Chicago, IL – An historic mobilization took place in Chicago’s Loop, the center of the city, August 29, when 3000 people marched to demand an elected, civilian police accountability council.

Chicago, IL – Activists from all over the U.S. are arriving here to join the August 29 march against police crimes and to demand community control of the police.

Interview with Frank Chapman

The Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR) is calling for a march on August 29 to demand civilian control of the police. They have written legislation to create a Civilian Police Accountability Council (CPAC), elected by the voters. Fight Back! interviewed Frank Chapman, Field Organizer of the Alliance, about the fight against police crimes, the march in August and CPAC. Fight Back!: Why is the Alliance campaigning for this legislation? Doesn’t Chicago already have a civilian review board?

Chicago, IL – More than 50 people representing 20 different organizations gathered August 12, to make final plans for the August 29 march to stop police crimes.

Chicago, IL – On August 8, about 100 people marched to stop police crimes at the historic Bud Billiken Parade. The parade, the oldest and largest African American parade in the U.S. attracted thousands of residents in Chicago’s South Side.

Chicago, IL -They started filing into work between 7:00 and 8:30 in the morning. After years of schooling they landed a job with the Illinois Department of Human Services (DHS). The job can be mentally draining. Conditions are bad. Today the temperature is supposed approach 90 degrees. The air conditioning hasn’t worked for more than two years. Bed bugs have again been reported as being in the building. The bathrooms are unsanitary and the drinking water has both color and odor.

Chicago, IL – Empezaron a llegar al trabajo entre las 7:00 y las 8:30 de la mañana. Después de estudiar por años, lograron conseguir un trabajo con el Departamento de Servicios Humanos de Illinois (DHS). El trabajo da cansancio mental. Las condiciones son malas. Hoy la temperatura podría alcanzar los 90 grados. El aire acondicionado no ha funcionado por más de dos años. Una vez más hay reportes de chinches en el edificio. Los baños son asquerosos y el agua del chorro tiene mal color y olor.

La Alianza de Chicago Contra la Represión Racista y Política (CAARPR) está llamando a una marcha el 29 de agosto para exigir el control civil de la policía. Han escrito, además, legislación para crear un Consejo de Responsabilidad de la Policía Civil (CPAC), elegido por los votantes.

_Turkey redoubles war on Syria, Kurds and the left _

Chicago, IL – Chicago-based anti-war leader Joe Iosbaker is speaking out against the latest U.S./Turkey attacks on Syria and the Kurds. “What does it mean that the U.S. and its NATO junior partner, Turkey, are creating a ‘Safe Zone’ along the Turkey-Syria border? The first result is that dozens of Turkish fighter planes are engaging in attacks against the Kurdistan Workers Party in Syria as well as in Iraq. In Turkey, they’re cracking down on Kurds and the left, with hundreds of arrests.”

Chicago, IL – The Chicago Police Department has shot 400 people in the past eight years, but city officials have declared that only one of those shootings was unjustified. The government body that decides this is the Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA).

Chicago, IL – On July 20, Rasmea Odeh’s legal defense team filed a new brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, demolishing the July 8 arguments of Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Tukel, who is opposing her bid for a new trial.

March on Chicago City Hall for community control of police

Chicago, IL – Prominent ministers, labor organizations and national figures in the movement against police crimes are joining the call to march on Chicago City Hall, August 29.

Chicago, IL – 200 people rallied in solidarity with Palestine on Al Quds Day. Al Quds is Jerusalem in Arabic. Joe Iosbaker of the Anti-War Committee-Chicago, spoke at the rally, making the following remarks:

Chicago, IL – Federal prosecutor Jonathan Tukel filed a brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, July 8, opposing Rasmea Odeh’s move to overturn her conviction and sentencing on immigration charges. Tukel argues that the lower court was right to deny Odeh her full defense, including its decisions to bar the testimony of a torture expert, to restrict Rasmea’s own testimony, and to allow documents obtained via torture by the Israeli military.

Chicago, IL – In the last 11 days seven Black churches have been burned down. The first burning occurred within a week of the June 17 Charleston Massacre, where a self-proclaimed white, racist terrorist murdered nine Black people. Some of the burned down churches had “KKK” scrawled on their outside walls and investigators have concluded that three churches (Hills Seven-day Adventist in Knoxville, Tennesee; God’s Power Church of Christ in Macon, Georgia and Brian Creek Road Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina) were torched by arsonists.

Chicago, IL – 500 people gathered at the University of Illinois at Chicago campus, June 28, to support “Justice for Rasmea Odeh.”

Chicago, IL -500 people gathered at the University of Illinois at Chicago campus, June 28, to support “Justice for Rasmea Odeh.”

Chicago, IL – Internationally recognized experts on the effects of torture are weighing in on the appeal of prominent Palestinian American activist Rasmea Odeh, who is challenging her unjust November 2014 conviction on an immigration charge. Odeh, who was tortured and raped in an Israeli prison, was denied the right to present a meaningful defense in her Detroit trial last year.

Chicago, IL – Standing in solidarity with the memories of those massacred in Charleston, South Carolina, activists here in Chicago linked their murders with the national epidemic of police crimes.

Chicago, IL – “Mother Emanuel church in Charleston, South Carolina, is a sacred shrine of the Black liberation movement, but it has been turned into the site of a racist massacre of Black people,” said Frank Chapman of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.