Minneapolis, MN – Around 300 people protested outside the Fourth Precinct police building in North Minneapolis, June 24, to speak out against the cops who killed Thurman Blevins the night before.

Oshkosh, WI – On June 16, United Action Oshkosh (UAO) hosted a celebration of the Juneteenth holiday. Roughly 30 people from the area attended the event where UAO offered free food and drinks, provided an extensive selection of music, and some works celebrating important Black and African historical figures, ranging from Martin Luther King, Jr. to Thomas Sankara.

Trump and Rosselló deflated official count to cover up scale of human disaster

The impossibly low official death count of just 64 people killed from Hurricane Maria’s devastation of Puerto Rico last September has now been shown to be a politically manipulated fabrication. Fight Back! challenged this official count in an article last October, a month after the hurricane, as did many other media at the time. But in the absence of a thorough and scientifically-sound review of post-hurricane deaths in Puerto Rico there was no other count to rival the government’s lowball number.

San Juan, Puerto Rico – On May 1, police in Puerto Rico responded to tens of thousands of people marching against austerity with serious repression including tear gas, pepper spray and arrests.

Preparations underway for strike on May 1

San Juan, Puerto Rico – On April 27, police pepper sprayed teachers in a protest led by the Puerto Rican Teachers Federation (FMPR) outside the Department of Education. The teachers were protesting the government’s plan to close hundreds of public schools as part of a massive ‘education reform’ plan to privatize public education.

Tallahassee, FL – The Florida State University (FSU) chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) held an April 12 event to raise awareness of the racism on their campus, and gave presentations detailing the history of FSU’s founding. Several SDS members gave presentations mentioning Francis Eppes, the man whom FSU honors as its founder.

Milwaukee, WI – Former FBI agent and anti-Muslim activist John Guandolo had planned to speak in five Midwestern cities from April 5-9, but protests forced him to cancel all five events.

New Orleans, LA – Anti-racist organizers united for the inaugural Take ‘Em Down Conference in New Orleans, March 24-25. Activists from across the South are building the fight to remove Confederate monuments and other symbols of white supremacy. After Take ‘Em Down NOLA’s success in getting four Confederate statues removed last spring, the fight has spread across the South and even to the Caribbean. Delegates from Durham, Ocean Springs, Jacksonville, Dallas and the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago met to discuss their recent victories. They shared experiences and fostered solidarity in the struggle against racism and national oppression.

The Puerto Rican Teachers Federation and allied teachers’ organizations in the Broad Front in Defense of Public Education (FADEP) have called a national teachers’ strike in Puerto Rico for March 19. The strike is in response to the Puerto Rican House of Representatives passing an education reform bill this week that would introduce charter schools and private school vouchers and that would close hundreds of public schools. The government is trying to opportunistically push through this sweeping attack while Puerto Rico is still recovering from the destruction of Hurricane Maria.

Chicago, IL — First of all, this movie took me back to my childhood love of fantastic tales of adventure and romance. So, for me, it was great entertainment made possible by cinematic art at its finest. It was a movie sprung from the pages of a comic book, moving pictures full of enchanting moments of musical chants, poetry flowing through panoramic scenes of spectacular beauty enhanced by the liquid murmurs of water falls. Most importantly, Black Panthe r is a movie endowed with the presence of Black African folk reflecting their social reality as dreams by way of rituals embellished by the contest of battles, dance and song.

Los Angeles, CA – More than 30 parents, teachers, students and supporters of Christopher Dena Elementary took to the streets angrily opposing a co-location move by KIPP Charter. A co-location by KIPP at a public school means students would be segregated, within the same building, depending on which ‘school’ they were enrolled in.

Chicago, IL – 75 people gathered at a Black History Month event sponsored by Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), Feb. 3. They chanted, clapped and sang along to the Black National Anthem, Lift Every Voice as the program began.

Jacksonville, FL – On Jan. 29, over 250 people came out to Hemming Plaza in Downtown Jacksonville to demand that Confederate monuments honoring white supremacists and slave holders be taken down and the renaming of schools named after Confederate generals.

Tallahassee, FL — Members of the Tallahassee community came together Jan. 27 to protest a rally held by the white supremacist organization League of the South (LOS). The counter-demo was the brainchild of Florida State student athlete Richard Garzola and featured participation from organizations like Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), the FSU Black Student Union, Students for Justice in Palestine and the NAACP.

Minneapolis, MN – A large-scale protest challenging racism, police crimes and corporate greed is set to coincide with the 2018 Super Bowl that will take place at U.S. Bank Stadium, on Feb. 4.

Chicago, IL – Dec. 4 marked the 48th anniversary of the assassination of Illinois Black Panther Party Chairman Fred Hampton, and Defense Captain Mark Clark. They died in a predawn raid by a joint operation of the Chicago Police Department, Cook County State's Attorney's Office and the FBI.

San Juan, Puerto Rico – In an escalation in their fight to stop the government from closing or privatizing public schools in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, the Puerto Rican Teachers Federation occupied Education Secretary Julia Keleher’s office Nov. 7 in an act of civil disobedience. 21 teachers were arrested standing up in defense of public education in Puerto Rico.

_Pushing back against ‘disaster capitalism’ measures _

In the aftermath of Hurricane Maria’s devastation in Puerto Rico, the Puerto Rican Teachers Federation (FMPR, for their initials in Spanish) has been warning for weeks that Department of Education Secretary Julia Keleher was going to use the crisis as an opportunity to try to close hundreds of Puerto Rico’s public schools. This is something that those in power have wanted to do for a long time but haven’t been able to due to resistance from teachers and communities defending their schools.

As of Oct. 25, the Puerto Rican government’s official death count from Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico still stands at 51. Many people have been puzzled by this impossibly low, reality-defying number since Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico over a month ago, on Sept. 20. The official count of 51 deaths from Hurricane Maria is now starting to unravel.

Interview with Eulalia “Laly” Centeno

Eulalia “Laly” Centeno was interviewed Oct. 23 at the Puerto Rican Teachers Federation office in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Centeno is a teacher at the Salvador Brau Elementary School in Cayey and active with the Puerto Rican Teachers Federation. She talks about the danger of the government using the crisis of Hurricane Maria to impose massive school closings and privatize public education in Puerto Rico – as they’ve tried to do for years but have not been able to because of resistance from teachers and the community. She warns that the government is using the model that was used in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, when public schools were closed en masse and changed to privatized charter schools. Interview and translation into English by Brad Sigal. Fight Back!: Can you tell us who you are and what’s happening with your school? Eulalia Centeno: I’m Eulalia Centeno Ramos, better known as Laly Centeno. I’m a teacher and affiliated with the Puerto Rican Teachers Federation (FMPR). I’m an elementary school teacher at the school called Salvador Brau, which is a K-6 school. In this difficult moment that the country is living through, the school where I work is in the best possible condition because it has electricity, it has water, and it’s clean because the teachers and workers of the school did all the cleaning. We got everything ready. We organized the program to welcome back students and start the academic process. All areas are ready to start classes.