Chicago, IL – On Martin Luther King Jr Day, January 17, the family of Dr. King led a march for voting rights across Frederick Douglass bridge in Washington DC. At the same time, a coalition of over a dozen community organizations and labor unions organized a caravan of over 100 cars up King Drive in Chicago for the same purpose. Activists in both cities and across the country have voiced their support of the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement (JLVRA) Act.
Fight Back! interview with Frank Chapman, of the Central Committee of Freedom Road Socialist Organization and the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.
FRSO strongly condemns the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse on all charges. This verdict is another example of how the police and courts work hand in hand with racist vigilantes to kill and injure African Americans, other oppressed nationalities, and all who try to fight to end police crimes.
Lincoln Heights, CA – On Sunday, November 7, the Immigration Committee of the Community Service Organization (Centro CSO) hosted a screening of Nicaragua Against Empire, a film by Ramiro Sebastián Fúnez.
Tallahassee, FL – First there was the $20 million regressive Blueprint sales tax money stolen from Black, brown, and poor people for tax exempt skyboxes sold to rich white people to enhance their “football experience.”
On the evening of October 19, a number of organizations gathered at Belo Garden Park in Dallas, Texas, for a vigil for Atatiana Jefferson and other victims of state violence. Atatiana Jefferson was murdered in her home while playing video games with her niece by Fort Worth police officer Aaron Dean on October 12, 2019. The vigil also commemorated others killed by state violence in the U.S. and abroad.
On the evening of October 19, a number of organizations gathered at Belo Garden Park in Dallas, Texas, for a vigil for Atatiana Jefferson and other victims of state violence. Atatiana Jefferson was murdered in her home while playing video games with her niece by Fort Worth police officer Aaron Dean on October 12, 2019. The vigil also commemorated others killed by state violence in the U.S. and abroad.
Los Angeles, CA – On Saturday, October 9, the family of Leo Chavez, along with local community supporters and Centro CSO, rallied to protest in front of the California Highway Patrol East LA station. Leo Chavez was shot and killed by California Highway Patrol (CHP) officers after a traffic collision near his home in Boyle Heights, on September 28, at about 3:30 p.m.
Los Angeles, CA – On September 28, after a traffic collision, 24-year-old Leo Chavez was shot and killed by the California Highway Patrol (CHP). His mother Maritza Padilla is devastated and wants justice for her son. Chavez’ surviving family lives in Boyle Heights near the Ramona Gardens neighborhood. Ramona Gardens is no stranger to police killings by the LAPD and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
Chicago, IL – One year after playing a leading role in the George Floyd Rebellion that swept the U.S. in the summer of 2020, the Black-led National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression is convening again in Chicago. The storied organization, originally founded in 1973 from the National Committee to Free Angela Davis and All Political Prisoners, was reestablished in November 2019. According to Frank Chapman, Executive Director of NAARPR, “We have 13 cities in which there is organizing against police crimes and for community control of the police.”
Los Angeles, CA – On September 18, the family of David Ordaz, Jr. held a march and rally calling for Mental Health awareness in honor of David, a 34-year-old father of three who was killed by the East LA Sheriffs on March 14, 2021. Ordaz, Jr. was having a mental health crisis, but the ELA Sheriffs responded by killing him in front of his family.
Dallas, TX – On September 19, about 50 people gathered in Belo Garden Park in Downtown Dallas to support six Palestinian political prisoners who recently escaped from Israeli detention, and to call for the freedom of all Palestinian political prisoners. The rally was organized by Palestinian Youth Movement, American Muslims for Justice in Palestine, and Students for Justice in Palestine. Chants included “Intifada! Intifada! Long live the Intifada!” “We don't want two states! We want '48!” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
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.
College Station, TX – On September 16, Students for a Democratic Society at Texas A&M University held a protest against the continued presence of a Confederate statue on their campus, racial profiling in the surrounding community, and how TAMU continually fails to meet the needs of Black students on campus.
¡Lucha y Resiste! entrevista al organizador del Centro CSO y activista chicano de derechos humanos Carlos Montes y Marisol Márquez, miembra chicana de la Organización Socialista Camino a Libertad sobre el próximo 51 aniversario de la Moratoria Chicana.
Los Angeles, CA – Hundreds took to the streets on August 29 to commemorate the 1970 Chicano Moratorium that took place 51 years ago. The Chicano Moratorium demanded an end to the war in Vietnam and an end to discrimination against Chicanos.
New Orleans, LA – On August 29, at 11:55 a.m., Hurricane Ida made landfall on the Louisiana coast. The storm arrived on the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Like then, working class, Black, and indigenous Louisianans are least able to evacuate and suffer the most damages.
St. Paul, MN – Over 2000 people came to the Minnesota State Capitol building, Wednesday, August 25, occupying the capitol grounds in protest of the Line 3 oil pipeline. Over 40 people walked 256 miles from the headwaters of the Mississippi to the capitol building to demand that Governor Tim Walz stop the pipeline’s construction. Over 200 people met the water protectors about a mile and a half away to march through the streets for the final stretch with them towards the capitol grounds.
The Freedom Road Socialist Organization urges all progressive activists to take action to support the Ojibwe people in their fight against the Line 3 oil pipeline. Line 3, just like the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipeline projects before it, tramples on the sovereign rights of the indigenous peoples whose traditional lands and waters it crosses – in this case the Ojibwe, who are part of the broader Anishinaabe peoples. In FRSO, we see the struggle against pipelines not just as an environmental issue but also one of the most important and militant struggles for indigenous sovereignty.
Minneapolis, MN – Some 80 people gathered at North Regional Library on August 22 to hear Frank Chapman speak about his book Marxist-Leninist Perspectives on Black Liberation and Socialism. This event was the final meeting of a book club that had been meeting over the summer to read the book together with Freedom Road Socialist Organization. After outlining the book for attendees, Chapman took questions and signed books. Like his book, the discussion focused on both the fundamental revolutionary content of Marxism and the significance of what Chapman calls the George Floyd Rebellion. As he writes in his book, “We think it is deeper, we think it is the youth sounding the death knell of the racist police repression that stands like a blockade in the road to Black liberation. It is a call for mass resistance to the police terror that has stalked our communities and denied us the organizing space we need as a nationally oppressed people to wage the struggle for Black Liberation, to finish the unfinished revolution.”
