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.
The New York Declaration doesn't merely betray Palestine. It weaponizes the language of statehood to formalize the suppression of a people's right to exist without colonial rule.
Gambians from all walks of life – led by the youth-driven GALA movement mobilized across the country on July 23 in an anti-corruption protest as momentum for change grows.
Morocco's colonial project in Western Sahara has persisted not through legitimacy, but through the complicity of other nations and United Nations inaction.
Angola, one of Africa’s top oil producers, is in turmoil after protests erupted over a sharp fuel price hike driven by IMF-backed subsidy cuts.
In this week’s segment, we discuss football, why it isn’t popular in the US, how it can be, sports as consciousness raising, and the nation of Brazil and its Black population. But first, we have the…
