump supporters at MN state capitol
3. Hundreds join FRSO International Women’s Day march
4. Students shut down University of Utah administration
5. Japanese American and American Muslim solidarity march

April

1. Vicious police attack on Jacksonville anti-war protest
2. Chicago: Beloved teacher fired for defending students
3. Lessons from the victory in the cases of Robert Almodovar and William Negron
4. Supporters of Rasmea Odeh in Detroit for plea agreement hearing
5. May Day 2017! Defend immigrant rights and build workers unity! Defeat Trump!

May

1. Boyle Heights May Day protest demands end to deportations and police killings
2. Jamar Clark remembered on his 26th birthday
3. The fight for immigrant rights under Trump
4. Resistance marks Trump’s first 100 days
5. Oscar López Rivera, freed Puerto Rican political prisoner, welcomed home to Chicago

June

1. Charges dropped: The Jacksonville 5 win
2. The Jacksonville 5 speak out after beating police repression in the Deep South
3. Anti-Muslim bigots forced to flee at MN State Capitol
4. Massive protest underway protesting verdict in case of Philando Castile
5. Charges dropped against Ariel Vences Lopez from arrest on Minneapolis light rail

July

1. Unions victorious after year-long battle against Mayo Clinic
2. YPRC organizes ‘Resist and Flourish’ summer school
3. Rasmea Odeh and Arab Women's Committee release book ‘Towards the Sun’
4. Minneapolis anti-police terror movement shuts down Mayor Hodges press conference
5. Jacksonville activists demand police accountability at city council

August

1. Freedom Road Socialist Organization condemns white supremacist attack in Charlottesville
2. Farewell rally for Rasmea Odeh, Palestinian icon
3. Arizona immigrant rights leader slams Trumps pardon of ex-sheriff Joe Arpaio
4. Fight Back! interview with Jose Maria Sison on the people’s war in the Philippines
5. Empowering Boyle Heights event marks 47th anniversary of Chicano Moratorium

September

1. Jacksonville community rallies for #Justice4Keegan
2. Defend DACA, Hit the streets for DREAMers!
3. Thousands march in Milwaukee for DACA, demand ‘Legalization for all’
4. Black and Brown unite to demand LA district attorney prosecute killer cops
5. Hugs and tears as Rasmea Odeh deported

October

1. Jose Maria Sison: On the significance of the Great October Socialist Revolution
2. Northeastern University dining hall workers win incredible victory
3. The October Revolution and some lessons for the struggle for socialism in the U.S.
4. Students for a Democratic Society holds 12th annual national convention
5. Interview with Mercedes Martínez, President of the Puerto Rican Teachers Federation – “Puerto Rico: The crisis for working class and poor people has intensified”

November

1. Interview with Frank Chapman: “We have a spark with Charlottesville”
2. U.S. delegation’s address to World Working Youth Congress in Rome
3. Saudi Arabia's gangster 'Game of Thrones' reflects crisis for imperialism in Middle East
4. Students at UNF oppose racists, KKK and Nazis
5. #MeToo Campaign and Beyond: Combating Sexual Violence

December

1. Zimbabwe’s leadership change and the enduring legacy of Robert Mugabe
2. UPS imposes 70-hour work week
3. Yemen’s Houthi movement eliminates former president Saleh for ‘treason’ amid Saudi war
4. People’s Thanksgiving 2017 – FRSO speech by Frank Chapman
5. Milwaukee Labor Council confronts white supremacist

There were many excellent Fight Back! articles that aren’t listed here – you can see them all at the archive. (Also see the 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 retrospectives).

#UnitedStates #FightBack #YearInReview

Jacksonville, FL – On Saturday, Sept. 2, the family of Keegan Roberts called for a protest outside State Attorney Melissa Nelson's office as well as a candlelight vigil at the home where Keegan was murdered by George Zimmerman wannabe Michael Centanni.

Around 60 community members, activists and local organizers were on hand for the vigil. Around 30 people attended the protest earlier that day outside the State Attorney's office.

With chants of “What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!”, protesters demanded justice for Keegan outside State Attorney Melissa Nelson's office.

In past weeks since the killing, the family of Keegan Roberts, along with local community organizations such as the Jacksonville Community Action Committee, have been demanding that State Attorney file charges against Centanni for the murder of Keegan Roberts. Centanni is currently using self defense or the Stand Your Ground law to avoid charges.

On July 20, Keegan Roberts, after taking his wife on a date night, was accosted and shot by neighbor, racist and Jacksonville Sheriff's office aspiring police trainee Michael Centanni. On previous occasions, Centanni had badgered Roberts. However that night, Centanni went to Roberts house looking for a fight.

After approaching Roberts’ car, harassing Roberts and his wife, Centanni gunned down Keegan, while Jacksonville Sheriff Office officers (JSO) who came to the scene immediately took the side of the white racist Centanni. JSO cops even put Keegan's wife in a police car and treated her as if she was the criminal.

“They [JSO] just assumed when they got here that Keegan was the aggressor,” said Cecilia Shepard, mother of Keegan Roberts. “They treated Keegan's wife as if she was in the wrong.”

At the vigil on Saturday night, local activists including Ron Davis, father of Jordan Davis, the 17-year-old black teen who was killed by racist vigilante Michael Dunn in 2012, was on hand lending support for the family for Keegan.

“Since Jordan died, look at how many families have lost children, sisters and brothers, sons – killed,” said Ron Davis. “We have to stop this madness.”

Jordan Davis’s killer was eventually convicted for the first degree murder of Jordan Davis after three trials along with major protests demanding Dunn be convicted in Jacksonville.

At the vigil, community members heard from Keegan Roberts mother, wife, sister and other activists on their thoughts on why justice must be won. Keegan's mother even called for police accountability due to how poorly this case was handled by the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.

“In 2012, we saw a racist vigilante in George Zimmerman murder Trayvon Martin, with the injustice system doing nothing to get justice and it took a people’s movement to see Zimmerman arrested for his crimes and it's gonna take a similar movement here to see Centanni arrested.” said Michael Sampson of the Jacksonville Community Action Committee (JCAC). “Why add 100 new cops to the streets of Jacksonville when those same police can't even arrest a racist killer? It's clear racist laws like Stand Your Ground gives free range for racists to murder Black people and we need to keep demanding this murderer is jailed but also, we must make sure the police are held accountable too for their inaction in bias in how they handled the case.”

Keegan Robert's family, friends, and organizations like the JCAC remain committed to seeing justice is won in the case.

#JacksonvilleFL #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #JacksonvilleCommunityActionCommittee #Justice4Keegan #KeeganRoberts