August 3rd a hearing is set to decide whether JVD trial for murdering Laquan McDonald will be in or out of the City of Chicago. This trial should and must NOT happened any where else. Show up in support!!!

Join the Youth Organizing Program of the Arab American Action Network as we protest the business owned by the anti-Arab, anti-Muslim Palos Township trustee Sharon Brannigan!

Sharon Brannigan is guilty of racist public statements attacking Arab students, claiming we are “filling schools in Palos without proper documentation”. Brannigan also claimed that the 30% of Palos residents who are Arab and Muslim “keep their activities hidden” and questioned “whether they have peaceful intentions or not” when entering the United States.

Our demand as Arab youth is clear: Sharon Brannigan must RESIGN!

This protest against Brannigan’s business is an escalation of pressure after a year of monthly protests at the Palos Township meetings, organized by a coalition of Arab community organizations led by Take On Hate.

We will make our demand clear through speeches, spoken word, banner art and more — we hope to see you there!

** Flyer to come **

Rally to ask Gov. Rauner to sign the Immigration Safe Zones Act (SB 35).

The Illinois General Assembly passed the Immigration Safe Zones Act (SB 35) which, if signed by Governor Rauner, would protect families and ensure the public safety of all people in Illinois. SB 35 addresses the threat of immigration arrests at schools, libraries, hospitals, and courthouses by directing the Illinois Attorney General to develop model policies for these locations to limit their cooperation with ICE. These agencies would also be required to remove any questions regarding immigration status from their forms unless otherwise required by law.

We are running out of time! Governor Rauner only has until August 28 to say whether he will veto or sign the bill. We have heard rumors that he won’t, and we want to make sure he is listening to us. If Governor Rauner cares about the safety of our communities, he must sign the Safe Zones Act, NOW!

Fifty years ago, growing numbers of Americans rose up against the twin evils of war and racism. Outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August 1968, peaceful protestors were savagely attacked by the police minions of Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley while Party bosses inside were busy crushing the hopes of peace candidates whom the majority of Democratic primary voters had supported.

We intend to commemorate this event. But more than that, we intend to highlight the sobering lessons of 1968 for today’s world, where both parties supported unending wars, huge military spending that starved urgently needed social services of funds, and a brutal police and prison apparatus that targets people of color.

In many respects things are worse today than in 1968. The U.S. government is still at war – only now it’s not one war in Vietnam but MANY wars. Today, however, we barely know they’re happening. Yet these wars cost trillions of dollars and people here pay for them by doing without decent schools, good jobs, decent services, health care – even safe drinking water. We are still plagued by persistent war, racism, poverty, and police violence.

We need a revived and unified movement for peace and social justice TODAY – one that links the struggles against racism, poverty and police violence in the United States to our government’s unending wars and military domination abroad. We call on peace, anti-poverty, anti-racist, immigrant rights and other progressive organizations, and all persons of conscience:

JOIN US FOR A RALLY AND MARCH, STARTING AT CHICAGO’S DALEY PLAZA, AT NOON, ON SATURDAY, AUGUST 25TH, the anniversary of the Chicago police riot 50 years ago! We demand:

No more war! No more police violence! No more racism!

Fund human needs, not destruction and death!

Respect human rights at home and abroad!

Rally at Noon, Richard J. Daley Plaza, 50 W. Washington Street, Chicago, Illinois.

March at 1 pm to Grant Park and the Gen. John Logan Statue, scene of the most iconic protest at the 1968 convention.

Please join the Northwest Side Coalition Against Racism & Hate, for this free, family-friendly event - Peace In The Preserves: A Community Call to Reject Racism and Celebrate Diversity - in response to the hate crime that occurred at Caldwell Woods on Chicago’s Far Northwest Side last month.

The Peace in the Preserves event will feature family-friendly activities, speakers, music, and beverages for purchase. The event will culminate with a community-wide call for unity, celebration of cultural diversity, and rejection of racism. The Forest Preserves of Cook County, a sponsoring organization for this event, will host activities for families/children including free face painting, “tree cookie” painting to create a “Peace Tree,” and guided nature play. There will also be a performance by the Jesse White Tumblers, sponsored by Illinois Secretary of State, Jesse White.

Proceeds from fundraising efforts will benefit a GoFundMe created by The Puerto Rican Agenda of Chicago for Hurricane Maria relief work (https://tinyurl.com/PeaceInThePreserves).

On the 53rd anniversary of the enactment of Medicare, let’s join together to present Peter Roskam with a “Medicare Birthday Cake” to remind our congressman that we will not tolerate his efforts to weaken this vital and extremely successful program.

100,000 people have signed petitions calling on Microsoft to stop helping ICE hurt kids. On July 26th we’re delivering them to corporate offices across the country. We will be impossible to ignore.

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Children have been separated from their parents. Babies are still detained in inhumane conditions. All of this because families were seeking safety in the United States. More than 100,000 people have signed petitions calling for big tech company to stop helping the government hurt kid. Microsoft employees are speaking .

But Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, is stubbornly saying he won’t drop the company’s contract with ICE. Microsoft’s $19.4 million contract with ICE is to provide dangerous software that is being used to help the government violate human rights faster and “efficiently”. Still, we can see the pressure is working. Major companies are starting to drop contracts with ICE and the pressure is building for Microsoft to do the same.

The Trump/Pence regime is not complying and not backing down from the cruel “zero tolerance” policy that has ripped children away from their parents and put them in cages. Instead, they are moving to further solidify these cruel policies by indefinitely holding whole families in concentration camps and next, on military bases. This is one piece of a larger white supremacist program which includes the Muslim ban (upheld as permanent by the Supreme Court), repression against immigrant rights leaders and increased ICE raids in communities around the country. This agenda of ethnic cleansing and cruelty must be stopped!

All concerned individuals are invited to attend the Youth Soapbox at Bughouse Square this year. We demand justice and we will not stop until we get it! During the speak-out, the audience will be invited to participate in an art installation in the park to represent the children living in the tent cities using mylar blankets. After the Soapbox is over, join us for an open public meeting to strategize and collaborate with each other in continuing this movement of resistance.

End the deportations! Abolish ICE! Trump/Pence Must Go!