Black Lives Matter

December 14, 2021

Rebellion and Reaction: behind the attack on Critical Race Theory

The orchestrated attack on Critical Race Theory (CRT) is one facet of the racist and reactionary response to the decade-long Black Lives Matter struggle and the tremorous uprising of summer 2020. The surges of protest and revolt, taking distinct and elaborating form since the 2012 murder of Trayvon Martin, have grown in size, scope, and militancy. These movements have shifted anti-racist class politics and consciousness to the left, culminating into abolitionist cadence at its most organized and advanced points. Over one year on, the unified call for radical justice has been countered by the foul, cacophonous, and rage-induced dysphoria of the rattled ranks of the reactionary right.

December 3, 2021

by Kim Gasper-Rabuck

The Aftermath of the Rittenhouse Acquittal: Report from Wisconsin

After the murder of George Floyd May 25, 2020, millions of people protested—most for the first time in their lives—to say that “Black Lives Matter”. Thousands demonstrated dozens of times across the urban centers of Wisconsin. in Madison, the protests were called by large not-for-profits as well as new, young groups of African- American activists. Hundreds of national guard members were called up by Democratic Party Governor Tony Evers—and supported by Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway—to teargas and arrest Black and white protesters on the street. Much of State Street experienced fires and graffiti as peoples’ rightful rage against overwhelming police and National guard violence erupted.

March 29, 2021

by Michael Brown

Black Struggle is Class Struggle

Whether or not Amazon, a global behemoth and now trillion-dollar corporation, will be forced to eventually collectively bargain with a unionized workforce at its fulfillment center warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama hinges upon the votes of nearly 6,000 workers. Despite its characterization as a Red State in the Deep South, the workers in Alabama are at the forefront of a new effort to re-build the U.S. labor movement.

If successful, the union drive by mail-in vote concluding on March 29th would mark the first time an Amazon facility in the U.S. is successfully unionized. A pro-union vote would be a win for the entire of the working

January 29, 2021

by Héctor Rivera

The failures of the DSA are going to get us killed

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw Trump supporters breach the Capitol on January 6. I was visiting my mom and we were getting ready for dinner when I received frantic texts from comrades from Mexico City. “What is going in the US? I just saw the videos from the Capitol”. I assumed it was some Proud Boys getting violent as usual but when I turned on the TV and watched thousands of Trump supporters outside the Capitol and an armed stand-off inside, I knew this was different.
As we commented on the chaos over dinner, my grandmother, who is blind, began to tense up, she was getting worried, we were talking about civil war, Donald Trump and running away to Mexico. I tried to reassure them that things would be OK, and that this would be resolved appropriately, but deep down, I wasn’t—I’m not—so sure.

November 3, 2020

by Ivan Waldo

NYPD’s Disparate Response to Protests

Earlier this month, there were protests in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn that violated COVID-19 restrictions, set fires in the streets and saw a mob attack a journalist, all while the NYPD was on the scene. The incidents were in response to restrictions imposed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo on specific communities experiencing a resurgence in COVID-19 infections. A couple of weeks prior, a human rights organization’s report exposed the violent oppressive response the NYPD executed against protesters during a planned protest in the Bronx in June, organized in response to the continuing legacies of systemic racism and police brutality.

October 6, 2020

by Justin Akers Chacón

Us versus the billionaires and their parties

In a recent interview, Joe Biden was visually irritated when responding to a reporter who asked if his proposed policies are “socialist”. “Do I look like a socialist? Look at my career — my whole career. I am not a socialist…I beat the socialist!”

This back-handed slap at Bernie Sanders occurred precisely at the time that Sanders and the self-identified progressives and Socialists in Congress push for the 10-15 million people who voted for Sanders in the primaries to get behind Biden—despite deep ideological differences.

On the heels of the deployment of Federal police in several states to repress Black Lives Matter protests, and Trump accusing him of being soft on the movement against police violence, Biden defensively replied and criticized the protests. At a high-profile press conference at a steel mill in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with all of its dog-whistle

September 8, 2020

by Héctor Rivera

Biking is not a crime: justice for Dijon Kizzee

On Saturday, August 5, protestors blocked all northbound lanes of the 110 Freeway in South Los Angeles to demand justice for Dijon Kizzee, an African American man killed by two Los Angeles County Sheriff’s officers.

The protest began at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s station on Imperial Highway, where Black Lives Matter organizers had called a demonstration in solidarity with the Kizzee family. The demonstration got underway with a ritual prayer honoring the lives of those lost to police violence.

July 7, 2020

by Justin Akers Chacón

Growing movement to get cops out of schools

Inspired by the rebellion against police brutality and racism, school boards across the country are being called upon to terminate contracts with local police departments. This is a growing expression of the Black Lives Matter struggle and important step in the movement to defund the police.

Parents and community groups whose children have been victims of abuse or profiling have been pressing school boards to end the practice, but elected officials have been reluctant or unwilling to confront police violence on campuses—until now. By July, there are over fourteen districts that have already terminated contracts, including Minneapolis-St. Paul, Denver, Portland (Oregon), San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Madison, Milwaukee, Seattle, Columbus, and Charlottesville. Several other districts are in the process of “reviewing contracts.”