News and Views from the People's Struggle
Within the last few years Newark, New Jersey and nearby communities have been devastated as thousands of homes have been foreclosed and tens of thousands made homeless. An Oct. 24 protest at Bank of America here, sponsored by the People's Organization for Progress, charged Bank of America and other banks are responsible for these calamities.
He was “unarmed, brutally assaulted and murdered, kicked and beaten on the ground while he was handcuffed, tasered, placed in a body bag but not zipped up…”
El caso de Omar Pilgrim
El caso de Omar Pilgrim en el Condado Union en New Jersey es un ejemplo flagrante de los abusos racistas del sistema de “justicia” penal de los Estados Unidos. En marzo de este año, el juez John Triarsi condenó a Omar, un afroamericano, con una sentencia en el cárcel de ocho años por una primera ofensa en un asunto que tiene que ver con $6.75. Tiene que cumplir seis años antes de ser elegible por la libertad condicional (parole).
In the wake of the controversy over the racist remarks by radio personality Don Imus, Fight Back! did the following interviews with grassroots leaders of the Black community in Newark, New Jersey.
Newark, NJ – The Aug. 4 killings of three college students in the Vailsburg section of Newark, New Jersey has become national news. Terrance Aeriel, 18, Dashon Harvey, 20, and Iofemi Hightower, 20, were forced to kneel and were shot in the head. A fourth victim, Natasha Hightower, 19, was also shot but survives.
Newark, NJ – The chanting rang out: “Shoot…and shoot! And lock and load and shoot!” at a rally here, April 26, called to protest New York Judge Arthur Cooperman’s exoneration of three police officers for killing Sean Bell. The victim was 23 when he was killed in 2006 in a barrage of 50 shots. He was to be married the next day.
Interview with Parents of Police Murder Victims
![Banner: "Stop police brutality"](https://i.snap.as/1wmGIkgq.jpg "Banner: \\"Stop police brutality\\" Standing in front of the police station where his son, Earl Faison, was killed on April 11, 1999, Earl Williams responds to the news that the trial judge had set aside convictions of two of the five police officers convicted on civil rights charges in the case: “I said to myself, what kind of a system are we living under?” POP struggled against the dismissals and the convictions were reinstated in appeals court. Four of the five former officers are now serving in federal prison. \(Fight Back! News/David Hungerford\)")
Fight Back! talked on May 8 with Elizabeth (Bonnie) Moore, whose son Rasheed, 26, was killed in January by Newark, NJ police officer Thomas Ruane (see Fight Back! March/April 2005.) Fight Back! also talked with Earl Williams, whose son Earl Faison was killed by Orange, NJ policemen in April of 1999. After a struggle of five years, led by the Faison’s family and by the People’s Organization for Progress, four cops were sentenced to terms of 33 months each for violations of the victim’s civil rights. One officer was sentenced to nine years.
Newark, NJ – Rasheed Fuquan Moore, 26, was killed Jan. 24 by Newark police officer Thomas Ruane in a 12:30 a.m. shooting incident. In the same incident, Ruane’s partner, officer Nicholas Popolizio, shot Richard Guy, 26, in the leg.
Newark, NJ – On Aug. 25, almost 44 years to the day after Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech to between a quarter and a half million people, the Peace and Justice Coalition, an alliance of more than 120 peace and justice organizations, will march in Newark, New Jersey.
Newark, NJ – Community outrage has broken out in here over the May 15 police killing of Basire Farrell. Over 100 people turned out when the victim's family and the People's Organization for Progress (POP) sponsored a protest march and rally on May 23.