Denver, CO – On August 31, nearly 20 people gathered at La Alma Park to commemorate the 54th Chicano Moratorium. This event brought together a diverse group of speakers to discuss pressing issues related to Chicano self-determination, community control, and solidarity with the Palestinian struggle.

Organized by a coalition of groups, including Denver FRSO, the Chicano Liberation Committee, SDS, and the Denver Aurora Community Action Committee, the gathering highlighted the connections among these various struggles for justice.

Long Beach, CA – On September 28, a crowd of about 20 people, including faculty, students and community members gathered near the Walter Pyramid at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) while the school started an event to celebrate its 75th anniversary. The protesters chanted “land back!” and made chalk art to advocate for the protection of Puvungna, a 22-acre site located on campus, sacred to the Acjachemen and Tongva peoples of California.

Fight Back News Service is circulating this call from the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression inviting organizers in the South to attend a regional organizing conference.

This December 6th-8th, the National Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression (NAARPR) is convening our inaugural Southern Regional Organizing Conference in Jacksonville, Florida. This conference will bring together progressive forces in the South fighting for Black liberation, Indigenous rights and land sovereignty. We are fighting back against police crimes and political repression to free all those unjustly incarcerated as well as defending all progressive movements fighting for a just society. NAARPR, which arose out of the movement to Free Angela Davis, was refounded in 2019 with well over two dozen branches and affiliate organizations nationwide. Since the 2020 George Floyd uprisings, NAARPR has seen a growth in new organizing struggles in cities across the country; specifically, in the Black Belt Region of the Deep South, the historic homelands of Africans trafficked to North America, where the majority of their descendants still live today.

Jacksonville, FL – On Saturday, August 24, the Jacksonville Community Action Committee (JCAC) held its annual Black August event, remembering the tradition of what Black August means to the struggle for Black liberation, along with spotlighting various struggles happening in the community. Around 70 community members attended the event, which took place at Cafe Resistance off Soutel Road, one of the centers of the Black community in Jacksonville.

Fullerton, CA – On Friday, September 6, over 30 family members, community members and activists joined a vigil to demand justice for Alejandro Campos Rios. The vigil was held outside of a McDonald’s restaurant where Rios was murdered by Fullerton Police Department on March 6 while experiencing a mental health crisis.

Connor Atwood with Dare to Struggle kicked off the vigil by stating, “For six months the killer cops have gotten away with it. For six months, they have not released the names of the officers that pulled the triggers. For six months they have not been fired from FPD. And for six months, while we should have been getting justice ,these killer cops have continued to walk the streets. We’re here to say no, we’re here to demand justice for Alejandro!”

San José, CA – On August 31, Silicon Valley Immigration Committee held San José’s 54th Chicano Moratorium commemoration at the San José Peace and Justice Center.

Around 50 people heard speakers on the August 29, 1970 Chicano Moratorium and other issues related to the Chicano liberation and anti-war movements. The keynote speaker was Carlos Montes, co-founder of the Brown Berets, Freedom Road Socialist Organization Central Committee member, and co-chair of the FRSO Chicano, Latino and Other Oppressed Nationalities Commission.

East Los Angeles, CA – On Saturday, August 24, around 200 Chicano activists and community members came out to Rúben Salazar Park to commemorate the 54th anniversary of the Chicano Moratorium.

Tacoma, WA – On Friday, August 30, about 20 people gathered in person and online to celebrate the 54th anniversary of the historic Chicano Moratorium, at an event hosted by Freedom Road Socialist Organization. The commemoration was held in a community organizing space shared by the Black Panther Party of Washington, 350 Tacoma, La Resistencia and other local groups.

The event kicked off with a presentation by local organizer Jami Cortez. During the presentation, the history of the events that led up to the moratorium where highlighted.

Dallas, TX – Around 50 people gathered early in the evening of Sunday, August 25, in front of the headquarters of the Dallas Police Department to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the murder of two Black children killed at the hands of Dallas police.

The boys were brothers, George Johnson, aged 14, and Johnny Johnson, aged 13. The vigil was attended by three siblings of the Johnson brothers and organized by the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, Stop Cop City Dallas Coalition, and the DFW Anti-War Committee. Community members from all around the Dallas-Fort Worth area were present.

Santa Ana, CA – On August 10, nearly 40 people packed into the Studio of El Centro Cultural de México to hear five panelists speak on a wide range of topics affecting Chicanos. This event, commemorating the 54th Chicano Moratorium, was organized by Community Service Organization Orange County (CSO OC).

Before the panel began, Diana Terreros, a founding member of CSO OC, led a chant to honor and remember the name of Abigail Lopez, who was tragically murdered at the hands of Anaheim Police Department in 2023.

Saint Paul, MN – On August 14, members and supporters of the MN Free Palestine Coalition packed every available seat at the quarterly Minnesota State Board of Investment (SBI) meeting to demand divestment of state-managed pension funds and other public monies from Israeli weapons manufacturers, banks and bonds, and other entities, complicit in Israel’s apartheid system that contribute to the genocide in Palestine.

Wilsonville, OR – On August 12, pro-Palestinian organizers returned to weapons manufacturer Collins Aerospace for the second time to protest the company’s involvement and complicity in the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

Note: For memorial service details, see end of article.

Dallas, TX – Kawana Scott Menchaca, a community organizer from Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, passed away last weekend, having been found in the early hours of Sunday, July 14ᵗʰ. She is known to be profoundly sharp, intellectually effusive, driven by a craving for justice, and undeniably brave in fighting for a more just and humane world. She leaves behind her husband, Nicolas Menchaca, her parents Antione and Trenell, her two brothers Anderson and Langston, and a constellation of friends and community members all reeling from this news.

Milwaukee, WI – After two years of work, the Coalition to March on the RNC culminated its efforts with a 3500-person rally and march on the opening day of the 2024 Republican National Convention. The Coalition was truly national in character, composed of more than 120 organizations representing all manner of social movements. The principle rallying cry of the broad united front was to fight against the racist and reactionary Republican agenda.

“The most visible figurehead of the Republican Party right now is Donald Trump, but we want to be clear: we are marching on the Republicans’ entire agenda. Our speakers today represent a broad movement against the entire Republican platform,” said Omar Flores, one of the co-chairs of the Coalition. “We are marching on every Republican state slashing funding for DEI initiatives in education, every Republican governor putting up more razor wire to militarize the Southwest border, every Republican voting for right-to-work bills, and every Republican signing bombs they are sending to Gaza.”

Winter Haven, FL – On Sunday, June 30, the voices of hundreds assembled at the Church of God the Bibleway echoed the demands for police accountability in nearby Lakeland, Florida as stories of abuses at the hands of the Lakeland Police Department were shared.

Attorney Bobby DiCello, representing the victims, moderated the press conference. Activists and victims spoke out about the abuse that Lakeland Police Department is responsible for. DiCello, on behalf of the victims, asked for a meeting between the victims and the Lakeland Chief of Police Sam Taylor, who has time and time again covered for the abuses and incompetence of his officers, as they beat, harass and invent bogus charges against African Americans in Lakeland.

Los Angeles, CA – Immigrant rights activists with Centro CSO held a press conference July 9 calling for a protest on opening day of the Republican National Convention (RNC). The LA activists are sending a delegation and will travel and join a march and protest on July 15 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Dallas, TX – On Saturday, July 6, the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NAARPR) Dallas partnered with the Stop Cop City Dallas coalition for a town hall meeting at Pan-African Connection to educate the community on the planned construction of a police training facility to be built on the University of North Texas at Dallas campus.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Coalition to March on the RNC

Milwaukee, WI – With the Republican National Convention just a week away, some are asking “Why march on the RNC?” However, the correct question should be: “Why not? Why not march on the Republican National convention? Why not march on those leading the attacks on women’s and reproductive rights? Why not march on those leading attacks on trans, immigrants and human rights in general?”

The Republicans have left us no shortage of reasons to mobilize and amplify the people’s agenda over their racist and reactionary agenda.

San Jose, CA – Over two dozen people gathered in San Jose to demand the freedom of political prisoner Leonard Peltier on the 49th anniversary of the shootout at Pine Ridge, June 26. Peltier is a leader of the American Indian Movement who has been wrongfully imprisoned since 1978 after being framed for the killing of two FBI agents during the shootout.