Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

Frank Chapman Calls on Communities to Unite and Oppose Racist Attacks on Migrants
Frank Chapman
13 Mar 2024
🖨️ Print Article
CAARPR protest

Frank Chapman calls on Black and Brown communities in Chicago to unite in struggle against the forces that oppress us all.

Originally published in Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.

Throughout the history of Chicago, Black & Brown unity has been at the core of every democratic advancement made by working and oppressed people. Going back to the Black & Brown coalition led by Harold Washington and Rudy Lozano that got Harold Washington elected mayor, to more recent times, when Black/Latino unity won the most democratic police accountability ordinance in ECPS, and later, in getting a progressive mayor from the movement in Brandon Johnson elected. What’s clear from this history is that the movement is an unstoppable force when Black and Brown Chicagoans come together. And that fact hasn’t gone unnoticed. In the last few years, the right wing across the country has seen our gains and has intensified its attacks on us, leaning on every manner and method to try and undermine and divide us – and at such a critical time in our city’s history.

One particular example of this is in how the far-right governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, intentionally sent busloads of migrants seeking political asylum from the US/Mexico border into Chicago. And meanwhile, right wing media has fanned the flames of divisive, racist rhetoric targeting some of the most vulnerable people in our community. Unfortunately, this cancerous rhetoric has borne fruit in our communities with some people even attacking asylum seekers by calling them illegal immigrants. With that in mind, we see the need to set the record straight: Our movement has never used the derisive term "illegal aliens" to describe asylum seekers. Those who partake in attacks towards migrants help the racists and enemies of democracy and hurt our movement.

Poor, working, and oppressed people should never turn against one another. We know that the same forces that place Black and Brown communities in Chicago under police occupation are the exact same forces that lob sanctions against countries like Venezuela to inflict economic misery on their people, forcing their people to have to come here in the first place – just for them daring to exercise their own right to political self-determination. We know that there are more than enough resources for everyone in this city, but the powers that be have made it their mission to have us fight amongst ourselves for the scraps while they make off with the riches.

In these momentous times, we echo the words of Fred Hampton, “We fight racism not with racism, but we’re gonna fight with solidarity."

We call on all the forces in our movement to unite in the struggle for justice for the immigrants and for the homeless! All power to the people!

Yours in united struggle,

Frank



Frank Chapman is Executive Director of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. 

immigrants
Black Brown unity
Chicago

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


Related Stories

Michael Steven Smith
Meet the Radical Legal Collective That Won Justice for Fred Hampton and Continues Fighting to This Day
09 September 2026
Longtime attorney Flint Taylor’s new book tells the story of the People’s Law Collective, which grew out of the radical movements of the late 1
Erica Caines
The Chicago Raid in Context: Connecting the Wars at Home and Abroad
08 October 2025
The fight against fascism is a fight against racism and capitalism.
Iain Carlos , Sam Carlen
DOJ Knew About - and Used - Notorious Homan Square "Black Site"
19 March 2025
It wasn't just Chicago Police operating Homan Square, the U.S.
close-up image of Frank Chapman in a checkered shirt
Frank Chapman
A Word on the Meaning of Political Self-Empowerment for Our Movement
13 December 2023
Frank Chapman wrote this statement to call for unity in struggle by Black, Latino and working-class communities.
INTERVIEW: A Talk with Sylvia Woods, 1974
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
INTERVIEW: A Talk with Sylvia Woods, 1974
15 March 2023
An inspiring interview with Sylvia Woods highlights the role of Black women in labor organizing and demonstrates that Black women should a
BAR Book Forum: Kemi Adeyemi’s Book, “Feels Right”
Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
BAR Book Forum: Kemi Adeyemi’s Book, “Feels Right”
22 February 2023
In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book.
Chicago Teachers Union and Charter School Teachers Have Joined Forces
Jeff Schuhrke
Chicago Teachers Union and Charter School Teachers Have Joined Forces
07 February 2018
“Leaders of both union locals say they don’t have a problem with charter schools per se, but rather they oppo

More Stories


  • Independent Media is Political, Too: A Defense of “State” or Publicly-Funded Media
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    Independent Media is Political, Too: A Defense of “State” or Publicly-Funded Media
    16 Jun 2021
    It is imperative for independent journalism to serve as the media arm of a movement that opposes the privatization of information and works toward the development of a public media apparatus.
  • REPORT: Murdering Women in Nigeria, Nnamdi Benjamin Azikiwe, May 1930
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    REPORT: Murdering Women in Nigeria, Nnamdi Benjamin Azikiwe, May 1930
    16 Jun 2021
    British colonial officials turned their guns on women in two Nigerian towns in the 1920s, to put down protests against “head” taxes and levies on market stalls, killing scores. 
  • Ethiopia: Tribalism versus National Consciousness
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Ethiopia: Tribalism versus National Consciousness
    16 Jun 2021
    Ethiopians struggle to forge a national consciousness that supersedes ethnic tribalism, while international human rights NGOs discuss their "responsibility to protect" them, writes Ann Garriso
  • The Town Crier’s List of Who’s Who in the capitalist state machine
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    The Town Crier’s List of Who’s Who in the capitalist state machine
    16 Jun 2021
    “Ain’t no power like the power of the people— ‘cause the power of the people don’t stop!” bouncing  off summer skyscrapers; ricocheting off resistance 
  • Community Control of Public Safety: Building a Transitional Program for Power 
    Netfa Freeman
    Community Control of Public Safety: Building a Transitional Program for Power 
    16 Jun 2021
    Why is more effort is put into trying to discredit CCOP, while the ruling class is pulling all stops to hoodwink the public with actual reformism, like the George Floyd Act.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us