Salt Lake City, UT – 100 people protested against the outgoing Trump administration and rallied for a People's Agenda at the Wallace Federal Building in Salt Lake City on January 18. The protest started with chants by emcee and FRSO member Adrian Romero: “Hey hey, ho ho! These killer cops have got to go! Hey hey, ho ho! The whole damn systems got to go!” The event was hosted by the Freedom Road Socialist Organization and Utah Against Police Brutality.

Jacarri Kelley-Brown, Black Lives Matter North speaker started with a quote from Martin Luther King Jr, “Those who love peace must learn to organize as effectively as those who love war.”

Nick Godfrey from the Freedom Road Socialist Organization spoke on the relationship between the labor movement and the Black Liberation struggle, stating, “When they attempt to bury the history of Martin Luther King as ‘the socialist,’ ‘the anti-imperialist,’ ‘the labor leader,’ they tell us which aspects are most important to uphold today. When they smear King as a communist, we learn there is no greater threat to their wealth and power.”

Godfrey continued “I believe King’s vision of an alliance between the labor movement and the movements for oppressed nations is crucial for us today. That’s why I’m a member of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization.”

The People’s Agenda demands included:

-- End the war on the unsheltered – Guaranteed housing for all!

-- Community control of the police now! No more killer cops!

-- Stop the deportations!

-- No more concentration camps!

-- End the Muslim Ban!

-- Defend DACA! Defend TPS! Legalization for All!

-- Fight climate change through action now!

-- No new oil or fossil fuel pipelines! Respect Indigenous sovereignty!

-- Strengthen the social safety net for those most in need! No more bailouts for the rich!

-- We demand immediate economic relief for all workers impacted by the pandemic!

-- Student loan relief now!

-- We demand an end to the American Empire. No more wars! No more sanctions!

#SaltLakeCityUT #Antiracism #MartinLutherKingDay

Los Angeles, CA – A contingent from the Boyle Heights-based Centro CSO received enthusiastic responses from the Black public at the annual MLK parade, which took place in the heart of the African American community. The delegation from Centro CSO carried a large banner reading “Dump Trump and right-wing racists.” Many in the large crowds applauded and chanted, “Dump trump now.” A CSO member carried a poster urging Black and brown unity.

Centro CSO felt it very important to participate in the march to show solidarity with the Black community in the fight against police terror and to support the struggle for equality and self-determination.

The delegation also participated in the festival at the historic Leimert Park with a variety of music, dance, MLK speeches and great food.

Centro CSO fights for equality and liberation of Chicanos and Latinos in the East LA area and can be contacted at centrocso@gmail.com or Face Book: Centro CSO.

#LosAngelesCA #AfricanAmerican #ChicanoLatino #CentroCSO #EastLosAngeles #ChicanoLiberation #MartinLutherKingDay

Jacksonville, FL – 40 progressive activists marched together in the city's annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. parade on Jan. 20. These activists commemorated King's legacy by demanding freedom for Marissa Alexander, the 33-year-old African American mother whose conviction for resisting domestic abuse was recently overturned, and justice for Jordan Davis, a 17-year-old African American youth murdered in 2012 by a white vigilante in Jacksonville.

The MLK Parade is an important event that takes place in downtown Jacksonville every year. While the event commemorates the life and accomplishments of King, Jacksonville's activist community wanted to draw attention to modern day civil rights struggles taking place in the city.

“It honors his [King's] legacy and brings attention to the fact that we still have work to do,” said Terri Brown Neil, an activist with the Jacksonville Progressive Coalition and a participant in the parade. She continued, talking about the current campaigns to free Marissa Alexander and win justice for Jordan Davis, “These issues just keep coming back up. Every now and then, you have to ask yourself, what year is it now? These issues show how important it is to be involved and not just sit back and wait for someone else to do it.”

Activists from the Jacksonville Progressive Coalition, the New Jim Crow Movement and several other organizations marched together as a contingent in the parade. They held signs that featured little-known quotes from King, including, “We must guard against being fooled by false slogans, such as 'right to work.' It is a law to rob us of our civil rights and job rights.” This quote in particular speaks to the continued struggle against anti-union laws, like the movement to stop right-to-work laws in Michigan last year.

Other important people in Jacksonville's growing people's movements attended, including Helen Jenkins, the mother of Marissa Alexander. Shirley Reed, the grandmother of Travis Swanson – an African American youth who was arrested at his high school without a warrant in 2009 – also marched in the parade, carrying a sign with her grandson's image.

As the parade progressed through the city, activists led chants including, “Hey hey! Ho ho! Angela Corey has gotta go,” referencing Jacksonville-based state attorney Angela Corey, who unjustly prosecuted Alexander, Swanson and countless other African-Americans in the city. Corey was also assigned by Florida Governor Rick Scott to prosecute George Zimmerman, the racist vigilante who murdered Trayvon Martin in February 2012. Activists widely blame Corey's lackluster prosecution of Zimmerman for that vigilante's acquittal in July 2013.

Governor Scott attended the Jacksonville parade and rode in the front of the procession, far from the activist contingent. Nevertheless, the sizable crowd that gathered to watch the parade nodded in agreement and chanted along with activists as they yelled, “Hey hey! Ho ho! Rick Scott has got to go!” and “Workers need a raise! Pay a living wage!”

“I'm very pleased with turnout,” said Neil. “This was the first MLK parade I participated in, and the first one in Jacksonville I've ever been to. It was inspiring to see that many people turn out. To see young people there was good, too. It's great to see a renewed presence of the SCLC [Southern Christian Leadership Conference] in Jacksonville, and the folks marching with the Free Marissa campaign. I think we brought attention to issues we still need to work on.”

#JacksonvilleFL #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #MarissaAlexander #JordanDavis #Antiracism #JacksonvilleProgressiveCoalition #MartinLutherKingDay