Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement by the #ByeBrannigan campaign. On Tuesday, April 6th, 2021, the #ByeBrannigan campaign, led by Arab community organizers of the southwest suburbs of Chicago, mobilized hundreds of Palestinians, Yemenis, and other Arabs to the polls to defeat the racist Sharon Brannigan, who lost the race for Palos Township Assessor in a landslide to incumbent Robert Maloney.

But it wasn't Maloney who won the election. It was the Arab community and its allies that are responsible for this historic victory, three years and nine months after the launching of the #ResignBrannigan Coalition, which first protested Brannigan, the former Palos Township Trustee, in response to racist, anti-Arab, and anti-Muslim statements she has posted online.

For almost four years, southwest suburban Arabs and other residents attended every monthly Palos Township board meeting, demanding Brannigan’s resignation, her censure by the rest of the board, and more transparency and accountability from the township in general.

Despite verbal threats from Brannigan, some of the other board members, and other racists she recruited to attend the meetings, protesters never wavered, turning many of the gatherings into educational workshops on racism, white supremacy, and hate groups; free speech filibusters; and even civil disobedience.

Brannigan and the board’s attempts to silence the community consistently failed, even after they hired a security company to bully protesters and call the Palos Hills police, leading to the arrests of five #ResignBrannigan leaders. Protesters were vindicated, however, when the judge deemed Brannigan’s testimony “contradictory,” dismissed the case, and “essentially affirmed the right of protestors to chant and challenge Brannigan and other trustees at the township meetings,” according to an October 2020 statement from the Arab American Action Network.

#WhenWeFightWeWin

“Yes, Brannigan is a Trump Republican, and received political support from Cook County Commissioner Sean Morrison, who is also the chair of the county’s Republican Party,” said Husam Marajda, #ByeBrannigan Campaign Coordinator, “and yes, the southwest suburbs of Chicago is predominantly white and right wing, and historically votes Republican.”

“But she was also supported by other members of the township board who are independents or Democratic Party operatives,” Marajda added, “so in its essence, #ByeBrannigan was not supporting Maloney or practicing partisanship. It was formed and organized exclusively to defeat Brannigan and her racism and white supremacy.”

Some forces in the Arab community did not support the original tactics of #ResignBrannigan, believing instead that it should practice “respectability politics” and insist to the township board that Arabs and Muslims are “good neighbors and good people.” Some wanted to negotiate with Brannigan and accept her disingenuous apologies. And some supported Brannigan outright, with one Arab institution honoring her and Morrison together at a banquet, and other right-wing Arabs publishing articles or social media posts attacking the protesters and defending her racism.

But these voices were easily isolated, as the broader working class and immigrant Arab community was mobilized for close to four years to protest Brannigan’s racism. This base learned lessons from the Black liberation movement and other anti-racist campaigns, understanding that white supremacists can never be left unchallenged, because hate speech leads to violence against the communities directly affected by it. This was seen many times in the past five years, ever since the announcement of Trump’s presidential campaign. When legislators like him spew hatred, racists and white supremacists are emboldened to attack.

And this is why #ResignBrannigan confronted Brannigan and her supporters at every turn, why it refused “dialogue” and “negotiations” with the racists, and why it did not choose appeasement. Thousands of community members participated in some aspect of the protests over the years, because #ResignBrannigan had the correct, confrontational line against the enemy, and the majority of Arabs in the township agreed with it.

#ResignBrannigan protests continued even during the COVID-19 pandemic, with community members joining the Palos Township board’s public Zoom calls to oppose Brannigan and her apologist board colleagues, and coalition leaders organizing car caravans to drive through board members’ home neighborhoods and expose their racism.

Election operations

When Brannigan announced that she was running for Palos Township Assessor instead of reelection as a trustee, #ResignBrannigan immediately declared a small victory, even though her opportunist fellow trustees tried (unsuccessfully) to separate themselves from her racism by running on a slate without her. #ResignBrannigan understood that she had grown tired of the monthly protests and was trying to run away from them without resigning. Little did she know that #ByeBrannigan would not allow her to rest.

The independent #ByeBrannigan campaign ran an operation that made over 20,000 phone calls to Arab and other voters in the township, and knocked on close to 5,000 doors, calling on residents to vote against racism and white supremacy, to vote against Brannigan. Its negative campaigning hardly mentioned Maloney at all, focusing instead on Brannigan’s posts, words, and actions.

Make no mistake. Arab voters were not mobilized by their interest in a township election. They were not mobilized by Arab candidates running for other seats. They were not mobilized by Maloney.

Arab voters were mobilized to defeat Brannigan. They were mobilized by #ByeBrannigan to defend their community and their people by defeating Brannigan’s racism and white supremacy.

And we won!

#ChicagoIL #Illinois #SharonBrannigan #ArabCommunity

Chicago, IL – On May 11, over 30 Arab and Muslim community members and their allies joined a Palos Township online meeting to continue demanding the resignation of the racist trustee, Sharon Brannigan.

Since the global pandemic forced the state of Illinois and its functions to be moved to digital forms, the Palos Township started to hold its monthly general meetings via Zoom.

The #ResignBrannigan coalition, which has been demanding the resignation of Brannigan since July of 2017, refused to let the quarantine get in the way of their campaign and took the fight to Zoom.

The meeting, like usual, became heated as the community members had a chance to speak during the public comment section. The speakers expressed real concern with Brannigan’s recent endorsement of the Re-Open Illinois Rally that was organized by right-wing groups in the city of Chicago. Others also expressed concern about the township’s violation of the Illinois Open Meetings Act law by submitting the meeting information less than 48 hours ahead of the meeting time.

“We already know that Brannigan, Supervisor Schumann, and the rest of the board are all racist, they’ve proven that many times. But the real concern here is that Brannigan is the Public Health trustee and she is encouraging people to go out and protest,” said Husam Marajda, a member of the #ResignBrannigan coalition. He continued, “she also had no reports for the month on Public Health. How is that possible? We did the research, there are over 600 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the township, and yet she has nothing to report on? Something is not right. Our community deserves better.”

Many community members had a background picture of the township board stamped with words “Racists” in English and in Arabic.

The next township meeting is scheduled to be on June 8, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time. The link will be posted on the Palos Township web page at www.palostownship.org

#ChicagoIL #PeoplesStruggles #Antiracism #SharonBrannigan

Chicago, IL – On July 8, 150 people rallied outside of the Palos Township in the southwest suburbs of Chicago on the two-year anniversary of the #ResignBrannigan campaign, a campaign demanding the resignation of racist and white supremacist trustee Sharon Brannigan.

The Arab-led campaign, which takes place in the heart of one of the most concentrated Arab communities in the nation, has been a historic one. Over the past two years, the #ResignBrannigan coalition has mobilized hundreds of Arab community members and youth to rally at the Palos Township monthly meetings, and participate in different actions to increase the pressure on Sharon Brannigan. The southwest suburbs Arab community has never had such a militant and organized campaign as the #ResignBrannigan effort.

To intimidate the protesters, Sharon Brannigan has more than once invited members of ACT for America, the largest anti-Muslim hate group in the country, to the meetings. She has called the police multiple times on the protesters, has called them “violent mobs,” and had five community leaders arrested at the June 2019 township meeting. Since the beginning of this campaign, the rest of the board of trustees have been silent on Brannigan’s racism and refused to put forward a censure resolution, the least that they can do. Instead, they have constantly attempted to silence the protesters by cutting the public comment time and putting a velvet rope between the crowd and the township council.

At the two-year anniversary rally, the #ResignBrannigan coalition has made it clear that they will not stop their demand of a resignation, and that white supremacy must be confronted by any means necessary. They showed that the community is organized and will not be intimidated by any arrests, and that they have the backing of dozens of community-based organizations in the township and other Chicagoland areas.

#ChicagoIL #PeoplesStruggles #Antiracism #SharonBrannigan

Chicago, IL – On Monday, August 13, the #ResignBrannigan campaign organized its 14th protest in Palos Township, marking a milestone in this anti-racist movement led by Arabs and Muslims, as residents protested not only Trustee Sharon Brannigan, but also the Nazi Congressional candidate Arthur Jones and his supporters, forcing them to leave the meeting. Jones was there to defend Brannigan and her racist hate speech.

As the community picketed on the sidewalk holding signs calling for inclusivity and peace, Brannigan and Jones supporters across the street held signs that read, “Vote for Arthur Jones in November,” “Sharon Brannigan stays,” and anti-Semitic slogans. These are the same racists and Nazis that brought the “ISIS out of Palos” sign to a campaign protest in September of last year.

The #ResignBrannigan coalition had planned to present testimonials at the meeting by teenagers from Stagg and Sandburg high schools, as well as by college students from Moraine Valley Community College and UIC – these students were prepared to share their fears of possible white supremacist attacks against them by racists emboldened by Brannigan. But the program immediately changed with the presence of Jones and his supporters.

“We were left with no other option but to immediately deliver our more than 1000 postcards demanding Brannigan’s resignation,” said Bassem Kawar, National Coordinator of the Campaign to TAKE ON HATE, which leads the local coalition, “to force Jones out of the space with our chanting, and to shut the meeting down. We are firm with our stance, and will never allow or encourage any platforms for racist and hate speech.”

The campaign is gaining momentum daily, and Arabs, Muslims, and their supporters in the community pledge to continue to protest these monthly Palos Hills Township meetings, as well as to escalate with actions in between.

Coalition members insist that it is time for other elected officials to also take a stand, as the silence of Dan Lipinski, Sean Morrison, and all of Brannigan’s board of trustees’ colleagues is a sign that they are accepting these attacks on Arabs and Muslims, and emboldening Jones and his ilk.

#ChicagoIL #Antiracism #Antifascism #SharonBrannigan #ArthurJones

Palos Hills, IL – On Sept. 11, hundreds of community members protested outside the Palos Township Board of Trustees meeting for the third month in a row to demand the resignation of racist trustee Sharon Brannigan. The protest was organized by Take On Hate, alongside local Chicagoland partners.

Brannigan has made several posts on social media demonizing the growing population of Arabs and Muslims in the southwest suburbs, most recently vilifying Middle Eastern students. Palos Township has one of the largest Arab populations in the state of Illinois, encompassing all or portions of Bridgeview, Hickory Hills, Orland Park, Palos Hills, Worth and Willow Springs.

After rallying outside, residents packed the township board room and exterior hallway spilling into the outdoor parking lot. More than a dozen community members spoke out against Brannigan and the board members, who many said they viewed as complicit for not pressuring their colleague to resign.

A non-resident who had signs that read “No ISIS in Palos”, “Illegal alien invaders out of our schools”, and “Brannigan stays” attempted to speak, but was forced to leave by residents who chanted for the racist get out.

Township Supervisor Colleen Schumann adjourned the meeting, in a failed attempt to quell the residents’ outrage. Community members followed Brannigan outside, chanting that she should resign. Brannigan, refusing to address any of her mostly Arab constituents, quickly ran to her car without as much as bothering to turn around.

Bassem Kawar of Take On Hate and the Arab American Action Network told Fight Back!, “We will continue mobilizing community members for every township meeting until Brannigan resigns, and have saturated the southwest suburbs with literature condemning Brannigan’s racist attacks.”

Take On Hate is asking all community members and supporters to continuously call the Palos Township office at 708-598-4418 and demand Brannigan’s immediate resignation. Sign the #ResignBrannigan petition here: bit.ly/ResignBrannigan

#PalosHillsIL #ArabAmericanActionNetwork #Antiracism #PalosTownship #SharonBrannigan #ResignBrannigan #TakeOnHate