Category: Central Illinois
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Parkland College Students Resist White Supremacist Police Violence
By Tariq Khan – BRRN On September 7, the police assaulted 19-year-old Parkland College student Oluwatobi Mordi, who goes by the name Toby. According to a statement by the Parkland College Social Justice Club, Toby was in the cafeteria waiting for his ride, when two white Parkland Police officers approached him and proceeded to question…
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Dyke March Chicago Rejects Zionist Pinkwashing
The following piece is by Trans Liberation Collective – Chicago organizer and friend of the Central Illinois BRRN local, Stephanie Skora. It is a response to the controversy surrounding Chicago Dyke March participants ejecting a Zionist pinkwashing group from the June 24 march. Read Chicago Dyke March’s official statement on the incident here, the Electronic Intifada…
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Comments on Trump’s Syrian Missile Strikes
By Black Rose/Rosa Negra – Central Illinois Last night the U.S. military launched nearly 5 dozen cruise missiles at Syria from U.S. Navy ships in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. This was a U.S. response to chemical attacks against civilians allegedly ordered by Bashar al-Assad. The Democrats and Republicans are united in their support for U.S.…
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Fraternal Order of Police: 100 Days of Racist Repression
By Kadeem Fuller In less than two months since the election of Donald Trump there has been a surge in violent Islamophobic and xenophobic attacks in this county. While the rhetoric, actions and entire campaign of Trump has prompted conversations amongst scholars, activists and folks on the political left it is important to remember that…
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Richard Turner and the Criminalization of Racialized Poverty
This past Wednesday morning, November 16, Richard Turner died in the street surrounded by police officers. We do not know yet how he died, whether it was natural causes, a heart attack, drug-related, the result of something the police did, or some other reason. What we do know is that he “became unresponsive” as he…
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Radicalize Your Love: Consent Culture Not Toxic Masculinity
The following is a speech given by Champaign-Urbana organizer Tyler Camp at the Rally Against Rape Culture, September 23, 2016. The rally was organized by Students Against Sexual Assault at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I made it a project of mine this year to construct a sort of pedagogy, or theory, of radical love.…
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The September 9 National Prison Strike: Bring the Call of Abolition Home
Delivered by Kristina Khan at the “Demands for a Transformed University” Rally organized by Black Students for Revolution on September 9th, 2016 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Today, September 9th, marks the 45 year anniversary of the Attica Prison uprising which happened in 1971 at a maximum security prison in upstate New York.…
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Speak Truth With Your Back to Power: Champaign-Urbana Against Jail Expansion
August 18, the Champaign County Board met to vote on a sales tax referendum to go on the ballot in the Fall. The purpose of the proposed sales tax increase is primarily to fund a jail expansion package at the expense of neglecting sorely needed social services and programs. Knowing that Champaign County’s rich would…
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We Don’t Need a New Jail, We Need Abolition
For five years, Champaign-Urbana (CU) residents have been battling jail expansion in our community while supporting community-based alternatives to incarceration. Like the rest of the nation, the racial disparity in CU is horrific, from school discipline to the criminal justice system. Although Black people make up 13% of the general population in Champaign County, Illinois…