Seven members of Revolution Club, Chicago face trial for illegitimate mass arrest at 2018 Puerto Rican People’s Parade

Oct 28, 2019
Immediate Press Release:

What: Rally to “Drop the Charges on the Puerto Rican People's Parade 7”
Where: Cook County Courthouse at 555 W Harrison
When: 8:30 am Tuesday October 29
Spanish Speaker available for interviews

October 29th Discovery hearing will include arguments in relation to Defendants’ brief asserting the arrests were a violation of their First Amendment rights and a pattern of such violations against Revolution Club members by the CPD, with attachments including ACLU letter affirming their right to speak to parade-goers at the People's Puerto Rican Parade and other similar occasions

Seven Revolution Club members each face up to a year in jail for a blatant violation of their free speech rights at the 2018 Puerto Rican People’s Parade. All are charged with a catchall charge—Resisting/Obstructing a Peace Officer—which is a Class A misdemeanor. The claims of Resisting/Obstructing are all in relation to two charges of breaking city codes: disorderly conduct and violation of the city's sound ordinance—being too loud. As Maya Cruz, one of the defendants in this case, said, “Making noise at the Puerto Rican People’s Parade? Have you ever been there? It is LOUD!”

The preposterousness of the charges indicates their falseness. The Revolution Club was at the parade talking to people and passing out fliers with a political message: the 1000's of unnecessary deaths in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria are blood on the hands of the Trump/Pence regime, a fascist regime which requires mass non-violent sustained protest to remove it from power immediately. Further, these deaths are connected to the deaths of Yemeni children killed by U.S. bombs, immigrant children caged on the U.S./Mexico border, Black and Latino children gunned down by police in inner cities across America, and the world does not have to be this way. It is this way because of the capitalist-imperialist system that can be overthrown through an actual revolution, which the Revolution Club is actively organizing for, too.

This message is what the Chicago Police Department considered “disorderly” and wanted to stop parade-goers from connecting with. Their blatant repression and violation of well-established free speech rights is being pursued by Kim Foxx’s office. In fact, these arrests are only one instance of a pattern of arrests, harassment, and the state’s attorney pursuing charges, with ten occasions of mostly mass arrests since October 2016, including the outrageous felony charges in 2018 against Maya Cruz for a silent protest at the University of Chicago which was held in support of undocumented immigrants.

Defendant Lucha Bright said, “In the face of the Trump/Pence regime threats to send the feds to Chicago against Black youths, the incitement of violent white supremacists, attacks against the press and the regime’s Democratic rivals, and countless other moves toward a fascist America, Chicago’s Democratic administration is carrying out systematic suppression of an organization that is fighting in the interests of humanity. These Chicago city officials are in fact criminalizing dissent and facilitating the unfolding of fascism in America.

“Everyone who wants a real future for humanity should join us in demanding ‘Drop the charges on the Puerto Rican People’s Parade 7, Hands off the Revolution Club!,’ join us in the streets demanding Trump/Pence #OUTNOW, and join us in getting organized for a real revolution and real path to a whole better way the world can be.”