Just last year, the halls of power in Minnesota shook when people answered the murder of George Floyd by rising up. We marched on the State Capitol, the county attorney, the state attorney general, the police federation and the interstate highways. Day and night, for weeks on end, we faced riot police, tear gas, National Guard troops and white supremacists. The Third Precinct police station was burned, as were hundreds of other buildings. And fires here sparked protests across the world and transformed the political landscape.

Today, when Minneapolis is in the midst of its first local elections since the uprising, voters will consider dozens of candidates for local office, as well as a few ballot measures.

At the top of the ballot will be the mayor’s race. As of this writing, no candidate has a clear path to beat incumbent Mayor Jacob Frey, but it’s important that he not be handed an easy victory. We can vote to send a message that he does not have support for his failures to address policing, housing, the pandemic and more. Whether you write in someone else, or if you choose a candidate who stands for things you can support, we urge people of conscience to use ranked choice voting to cast three votes against Jacob Frey.

There’s another chance to vote against Frey, in the form of a ballot question. Question 1 asks to take most city council powers and turn them over to mayoral control. Consolidating power into fewer hands would weaken the fight for working class and oppressed peoples. We can’t just leave Question 1 blank. To be counted against expanded mayoral power, voters need to mark No on their ballots.

There is also a ballot question, Question 3, related to rent control; we support rent control.

While those are easy choices. All of Minneapolis is waiting for the final tally on a measure that aims to replace the Minneapolis Police Department with a new Department of Public Safety. The new department would be under the joint control of the mayor and city council, and could still include police. The measure would also end the minimum police staffing requirement currently in the city charter.

Many good people have come out to support this amendment – Question 2 – and it’s been held up as an accomplishment of our movement. We see it as something that came from outside our movement, and which threatens to hinder the fight for real change. We’ll be voting No.

Proponents argue that Question 2 is a pathway to abolition, but also say it’s not that. A campaign website FAQ asks, “Does…it mean abolish or defund the police?” Then answers in bold type, “No. It does not.” Question 2 was born on a stage in Powderhorn Park, adorned with words “Defund police,” but it neither cuts the police budget nor requires the transfer of police funding to other projects or programs. We support investment in mental health resources, addiction services and youth programs, but Question 2 doesn’t mandate any of those.

And while we support ending the staffing requirement in the city charter, that alone does not get us the change our communities need.

First, ending the requirement does not cut the budget or the size of the police force – doing that is still a political decision. This amendment leaves that decision in the hands of the city council. The same city council that declared their “veto-proof majority” on that stage in Powderhorn Park last June and has voted at least twice since then for more money for the Minneapolis Police Department.

Second, to cut the number of cops without addressing accountability is meaningless. Take the example of Derek Chauvin, before he murdered George Floyd. He was a 19-year veteran of MPD with a display case full of commendations and medals. He would not be the first cut from a downsized police force. The only way to get rid of the Derek Chauvins is to demand accountability for someone like him, who has 26 complaints on his record and has killed five people before George Floyd. The killers of Terrence Franklin, Jamar Clark, Travis Jordan and others, are all still working for MPD, and as long-term employees, would be protected from any cuts in the force. The most direct way to ensure accountability is to end the practice of police being allowed to police themselves.

Currently, the Office of Police Conduct Review (OPCR) is responsible for reviewing civilian complaints, but no complaint gets sustained by the OPCR unless a police panel agrees. The group Communities United Against Police Brutality found that only 0.36% of complaints result in discipline (compared to a national average of 7-8% for civilian review boards). Question 2 does nothing to end this practice, nor does it open past complaints or police murders for review.

So long as police control the complaint process, there can be no accountability. So long as no one reviews past harms, there can be no justice. If there is no change in police conduct, cutting the size of the police force doesn’t protect us from police abuses.

Currently, the mayor is the only civilian authority over Minneapolis police. Question 2 would change that, so that the mayor would share power with the city council. While the mayor has proven himself unwilling to rein in police, the city council has also showed us time and again that they are willing to pass the buck even on the things they can do. They have the power to address the complaint process, and have not done so. It is the city council that approves the contract with the Police Officers Federation, but they never press for changes that will protect community members. The city council has the power to eliminate the camping ordinances that invite police to criminalize our unhoused neighbors and carry out merciless evictions, despite the overwhelming housing crisis in our city, yet they have done nothing. These are just a few things that could change on a dime, if the city council were willing to take action. Yes, we need to take power over policing out of the hands of the mayor, but it gets us nowhere to put it into the hands of a body that has shown itself unwilling to make change.

Proponents of Question 2 have invited us to reimagine public safety, but ask us to vote for a proposition that will do nothing to make concrete changes that will protect us from police violence in our communities, or address the harms already done by a violent, racist institution. Some worry that the defeat of Question 2 would be a blow against the movement to end police accountability and win Black liberation. In our view, the defeat of Question 2 will be an opportunity to get the focus back on concrete changes to address the needs our communities have right now.

We will be voting No on Question 2, and throwing our weight behind the fight for community control of the police by establishing an all-elected Civilian Police Accountability Commission. Look for it in your ballot in 2022, and join the Black-led grassroots effort to get us there.

#MinneapolisMN #InJusticeSystem #OppressedNationalities #Editorials #Opinion #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #Antiracism #Elections #MinneapolisUprising #MinneapolisElections

The highlight of the hearing was the testimony of FBI Special Agent Stephens who is the FBI’s weapons of mass destruction coordinator. Stephens testified that no weapons of mass destruction were used during the uprising except for, perhaps, the CS gas used by law enforcement, which is outlawed in international conflict.

“They are trying to get him for aiding and abetting for something he didn’t do,” said Rupert’s fiancé, who was present for the hearing. “He never even flicked a lighter and they are trying to give him 11 years.”

“If convicted, Rupert is potentially facing more time than [George Floyd’s murderer] Derek Chauvin,” said Jordan Kushner, Rupert’s lawyer.

“Choosing to continue to prosecute these cases is choosing to uplift the injustice of the status quo in spite of the needs of the communities most negatively impacted,” said Paul Estate, a supporter of the arrestee.

#MinneapolisMN #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #MinneapolisUprising

Minneapolis, MN – Three months after the murder of George Floyd, and days after the cowardly shooting of Jacob Blake in the back in Kenosha, Wisconsin, the simmering anger in Minneapolis boiled over last night, Wednesday, August 26, after dozens of people witnessed what they believed was another police murder of a Black man.

In the early evening, word spread across social media that police had shot and killed a Black man on a crowded street here. Members of Twin Cities Coalition for Justice 4 Jamar were on the other side of downtown, at a memorial march for Lionel “Twan” Lewis who had been killed by police years ago in Hibbing, Minnesota. Some of them mobilized to the intersection of 8th Street and Nicollet Avenue, where police tape and dozens of Minneapolis Police Department officers and squads held back people who were upset about what had just occurred there.

Activists spoke with several witnesses. One young woman, appearing in a livestream, said, “I was sitting down right there… I see a whole bunch of police officers getting out of their car [shouting] ‘Get on the ground! Get on the ground! Put your hands up! Put your hands up!’” She described how, from her perspective, it had appeared officers shot him, before he landed at her feet.

Other witnesses described a similar sequence of events.

For their part, police claimed the man died by his own hand. They showed a video (there were many surveillance cameras in the area) to a handful of community leaders, who came to the scene to try and calm the angry crowd. The Minneapolis Police Department posted a video of the death on Twitter last night but have since taken it down. Many who viewed the video agree it was suicide, but for the people on that street last night, it was already too much. They saw police run up on a Black man, guns drawn. As they were backing or running away, they heard a gunshot. Looking back, they saw the man on the ground, with a gunshot to his head.

After seeing so many other police murders go unpunished, and seeing no serious efforts to address police violence, despite international outcry, and months of steady protests and organizing, the crowd was not calmed by reports that this may not have been a police murder, that their own eyes were lying to them. Instead, they rallied.

And their righteous anger was greeted with hostility and aggression by police. The crowd had moved up the block to the Target store, and soon, the police attacked with pepper spray. After that, the first windows were broken. Police continued to escalate, and the people responded in kind. Before the night was over, a curfew was imposed and the National Guard was mobilized, alongside MPD officers, county sheriff’s deputies and the Minnesota State Patrol. Defying the curfew, people stayed on the streets, smashing windows, emptying shelves and setting fires at a couple dozen buildings, most of them in the downtown shopping district. More than 130 were arrested. Another curfew has been set for Thursday, August 27.

Protests and other organizing efforts are ongoing, including the fight for community control of the police.

#MinneapolisMN #MinneapolisUprising

What we have watched in Portland is the dress rehearsal for what Trump is preparing for Chicago: an effort to squash the Black Lives Matter protests flowing from this uprising by violent military means. He claims he is targeting the cities controlled by Democrats because of the chaos caused by the largest rebellion in U.S. history.

In truth, broad democratic forces have come together to exercise their right to protest against police murder and violence. We’ve had signals this was coming since Trump’s FBI labeled the movement as Black Identity Extremists. Now they’re seizing on the social unrest to bring about repression against all those united in struggle for Black people to have their rights to protest against police crimes and tyranny.

This is a clarion call to our movement to gather all the forces we can muster in defense of the Black Lives Matter movement, because under the Black Identity Extremist category, we’re all targets.

They’re coming after everybody in the movement, including the mothers and families who are crying out that their loved ones ought not to be murdered with impunity. They’re coming after all those involved in the movement for community control of the police and defunding the police, or as Alderman Carlos Ramirez-Rosa puts it, real police accountability.

We cannot depend on the mayor or the city council to protect us. We must do as we have always done – depend on the organized might of the people to protect us, getting more people into the streets to demand justice – precisely at the moment when they are trying to drive us out of the streets through military occupation and terror.

If we don’t act, federal agents sent to Portland and now Chicago will be the beginning of the end of the democratic rights of the people of this country to protest for rights. It’s not a coincidence that this week also Trump refused to commit to leaving office if Biden wins.

#UnitedStates #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #NationalAllianceAgainstRacistAndPoliticalRepression #MinneapolisUprising

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following resolution from AFSCME Local 3800.

This is another heartbreaking day in America. AFSCME 3800 stands in solidarity with the family, friends, and loved ones of George Floyd, with the Black community, and with everyone demanding police accountability and justice.

WHEREAS on May 25, 2020 a white Minneapolis police officer killed 46 year old George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for eight minutes while he pleaded to be allowed to breathe, and

WHEREAS three other police officers assisted in restraining George Floyd while he was being killed, or spewed anti-black and war-on-drugs rhetoric, or stood by and did nothing, and

WHEREAS the Black community repeatedly faces the deaths of loved ones at the hands of the police, and

WHEREAS the core principle of the labor movement – “An Injury to One is An Injury to All” – requires all working people of conscience to take a stand for justice;

THEREFOR BE IT RESOLVED that AFSCME 3800 offers our deepest sympathy to, and stands in solidarity with, the family of George Floyd and the entire community.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that AFSCME 3800 calls for the immediate arrest and vigorous prosecution of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd. We further call for the immediate arrest and vigorous prosecution of officers Thomas Lane, Tou Thao, and J. Alexander Keung for aiding and abetting the murder of George Floyd.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that AFSCME 3800 calls for an immediate de-escalation by police and an end to police violence against protesters.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that AFSCME 3800 supports President Gabel’s decision to sever the University of Minnesota’s contracts with the MPD and we call upon other institutions to likewise disassociate.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that AFSCME 3800 calls for immediate and ongoing community oversight of the Minneapolis Police Department.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that AFSCME 3800 calls for a thoroughgoing review of law enforcement policies and practices by federal, state, and local authorities, followed by concrete and systemic reforms to ensure that all people in our society are granted equal treatment by law enforcement and criminal justice systems, regardless of the color of their skin.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that AFSCME 3800 calls for an end to systemic racist police terror and the murder of black and brown people in our communities.

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that AFSCME 3800 will mobilize our members to safely participate in or otherwise support actions called for by those seeking Justice for George Floyd.

White supremacy and systemic oppression must end!

Black Lives Matter!

An injury to one is an injury to all!

Adopted at the May 28, 2020 Membership Meeting

#MinneapolisMN #Labor #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #AFSCMELocal3800 #Antiracism #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd #MinneapolisUprising

Washington, DC – The streets around the White House are packed with people, June 6, as the massive protest demanding justice for George Floyd and others who have been impacted by police crimes continues to grow. Many tens of thousands are joining in. President Trump finds himself increasingly isolated. The National Guard and federal paramilitary forces have been deployed in the city.

#WashingtonDC #OppressedNationalities #US #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #Antiracism #DonaldTrump #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd #MinneapolisUprising

Milwaukee, WI – On June 6, workers from across the city of Milwaukee joined a labor contingent in support of a rally and march for police accountability.

The march was hosted by the family of Alvin Cole and the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression to demand justice for “The Three”: Alvin Cole, Jay Anderson, Jr., and Antonio Gonzales – all victims of Wauwatosa Police Officer Joseph Anthony Mensah.

Union workers of the labor contingent could be seen wearing t-shirts and buttons from AFSCME, AFGE, AFT, IAM, IATSE, NALC, Workers United, Teamsters, Nurses, and others, along with the Milwaukee Area Labor Council (MALC).

The contingent was organized by members of the A. Philip Randolph Institute and the Young Workers Committee of the MALC.

#MilwaukeeWI #Labor #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #ChicanoLatino #Teamsters #AFLCIO #SEIU #PoliceBrutality #Antiracism #AFSCME #laborUnions #TeachersUnions #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd #MinneapolisUprising

Zee Rainey, a steward from Teamsters Local 455 stated, “There’s no hate unless we divide.” The group then marched to the capitol building and joined up with an estimated 1000 protesters, where speeches continued.

When the fight against police takes the form of community control of the police, it begins to echo the political dynamic of the labor movement; civilian police accountability councils and labor unions both protect the masses by offering real consequences to enemies of the people. As Rainey notes during his speech, “I’m for the people. I’m for the union that cares about the people, and all my brothers and sisters here with me today are for the people.”

#DenverCO #Labor #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #ChicanoLatino #Teamsters #AFLCIO #SEIU #PoliceBrutality #PublicSectorUnions #Antiracism #laborUnions #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd #MinneapolisUprising

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from Freedom Road Socialist Organization to Rebell, the youth league of the Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany (MLPD).

Freedom Road Socialist Organization salutes Rebell, the youth league of the Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany, and all the participants in the June 6 solidarity actions that are standing with the great struggle against racist discrimination that is unfolding in the U.S.

The police murder of George Floyd and the rebellion in Minneapolis have set the U.S. ablaze with protests – from the largest cities to small towns. The National Guard has been deployed in 33 states and curfews have been imposed in hundreds of cities.

Freedom Road Socialist Organization is extremely active in organizing mass, militant protests across the country and we value your solidarity and support.

The people of the United States and indeed the whole world are in motion against oppression, injustice and exploitation. We are in midst of a great economic and political crisis. Now is the time for determined action by revolutionaries everywhere.

Workers and oppressed peoples of the world unite!

The world is changing, and we have a world to win!

#UnitedStates #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #FreedomRoadSocialistOrganizationFRSO #Antiracism #MinneapolisUprising #REBELL

Salt Lake City, UT – Thursday, June 4 marks the sixth night in a row that downtown streets in Salt Lake City has been shut down due to protests for justice for George Floyd, Bernardo Palacios and all victims of police violence. After five strong days of protesting, chanting and marching against police brutality and its many victims, it does not appear that the nationwide movement will be losing any steam here in Utah.

At least 700 people gathered at the State Capitol June 4 in what started as a quiet gathering of speakers that turned into a march through downtown of about 2000. After a few short speeches and chants of “Say his name” and “Black lives matter” the crowd took to State Street and quickly filled the road for a whole block. The march was not originally planned but as the crowd grew in numbers it became clear that taking the streets to make sure their message was heard, was not only possible, but necessary.

With most walking, and a few driving, chanting from the back of pickup trucks or through open sunroofs, the march made strategic stops in front of the mayor’s office, police station and courthouse before heading back to the capitol well after 9 p.m. At each stop different chants muted the noise of the city until an organizer called for nine minutes of silence while everyone lay face down in the road.

Since the National Day of Protest called by Utah Against Police Brutality on May 30, many organizations have stepped up in leading events and holding many different actions to call for justice, not only for George Floyd, but also for local Rose Park resident Bernardo Palacios, who was murdered by Salt Lake City police on May 28. Many familiar faces have been out every single night, but each night also brings new protesters using their voice.

“It’s been incredibly moving, especially being surrounded by the calls for justice,” exclaimed Elizabeth Flemming who was participating in her first ever protest.

With thousands taking the streets each night, and more events planned throughout the coming week, it is clear that Utah protesters won't stop soon and continue to demand an end to police violence and for killer cops to be jailed.

#SaltLakeCityUT #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #ChicanoLatino #PoliceBrutality #UtahAgainstPoliceBrutality #PoliceCrimes #MinneapolisUprising

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement by Centro CSO in Los Angeles, California.

Centro CSO stands in solidarity with Black Lives Matter-LA’s call to protest the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They are also working to prosecute all the Minneapolis police officers involved. We also unite with the call to prosecute the LAPD and LA Sheriffs for the hundreds of killings of Black, Chicano and Latino people in LA.

We denounce the current militarization of Los Angeles and repression against protesters. Los Angeles Mayor Garcetti has called the National Guard to patrol LA streets, which already had over 10,000 LAPD police, and thousands of LA County Sheriffs on duty. Under the guise of protecting property, the forces are arresting and suppressing peaceful protesters. Thousands of protesters have been arrested, many shot with hard rubber bullets, brutalized and teargassed. We oppose Mayor Garcetti's proposed LA city budget with more funding for LAPD as they already receive over 50% of the yearly LA city budget. We call to cut the LAPD’s bloated budget.

President Trump on June 1st made provocative, aggressive statements against protesters, threatening to call out the military to suppress the daily protests. Minutes later, peaceful protesters were forcefully pushed, shot with tear gas and rubber bullets, just to clear the way for Trump to walk to a local church. The protesters were not given any warning or order to disperse. The church leaders are outraged because they too, were gassed as they were outside helping protesters.

In Boyle Heights, the community has suffered numerous LAPD killings of young Chicanos as well as a recent brutal beating of Chicano Richard Castillo by Hollenbeck LAPD cop Frank Hernandez. We demand Frank Hernandez be fired. On May 21, a Centro CSO delegation delivered a petition to LAPD Chief Moore to fire officer Hernandez. That afternoon Chief Moore stated that the investigation would be finalized by June 1, 2020. We are still awaiting the results.

Centro CSO will continue to organize, as well as attend local protests, provide updates via our social media, and Fight Back! News.

#LosAngelesCA #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #ChicanoLatino #PoliceBrutality #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #CentroCSO #LAPD #Antiracism #MinneapolisUprising

On Saturday, May 30, protesters in Grand Rapids gathered at Rosa Parks Circle for what was planned to be a silent march through the city. Instead, protesters crowded around the Grand Rapids Police Department shouting, “I can’t breathe!” “No justice, no peace!” “Hands up! Don’t shoot!” and “Say his name: George Floyd!” Thousands of people surrounded the building containing the GRPD at the height of the protest. According to WOODTV, clashes erupted around 9 p.m. as protesters smashed windows on the building containing the GRPD and other buildings downtown and burned several police vehicles.

On May 31, several thousand protesters attended a rally at the capitol in Lansing. Protesters initially gathered on the steps to display signs and listen to speakers about the need for police accountability and announcements about organizations pushing for police transparency.

As the crowd grew, chanting began as a young Black man and woman moved through the crowd with a megaphone, calling for the protesters to chant and take to the streets and “Do something!” Around noon the crowd began to walk out into the streets downtown, briefly returned to the capitol lawn, and finally began a sustained march through the streets.

According to the Lansing State Journal, the marching continued well into the evening, and included groups going as far as the East Lansing Police Department. Around 6:30 p.m., a car attempted to drive into the crowd and was flipped over and set on fire. Shortly thereafter, one man in the crowd broke the window of a Chase Bank, and an altercation broke out nearby. In response, police fired teargas into the crowd to disperse it.

Actions continued later in the week in both cities, with protesters gathering in downtown Grand Rapids daily, despite National Guard presence. In Lansing, a man named Paul Birdsong staged a one-man protest at the capitol Wednesday night, laying on the ground. Hundreds of people ultimately gathered within an hour and marched briefly to Sparrow Hospital and back. As the Lansing curfew approached, Birdsong told the gathered crowd he would be out at the Capitol at 7 p.m. every night until change happened.

#GrandRapidsMI #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #Antiracism #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd #MinneapolisUprising

St. Paul, MN – On Friday, June 5, the day after the Minneapolis memorial for George Floyd, and two days after all of his killers were finally charged for his murder, the building that houses the office of state Attorney General Keith Ellison was shut down by some 3000 protesters who came to demand more than charges in this single case. Organized by the Twin Cities Coalition for Justice 4 Jamar (TCC4J), they called for re-opening all the cases of police homicide that district attorneys have failed to prosecute in counties across the state, and for community control of police to bring an end to police crimes against their communities. At the same time, they pledged to keep pressure on AG Ellison, to ensure he effectively prosecutes the four fired cops who murdered Floyd.

Protesters filled the street and sidewalks for two blocks, rallying with speakers from community, labor and student groups, as well as family members of loved ones killed by police.

AFSCME Local 3800 member Meron Negussie began by calling for justice for Breonna Taylor, who was killed by police in her Louisville home. “George Floyd was murdered in broad daylight in Minneapolis, which led to the arrest of four former officers involved. It took not just Minnesota but the whole world for that to happen in a system that is designed to oppress and terrorize and oppress brown and Black folk. We made that happen. Power to the people!”

“The murdering of Black and brown people is the great American pastime,” said Mahva Jones, also of AFSCME 3800. “This is not a moment; this is a movement. We are here to take over. We are not here to stand by and let this crap continue.”

All of Floyd’s killer have been arrested, and the prosecution was taken out of the hands of County Attorney Mike Freeman, whose delays gave rise to a nationwide outpouring of rage and the burning of hundreds of buildings in the Twin Cities, including the Third Precinct police station. Almost every speaker expressed no confidence that the case was safe in the hands of AG Ellison.

“Now is not the time to get complacent. Now is the time for boots on the ground, and squeeze!” said Don Williams, grandfather of Brian Quiñones, a hip hop artist whose was murdered by police in Richfield, Minnesota in September 2019. In response to the scrutiny now faced by the Minneapolis police department, he said, “If the Department of Justice or somebody investigates the MPD, they need to turn around and investigate the Hennepin County District Attorney’s office, both of Mike Freeman’s terms and Amy Klobuchar’s term.”

The Twin Cities have been rocked by massive protests every day, and nightly clashes with police, in response to the murder of George Floyd last Monday night. Marques Armstrong from Racial Justice Network said, “We ain’t following their rules anymore because their rules are set up for us to fail and them to win.” He added, “I bet they know now that we serious as hell about this!”

Gabriel Black Elk of Native Lives Matter spoke about his brother Paul Castaway, who was killed by Denver police. When he struggled for words, the crowd chanted, “We’ve got your back!” He also told the story of a Native woman who was killed by police in New Brunswick, Canada, just two days before. The crowd joined him in chants of “Justice for Chantel Moore!”

A close friend of Travis Jordan spoke about how he was murdered by Minneapolis police last year, when a wellness check turned into a senseless murder.

Sharaunta Beach from AFSCME 2822 also called for the ouster of Mike Freeman and Amy Klobuchar. She said, “We want justice. We want justice now. We gotta stand up, boots on the ground, and fight back.”

Kobe Heisler was killed by Brooklyn Center police last September. His father, Jason Heisler said, “My son is a Black autistic man, who was 21 years old, unarmed in his own house. We don’t need cops taking a knee, we need to change the police force. It needs systematic reform from the top down. Kobe was an autistic Black gay man they murdered in his own house.” For the first time, just this week, a few members of the family viewed an edited version of the body camera footage of the deadly encounter. They want the unedited video released immediately.

Autumn Lake of the Anti-War Committee called out the surplus military equipment transferred to local police departments across the U.S., “equipment that we have seen used by the occupying forces of the Minneapolis and Saint Paul police departments every day since we started protesting for George Floyd.”

She then addressed the 1969 Stonewall Riot against police terror in New York. “The queer community of New York decided that they had enough of being dragged out into the street and beaten by police, they had enough of lives being stolen by the police, and they decided they were gonna fucking fight back. The first punch was thrown by a Black lesbian named Stormé DeLarverie, and the first brick was thrown by a Black transgender woman by the name of Martha P Johnson. We did not cancel Pride this year [the official event was canceled because of coronavirus restrictions], we’re doing it the same way Marsha and Storm did, and we’re doing it by resisting police terror together!” Lake mentioned the recent murder of Black trans man Tony McDade by police in Tallahassee, Florida, and the Monday’s mob attack on a Black trans woman named Iyanna Dior in the Twin Cities.

UMN Students for a Democratic Society speaker Jaelah Lyman lifted up the names of Black women killed by police, and called for community control of the police, including on the University of Minnesota campus, where the Minneapolis Police Department will no longer be involved, but the University of Minnesota Police Department continues to be a problem.

After more than an hour of speakers and chants led by TCC4J organizers Angel Smith El, the protesters set out to march to the state capitol building. Cars honked their support, and folks on the street joined in the chants, including dozens of people at a transit station who through their hands in the air, chanting, “Hands up, don’t shoot!”

It’s clear that the fight against police crimes is just getting going in Minnesota, and community members are fighting to win.

#StPaulMN #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #Antiracism #TwinCitiesCoalition4JusticeForJamarTCC4J #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd #MinneapolisUprising

Los Angeles, CA – Only a week after marches, protests and car caravans demanding justice for George Floyd and victims of the Los Angeles Police Department broke out across Los Angeles, this rebellion has already begun to win concessions from the LA city government. While Mayor Garcetti and the LAPD initially repressed the uprising of Angelenos by instituting a 6 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew, calling in the National Guard, and mass-arresting those struggling in the streets, attempts to stop the momentum of protesters have failed. In particular, actions organized on June 2 and 3 by Black Lives Matter-LA – first at the mansion of Mayor Garcetti and then at the Hall of Justice – have been decisive in the efforts to defund the police and defeat the curfew.

These demonstrations on back-to-back days followed a week of protests that have effectively combined both ‘violence’ and ‘nonviolence,’ exposing the LAPD and Mayor Garcetti’s true faces to the city. As covered by Fight Back!, on Wednesday, May 27, BLM-LA’s weekly protest against Jackie Lacey evolved into a 1000-person march which took over the 101 Freeway. During that action, the California Highway Patrol drove through the crowd, striking one protester.

On Saturday, May 30, BLM-LA held a rally at Pan Pacific Park before marching through Fairfax. Enraged police officers argued with protesters before beating them with their batons, using tear gas and shooting rubber bullets. The same afternoon in Boyle Heights, Centro CSO organized their own rally as part of the National Alliance against Racist and Political Repression (NAARPR) National Day of Protest, with Chicanos coming out in the hundreds to demand justice for George Floyd and victims of LAPD and LA Sheriffs terror. Every day new actions, both planned and spontaneous, occur across Los Angeles, from Long Beach to Pasadena.

As in Minneapolis and cities around the U.S., protesters have also risen up against police brutality by ‘shopping for free’ at different businesses, especially affluent areas in the West Area. LAPD and the city government have been caught off guard, forcing Los Angeles to put in place a curfew and request backup from the National Guard. LAPD has used the curfew, which disproportionately hurts working people, to arrest more and more protesters, only fueling the city’s anger.

Beyond the repression happening on the ground, Mayor Garcetti’s plan to increase funding to police during this current economic and health crisis created by COVID-19 has infuriated Los Angeles. Garcetti proposed reducing public services and furloughing city workers due to a budget shortfall while siphoning more money to LAPD, which already receives more than half the budget. In response, BLM-LA has pushed a People’s Budget, which will defund the police and prioritize desperately needed public services.

In the late afternoon of June 2, BLM-LA took their demands directly to Mayor Garcetti’s house. An initial group of protesters, including members of Centro CSO, convened at Harold A. Henry Park. After hearing instructions from BLM-LA leaders, protesters marched through the elite neighborhood of Hancock Park, taking over Wilshire Boulevard on their way to a rally outside of Mayor Garcetti’s mansion. Thousands of protesters spontaneously arrived once pictures and videos of the action began popping up on social media. When a swarm of helmeted LAPD officers lined up on the north part of the block, over 100 protesters sat in front to block off their approach. Eventually, police retreated, and protesters chanted “Whose streets? Our streets!”

Throughout the rally, BLM-LA’s organizers, along with families who have lost loved ones to police terror, condemned Mayor Garcetti’s plan to increase funding for LAPD. They also called for Garcetti to fire Chief of Police Michel Moore who said of looters and George Floyd, “His death is on their hands, as much as it is those officers.” The chants “Defund the police,” “Fuck Garcetti,” and “Jackie Lacey must go” rang out over and over again.

The following day, June 3, BLM-LA led another protest outside of the Hall of Justice, a weekly tradition that the organization has maintained for more than two and a half years in order to put pressure on LA County District Attorney Jackie Lacey. On this occasion, tens of thousands of protesters gathered to demand the prosecution of killer cops and voting out DA Lacey. With the National Guard on the Hall of Justice’s front steps as well as in the streets and surrounding buildings, BLM-LA activists explained how DA Lacey has refused to hold a single cop accountable for any of the 600 killings that have occurred during her term.

BLM-LA introduced thousands of new attendees to a tradition that they follow at every protest, calling out the names from a long list of men and women who have been killed by LAPD in the last few years. Relatives of Grechario Mack, Eric Rivera, Kenneth Ross Jr., and many other victims of police terror described how their loved ones have been killed and Lacey has let off the officers every time. BLM-LA also invited Chicano allies who regularly attend the Jackie Lacey protest to speak as well. German Romero, a member of Centro CSO, spoke about the killing of his 14-year-old son Jesse Romero in Boyle Heights. The sister of Cesar Rodriguez also described how Long Beach police wrestled her brother in front of an oncoming train because he allegedly hadn’t paid for his metro ride.

One of the last speakers, BLM activist Joseph Williams reminded protesters how BLM-LA’s fight against DA Jackie Lacey is nothing new and urged all in attendance to find an organization to continue growing this movement.

“We've been out here in front of Jackie Lacey’s office every week for two and a half years. Every week! Do y’all think that cops would get away with killing our people if all of us showed up like this every week?” asked Williams. “The pain for Eric Rivera and Grechario Mack and all these folks up here, all these families, that shit don’t end. So all of us, we gotta make sure our commitment to this don’t end. We gotta make sure our anger about this shit don’t end.”

As the rally in front of the Hall of Justice concluded, BLM-LA announced that Mayor Garcetti was in fact at city hall. Protesters, who had been sitting so that everyone could see the speakers, rose to their feet and marched the one block so the mayor could hear their demands. Crowding onto the steps of City Hall and Grand Park, protesters chanted, “Rise up! Resist, don’t need no killer cops or jails! The whole damn system is guilty as hell!” and “Fuck your curfew!”

This rebellion has already begun to win reforms from the city government only one week after its emergence. Mayor Garcetti has announced that he will scrap his proposed budget and actually cut $250 million that he had intended to hand over to LAPD. Instead, Garcetti has said this money will go toward education, health and jobs in Black communities as well as other initiatives. While the National Guard remains on the streets, protests have forced the city of Los Angeles to lift the curfew.

As the week-by-week growth of BLM-LA’s Jackie Lacey Must Go protest has shown, conditions in Los Angeles are changing rapidly. Mayor Garcetti and the city council’s change of heart on the budget vote indicates that the uprising has scared the Los Angeles elite. The people must continue taking to the streets to demand justice for all victims of police terror.

#LosAngelesCA #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #ChicanoLatino #PoliceBrutality #LAPD #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd #MinneapolisUprising

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from Italian Marxist- Leninist organization Fronte Popolare.

Dear comrades of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization,

In these days of pain, pride and struggle, Fronte Popolare is at your side. Our organization is supportive of those who are fighting for the dignity and rights of all women and men. The results of the mass uprising that exploded with the murder of George Floyd by a racist policeman are of decisive importance not only for American society and for the redemption of the nationalities and oppressed communities that make it up, but for the cause of human liberation that unites us all over the world.

George Floyd's name adds to the endless list of lives devoured by centuries-old racial hatred that U.S. capitalism and imperialism have fueled, which have served to strengthen the regime of class oppression on which their power is built on a planetary scale. It is against this situation that today the most conscious sectors of the working classes are revolting with extraordinary force. It is the presentment of barbarism to which it leads that mobilizes new crowds.

In recent years we have observed with growing enthusiasm and interest the amplification of the social struggle fronts in the United States. The U.S. working class wants radical change, and it is to hinder this will that once again, as has happened many times in the history of your country, ruling classes' repression shows its most ferocious face. The arrogance of Trump, who, from the besieged White House, threatens the deployment of the army against the people, only attests that times are changing.

In the years of his presidency, Trump has done everything in his power to restore ancient prejudices and divide workers. Millions of people are still victims of discrimination and fear. Trump's violence has done nothing more than bring down the ‘liberal’ facade of the U.S. political and social regime and inflict a severe blow on the credibility of its institutions.

The change is possible in the United States today. It will not be easy: the struggle will be hard, and the result uncertain, but the determination shown in the streets of dozens of cities by the mass movement gives a tangible hope.

The United States is the pivot of the world imperialist system. Its armies are deployed all over the world and also in our country, Italy. The power of U.S. economic and financial institutions still dictates the pace of world capitalism. Precisely for this reason, we look at the events of the last few days as something that directly concerns us. From the outcome of your struggles depends much on the destiny of all of us.

We acknowledge the quality and determination of the U.S. political organizations at the forefront of the struggle for socialism. Among these organizations, FRSO occupies an important position, and we are proud of the bond of brotherhood that unites us. We know that you will live up to your tasks. From our country, we will do everything possible to ensure active support and genuine internationalist solidarity for you and all those who fight together with you. Together, we will ensure that all forms of oppression, exploitation, hatred and racism will be defeated forever. The path to freedom will be opened up for all those living on United States land.

Not a step back!

Alessio Arena

Central Secretary – Fronte Popolare

#UnitedStates #International #OppressedNationalities #US #Europe #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #Antiracism #Socialism #FrontePopolare #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd #MinneapolisUprising

Jacksonville, FL – Community activists who led a historic 3500-person protest for police accountability in Jacksonville are meeting brutality with solidarity.

Members of the Jacksonville Community Action Committee (JCAC), one of the main groups that organized the May 30 demonstration, say they have raised about $80,000 from hundreds of small donors for their Community Support Fund. That fund, formed this past weekend, has helped the JCAC post bond for over 30 people arrested during a sweeping police crackdown on protests.

JCAC members sprang into action not long after their event ended in the early evening of May 30. As the enormous crowd of thousands left the protest to return home, about 100 people remained. Some continued to march. Others began walking back to their cars. Before long though, Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (JSO) moved in, clad in riot gear, and began launching canisters of teargas at the small crowd. Clashes broke out as police beat and arrested dozens of people.

The next day, May 31, smaller protests that were held outside of the Duval County Courthouse and nearby Klutho Park faced similar treatment by JSO officers, who shut down peaceful protests and arrested demonstrators who committed no apparent crime.

In a press conference on the weekend’s protests, State Attorney Melissa Nelson said that nearly 80 people were arrested by JSO over the weekend.

Those arrested ranged in ages from 18 to 80. Although Mayor Lenny Curry and Sheriff Mike Williams quickly blamed ‘outside agitators’ at a press conference hours after the arrests, they admitted two days later that 23 of the 25 protesters arrested on the evening of May 30 were Jacksonville residents.

Mayor Lenny Curry and Sheriff Mike Williams were quick to paint all the protesters arrested as violent.

But video footage of these incidents, along with the actual arrest reports paint a different picture. The vast majority of those arrested were only charged with unlawful assembly, a misdemeanor offense often used by police when they can’t figure out how to criminally charge a protester in custody. Video taken of the May 31 courthouse protest shows police running up to people and initiating contact, punching and kicking one man in particular until he collapsed.

Joshua Parks, one of the founding organizers of the JCAC, argues that rather than keeping the peace, the Jackson Sheriff’s Office actually initiated violence at this weekend’s protests.

“We condemn JSO’s violent crackdown on hundreds of unarmed peaceful protesters on Saturday,” said Parks. “Instead of allowing protesters to peacefully disperse, they arrived with military grade riot gear and began brutalizing innocent people. They fired tear gas on people who were clearly walking back to their cars to leave. We think those officers should be held accountable.”

Meeting brutality with solidarity

Within minutes of seeing images of the brutal police crackdown on May 30, Jacksonville Community Action Committee organizers set up a GoFundMe campaign online to fundraise support for those arrested or brutalized by the cops.

“We know it’s important to stand in solidarity with those whose civil liberties have been violated by the JSO, like the teargas and excessive force used on peaceful protesters,” said Rachel Duff, an organizer with the JCAC. “Our organization fights for freedom for our communities, so when we saw the JSO’s crackdown on Saturday, we knew we had to take a stand.”

The JCAC calls it the Community Support Fund. Duff said that hundreds of people from around the United States have donated to the fund

“It’s been an incredible showing of support from the Jacksonville community,” said Duff. “It shows that people have a high level of trust in the JCAC to use and disperse the Community Support Fund to directly support people in need. We’re an organization of the people, by the people.”

Activists from the JCAC worked through the nights of May 31 and June 1 making contact with family and loved ones of those locked up, posting people’s bonds, coordinating their release and reaching out to legal counsel.

As bonded-out protesters trickled out through the day, one or two at a time, they expressed relief and gratitude for the JCAC’s efforts.

“They have been very grateful that there are people on the ground supporting them,” said Parks. “Not only were their civil liberties infringed upon when they were arrested, but many people were illegally detained after they had posted bond. Upon release people are telling horrific stories of JSO’s brutality and many are traumatized from their relatively short stint in the deplorable conditions of Duval County Jail.”

Double-jeopardy detention and bail manipulation: JSO abusing its power?

In his comments above, Parks was referring to a disturbing, unconstitutional reversal that the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office tried on June 1, in which many people who had posted bond were detained without further cause.

As soon as organizers became aware of it, the JCAC launched an emergency call-in campaign to the Duval County Jail. Hundreds of people around the country made calls and demanded jail administration end the unconstitutional detention. Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office operators answering the calls became increasingly irritated and juvenile with callers, with some imitating machines or hanging up mid-sentence. Between the public pressure and intervention by some supportive lawyers, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office relented and those people who had met bond were released.

Another equally troubling incident came to light on June 1. JCAC organizers and community activists noticed that bail for certain protesters had inexplicably doubled from the original amount set. For some, bail more than tripled.

“Bail was originally set at $750 for most of them,” recounted Duff. “Then we noticed on the Duval County Jail website that it had risen to $1500. It got as high as $5000. We were posting bond for people, and in the blink of an eye, it would skyrocket upward. And when we posted the new amount, it rose again, like someone didn’t want these people released.”

JCAC acted as whistleblowers on this obvious abuse of the already questionable bail system in Duval County. They alerted lawyers and local news outlets, like News4Jax, which investigated and confirmed the Duval County Jail really was raising people’s bail – sometimes multiple times.

Parks saw this as the latest example of deep, structural problems with the criminal injustice system in Duval County.

“When I became aware that the jail was raising the bond for protesters, I wasn’t surprised,” said Parks. “Jacksonville is run by an oligarchy of corrupt gangsters. It simply made it more evident that the city’s issues span far beyond JSO. There is an entire political regime that must be held accountable for the injustice they inflict daily on the people of Jacksonville.”

Community action

The Community Support Fund’s success thus far is the result of a Herculean effort by the Jacksonville Community Action Committee, other community activist groups and supporters from all over Duval County and beyond.

As of the evening of June 4, 47 protesters had gotten bonded out, according to Monique Sampson of the JCAC. The group says they hope to see more protesters released in the coming days and plan to offer additional assistance for those who need it.

“More will get bonded out in the coming days,” said Sampson. “It’s taken days to even get this far because of difficulties identifying inmates arrested at the protest. But this campaign has brought the Jacksonville community together to answer police brutality with solidarity.”

Sampson told Fight Back! that several attorneys had reached out to the JCAC to get in contact with protesters facing charges, with at least one attorney offering to work on ten people’s cases pro bono.

Some local businesses have supported the Community Support Fund too, said Sampson. Bold Bean Coffee Roasters, a Jacksonville-based coffee chain, donated 100% of their profits on June 3 to the fund. Some bars, restaurants and entertainment venues have offered the use of equipment or facilities for future events around police accountability.

Community control of the police and next steps

The JCAC plans to announce future actions in the coming days. As this uprising against police crimes continues across the country, Parks and Duff say the Community Action Committee will continue to fight for both justice and community control of the police.

“It affirms our position that community control of the police is the only way for the people to fight back against the lawlessness of JSO,” said Parks, referring to their call for an elected Civilian Police Accountability Council with the power to investigate police misconduct, subpoena evidence and discipline or fire officers found guilty.

“It’s the only hope that people, especially Black and working-class people, have at living a dignified life. More than ever, the events of the last week show that police relations are not improving but worsening,” Parks continued.

The Jacksonville Community Action Committee has called for a protest outside the Duval County Courthouse on Saturday, June 6, beginning at 2 p.m. and culminating in a march to the state attorney’s office nearby. The protest will call on State Attorney Melissa Nelson to drop the charges on the protesters arrested and brutalized by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office; to release the JSO body camera footage from police-involved shootings, including the six this year alone; to jail killer cops; and to stand up to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office’s bullying.

#JacksonvilleFL #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #Bail #Antiracism #JacksonvilleCommunityActionCommitteeJCAC #MinneapolisUprising

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) expressed its support for people in the U.S. confronting the injustice and racism practiced by the U.S. government in various cities and towns in the United States.

This statement came in response to the repression against those protesting the deliberate killing of a Black citizen by the police in the city of Minneapolis, reflecting the racist character and right-wing policies of the Trump administration, which fuels racism and contradicts all its claims of defending freedom and democracy.

The Front noted that the U.S. government’s use of its contradictory claims to defend democracy and equality in all countries of the world, and to use this as an entry point to interfere in the internal affairs of countries, such as accusing China of destabilizing Hong Kong, no longer fools anyone. The practices of the U.S. administration and Trump are made clear by the brutal methods of repression used against demonstrators opposing racist policies toward Black people in the U.S.

The Popular Front concluded by stating that it is not surprising for a country like the United States, which has a strategic alliance with the Zionist entity [Israel], to intersect with it in the discrimination, racism and repression that embodies its treatment of Palestinians.

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

Central Information Department

#UnitedStates #International #OppressedNationalities #PopularFrontForTheLiberationOfPalestine #Palestine #US #MiddleEast #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #Antiracism #DonaldTrump #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd #MinneapolisUprising

As many as 3000 residents of Milwaukee turned out to Humboldt Park on the city’s South Side and embarked on a nearly seven-mile march to the City of Milwaukee Municipal Court building. The march was led by Black and Chicano activists representing the North and South sides, respectively.

The march came to a stop outside of city hall, where organizers spoke to those gathered. In addition to demanding justice for George Floyd and Joel Acevedo (a local victim of police crimes), the main thrust was unity between the oppressed nationality communities of Milwaukee. The unifying character of the uprising in Milwaukee is a promising development for the most segregated city in the U.S.

After the march reached its planned final stop at the Municipal Court building and heard more speeches about unity and condemning police crimes, the mass of people continued in the streets. Eventually they made their way to the entrance ramp onto Interstate 794 and the Hoan Bridge, one of the distinguishing architectural features of the city.

1000 protesters made it up the ramp before police intercepted them. The violence started when police shot teargas canisters and rubber bullets at the people in an effort to drive them back down the ramp.

“The police blocked off I-794 and gassed people with no warning. They started arresting people after brutalizing them,” said Lauryn Cross, a community organizer who was a part of the highway push. “We tried to ask what precinct they were going to and weren’t even given that.”

After the incident on I-794, the police became increasingly aggressive. Heavy amounts of teargas mixed with more rubber bullets and pepper spray was deployed. Police in heavy armored military surplus vehicles rumbled down the streets. Officers stood at the ready from on high, loaded weapons aimed at kneeling protesters as they chanted “We are people! We are peaceful!”

Mere hours before the police violence, Mayor Tom Barrett announced that there would be no curfew for June 2. The decision is an interesting one, given that at a press conference held on June 1, Barrett said the curfew would remain in effect until it was deemed no longer effective. Given the fact that protesters have been out in the streets well past midnight each of the nights since the curfew was announced on May 30, it’s hard to say it was ever effective.

The increased aggressiveness of Milwaukee police comes just one day after President Donald Trump appeared on live TV, telling state governments that if they didn’t control the situations in their cities and utilize sufficient force to “dominate the streets” that he would be deploying U.S. military troops to put down these uprisings.

“It’s clear that these crooked police felt emboldened by the president’s words, and the people have suffered for it,” said Wisconsin FRSO leader Ryan Hamann. “However, if the last several days are any indication, no matter what the police do, or what Mayor Barrett orders, or what Trump proclaims, the people will not be denied. Milwaukee’s streets belong to the people of Milwaukee.”

#MilwaukeeWI #OppressedNationalities #US #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #ChicanoLatino #PoliceBrutality #Antiracism #DonaldTrump #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd #MinneapolisUprising

Josh Pauly, who is a member of the school board, put out a statement regarding the resolution, as quoted in The Guardian, “Public schools cannot partner with organizations that do not see the humanity in our students, [and] cannot align itself with [the Minneapolis Police Department] and claim to fight institutional racism”

Minneapolis Federation of Teachers Local 59 also support the call to end the contract with MPD.

Staff and students spoke of their experiences with ‘School Resource Officers’ (SROs) in their schools and that the money spent on officers could be better spent on counselors, social workers and support staff. A student from Washburn High spoke of the conditions at her school and that SROs do not make it safe for her to attend. George Floyd, the man who was killed May 25,was not far from the minds of folks at Davis Center. After every speaker his name was chanted.

U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar was also in attendance. She spoke of sending her children to school in Minneapolis and is herself a graduate of Edison High School. She said that Black students in the Minneapolis School District are 338 times more likely to be suspended from school.

In a unanimous vote (8-0) Minneapolis Public Schools voted to end the contract with Minneapolis Police.

This was one of many actions in the city June 2 regarding the murder of George Floyd.

#MinneapolisMN #StudentMovement #Labor #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #PublicSectorUnions #Antiracism #MinneapolisPoliceDepartment #TeachersUnions #MinneapolisUprising #MinneapolisPublicSchools

On Monday, June 1, with protests over George Floyd’s murder in their seventh day, President Trump and Attorney General William Barr used violence to clear peaceful protesters near the White House. The protesters had committed no crime, but were met with tear gas, flashbang grenades and pepper balls and beaten with batons by Federal Park Police. An Australian camera person and their assistant were hit with a shield and struck with batons as they tried to escape. Trump threatened even more violence as he berated mayors and governors and warned that he would call out the U.S. military to suppress protests in cities across the United States.

More and more state and local officials have resorted to repressive tactics such as curfews and calling out the National Guard. In many places the police have become more violent – the most recent example being when Atlanta police attacked two young people inside their car, smashing their window and tasing them. But these tactics have been unable to stop the protests over the deaths of George Floyd, Breanna Taylor, Ahmed Arbery and countless other victims of racist police and vigilantes spread across the country.

In many places the old segregationist line of ‘outside agitators’ used against Civil Rights demonstrators was raised by local officials. But this is more and more ridiculous as protests are growing in cities and towns large and small across the country. Another tactic is to try to divide the movement into ‘good protesters’ and ‘bad protesters.’ But this is the strength of our movement – unity in the face of repression and against the attempts to divide while embracing the fact that there are many forms of protest, from urban uprisings to the peaceful.

But Trump’s threats and violence have only left him more and more isolated. His motorcades are jeered by the people of Washington, D.C. His appropriation of Episcopal and Catholic churches and use of the Bible to spread his message of hate have been condemned by religious leaders. Even some Republicans and former military officers have spoken out against his threat to use military troops.

The world is changing.

#UnitedStates #OppressedNationalities #US #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #Antiracism #DonaldTrump #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd #MinneapolisUprising