Community Activist and Protest Organizer Khalil Coleman joins host Andrea Williams to talk about the success of the peaceful protests in Milwaukee in response to the killing of George Floyd in Minnesota, and what he hopes the movement can accomplish.
***TUESDAY, JUNE 23rd! The day that Mike Pence thought it would be a good idea to come to Pewaukee (blehhhh).
Anyways, today’s list of BLM Protests, Vigils and other Relevant Actions is updated. ***
Link for the Updated List: https://docs.google.com/…/1uLk5DYYMqlxZAbO_TAbAxxS9dS…/edit…
As always, you can find all of the event pages listed under the “Events” section of the People’s Climate Coalition FB Page. You can (and should!) also follow the Wisconsin Bail Out The People Movement for events and updates around the state and Rid Racism Milwaukee for a list of additional racial justice actions / events.
If you’re having troubles finding the list, it will also be posted to the Gaia Coalition Network and Water Protectors of Milwaukee FB Pages.
***Covid-19 reminder to wear a mask and gloves to all in-person events and somehow try to social distance, if possible.
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If you can’t attend a protest, making a contribution to any of the following organizations / causes would be super helpful (you can also find more listed in the donation tab within the excel sheet):
– Legal Aid & Resources: Milwaukee Freedom Fund
– Youth Rising Up -YRU- North Division High School
– Black Leaders Organizing for Communities
– Leaders Igniting Transformation
– Human First Project: https://gf.me/u/x79ydc
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Let me know if there are any other actions / donation pages / relevant orgs that should be added to the list. You can email me at lee.stedman.gaiacoalition@gmail.com or PM directly on here.
#BlackLivesMatter #Milwaukee #milwaukeeprotest
#solidarity #GeorgeFloyd #BreonnaTaylor
#DontreHamilton #JoelAcevedo #FreeChrystul
#SayTheirNames #Juneteenth #AlvinCole
#AntonioGonzales #Justice4TheeThree
#DivestFromMPD #DefundThePolice
“Independence” Day Protest & Block Party
No justice, no peace. Even on “Independence” day. Join us on the Fourth of July at 1:30pm.
We plan to start at Rufus King with a opening ceremony and continue to Riverside University. Following we will hold a celebration at Riverside with free food, entertainment and vendors. If you would like to donate whatever you can, you can cash app @AyannaEllzey. We are still looking for more Black/Brown performers, vendors and organizers so feel free to contact either Ayanna Ellzey or Malaina Moore if you are interested. If you are interested in being apart of the caravan, or other ways to donate please let us know!
On June 22, 2020, the Free Chrystul Kizer Defense Committee, Chicago Community Bond Fund, Milwaukee Freedom Fund, and Survived and Punished paid Chrystul’s $400,000 bond so that she can continue fighting her case from outside of a cage and with the support of her community. When Chrystul’s case ends, the bond money will be used to establish a national bail fund for criminalized survivors of domestic and sexual violence under the direction of Survived & Punished and housed at the National Bail Fund Network!
Thank you to all of you who have supported and amplified this campaign – keep fighting!
Image: drawing of Chrystul Kizer in front of purple and red flowers. She is wearing a black tank top and her braids have purple highlights. Overlay text reads: Chrystul has been released! With your support, Chrystul has been released on bond – but the fight for her freedom is not over! Continue to call and email DA Michael Graveley and tell him to drop all charges against Chrystul so she can begin her healing journey. Email: Michael.Graveley@da.wi.gov Phone: (262)-653-2400 Donate to Chrystul’s healing!: https://fundrazr.com/81gAq7?ref=ab_f9Jdo7
Art by Jean: @homephones on IG
Chrystul Kizer is a Black 19-year-old survivor of sexual violence currently facing criminal prosecution for actions taken in self-defense. For almost two years, Chrystul has been incarcerated in the Kenosha County Jail while awaiting trial and presumed innocent. In February 2020, Chrystul’s $1 million dollar bond was reduced to $400,000—still an unimaginable sum. Today, the Free Chrystul Kizer Defense Committee, Chicago Community Bond Fund, Milwaukee Freedom Fund, and Survived and Punished paid Chrystul’s $400,000 bond so that she can continue fighting her case from outside of a cage and with the support of her community. When Chrystul’s case ends, the bond money will be used to establish a national bail fund for criminalized survivors of domestic and sexual violence under the direction of Survived & Punished and housed at the National Bail Fund Network.
In June 2018, Chrystul was charged in the death of Randall P. Volar, III, a white man from Kenosha, WI. Prior to his death, Volar was known to authorities in Kenosha. In February 2018, he was arrested on charges including child sexual assault. Police discovered evidence that he was abusing multiple Black girls, including Chrystul, then age 17. While Chrystul has maintained that her actions that led to Volar’s death were in self-defense and evidence demonstrates that Volar had trafficked her since she was 16-years-old, Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley is pursuing charges that would incarcerate Chrystul for the rest of her life.
Far too often, survivors of violence—especially Black women and girls—are punished for defending themselves. Chrystul’s case highlights the urgent need for the criminal legal system to stop prosecuting survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. The police and government systems set up to protect Chrystul failed her. Instead of being given care and support from the beginning, she has been wrongfully incarcerated for nearly two years now for choosing to survive.
Since our founding, supporting criminalized survivors has been a priority for Chicago Community Bond. Since 2015, CCBF has paid $346,500 in bond to free eight criminalized survivors of domestic and sexual violence in Chicago. Like many community bail funds around the country, CCBF has received an unprecedented outpouring of support following Black Lives Matter protests in response to the police murders of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Tony McDade. Using those donations, CCBF has paid bond in six Illinois counties for everyone arrested on charges related to the uprisings (that we are aware of), and we will continue to do so as needed. For more information on the bonds already paid, see our updates from June 4th and June 16th. This support for Black people’s liberation struggle has now also enabled CCBF to pay Chrystul’s bond with plenty of money leftover for ongoing use in Cook County and Illinois.
We are elated to know Chrystul will no longer be locked in a cage simply for wanting to live. We are proud to stand with Chrystul and will continue fighting by her side to ensure she can put this tragic incident behind her and begin to heal from trauma she has suffered at the hands of her abuser and the state that failed her. Chrystul should have been given support from the beginning instead of being caged and held for ransom by Kenosha County. No one should be incarcerated for surviving violence against them.
Please take the following actions to support Chrystul:
To support the costs of Chrystul’s legal defense, living expenses, and costs of her ongoing treatment and care, please donate here: https://fundrazr.com/81gAq7?ref=ab_f9Jdo7
Please sign and share this petition to drop the charges against Chrystul: https://www.change.org/p/drop-all-charges-against-incarcera… Let’s get this to over 1 million signatures today!
Read this post on our blog: https://chicagobond.org/…/community-groups-pay-400000-bond…/
This graphic was designed by LaNia Sproles. You can visit their website at: www.laniasproles.com and find them on instagram at: @laniasprolesartist
Image Description: Drawing of Chrystul Kizer with teal hearts and leaves around her, with the text “Chrystul Kizer is free!” End image ID.
Rev. Luis Barrios of Pastors For Peace demands justice for Chrystul Kizer
Photo: In Racine, WI by WI BOPM
At 11 AM, June 23, 2020 postal workers and broad coalition of organizations will deliver a petition to members of the US Senate. You too can participate on a livestream of the event, on this page or at our facebook page.
Postal workers, Detroit August 2010
400 W State Street, Rockford, IL – 12 NOON
Hosted by Rockford Youth Activism
Rockford, IL May 30, 2020 / Photo: Communist Workers League
Listen to the Sun. June 21, 2020 special edition of the Pan-African Journal: Worldwide Radio Broadcast hosted by Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire. The program features our regular PANW report with dispatches on the continuing demonstrations against racism and police brutality around the United States; the Cuban government participated vigorously in the recently-held United Nations Human Rights Council debate on racism in the U.S.; there has been greater cooperation within the Caribbean region in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic; and the Zimbabwe government has presented a plan for the reopening of schools since the beginning of the lockdown. In the second hour we hear an update from Republic of South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa on the efforts to contain the pandemic after reducing restrictions in the society. Finally we look back five decades through an extensive interview with Dr. Huey P. Newton on August 11, 1970. The interview was conducted just five days after he was released on appeal bond from prison in California. Many of the same questions which were paramount in the orientation of the Black Panther Party in that period are still relevant in the 21st century.
US President Donald Trump’s handling of recent racial tensions across the US mirror’s Washington’s “horrendous human rights violations” that are being committed against blacks and other nations in the world, an African American journalist in Detroit says.
A State Department official, one of the highest-ranking African Americans in Trump’s administration, submitted her resignation Thursday citing concern over the president’s response to the protests over racism and police brutality, The Washington Post reported.
Mary Elizabeth Taylor was unanimously confirmed as assistant secretary of the State Department for legislative affairs in 2018, serving as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s liaison to lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
Taylor, 30, said in her resignation letter that Trump’s response to widespread protests over systemic racism and police brutality “cut sharply against my core values and convictions,” according to the letter, obtained by the Post.
“This is a mirror reflection of the fallout that’s taking place domestically and internationally over the role of the Trump administration and the US political system in general, and its failure to address racism and national oppression in the United States which claims to be a leader in regard to our human rights issues around the world,” said Abayomi Azikiwe, editor at the Pan-African News Wire.
“This resignation … speaks volumes in terms of the capacity of the Trump administration to even recruit and retain conservative African American diplomats and governmental personnel,” Azikiwe said in a phone interview with Press TV on Friday.
“This is creating a problem for US diplomatic staff internationally. They are not able to justify their existence in the light of the horrendous human rights violations that are being committed by the United States,” he added….
Colinford Mattis, Urooj Rahman, and Samantha Shader are political prisoners. In late May, the three activists were arrested for alleged property destruction during the protests that broke out across the country. All three are still being held in jail without bail and are facing life in prison on federal charges.
Samantha Shader, Colinford Mattis, and Urooj Rahman
hen the protests against racist police first erupted in New York City in late May, police initially responded with mass arrests, repression, and brutality, while the mayor responded by instituting a curfew and offering carte blanche to the NYPD to terrorize the people of New York. In recent weeks, police in New York and across the country have changed tactics from repression to co-optation, preferring to work with collaborators to pacify protests rather than beat and arrest the protesters. Yet three protesters arrested at the beginning the uprisings are still being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center. Here, the state is deploying another tactic: intimidating protesters by creating examples.
Colinford Mattis and Urooj Rahman are both first-generation Americans born and raised in the working class in Brooklyn. Both now work as lawyers in the city. Rahman is a public interest lawyer working for Bronx Legal Services. They are also both the primary caregivers for family members — foster siblings in Mattis’s case and an elderly mother in Rahman’s. They were arrested for allegedly throwing a Molotov cocktail through the window of an already broken and abandoned NYPD car on the night of May 29, when protests were raging all around New York and especially in the neighborhood of Fort Greene.
Samantha Shader, who has a long history of encounters with and resistance to law enforcement, was arrested separately the same night, also for allegedly throwing a Molotov cocktail. This one, which did not ignite, was aimed at a car with officers in it.
Unlike NYPD officers, Mattis, Rahman, and Shader did not hurt anyone that night. The only thing they could possibly be guilty of is attempting to damage property — which is exactly what the police were created to prevent, often at the expense of human life. Rahman herself analyzed this contrast succinctly in a video interview from just hours before her arrest:
What I saw was targeting of property, and no property is above human life. Destruction of property is nothing compared to the murder of a human life. So I understand why people are doing it. It’s a way to show their pain, their anger, because it just never stops.
Terrifyingly, the three are now facing life in prison, with a mandatory minimum of 45 years, for various federal crimes, including use of explosives, arson, use of explosives to commit a felony, arson conspiracy, use of a destructive device, civil disorder, and making or possessing a destructive device. Additionally, and unusually, all three are being held without bail, despite pleas from family, friends, community members, and even former federal prosecutors and despite the fact that Shader was injured during her arrest and is not currently receiving proper medical treatment.
“When you look at the offenses alleged against Ms. Rahman and Mr. Mattis, normally you’d expect them to be tried under state law in state court,” said Ramzi Kassem, a City University of New York School of Law professor in an interview with The Intercept. “The fact that the federal government has bent over backwards to find a federal-jurisdictional hook for such cases is intended to send a chilling message to activists.” Vincent Southerland, executive director of the Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law at New York University’s law school, added, “In addition to the extremely harsh potential sentences, it is exceedingly rare for the Department of Justice to go to this extent to appeal the granting of bail. Altogether it suggests that the government is trying to make an example out of these people to send a message to the public — a message of fear with regards to the people taking part in these protests….”
