A Beautiful Rising
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Editors’ Note: Tens and tens of thousands of people—in the U.S. and across the world—have poured into the streets these past several weeks to draw a clear line: For centuries, and with intensifying horror today, the rulers of America have regarded the humanity of Black people as counting for nothing. Now, in the face of the truly cruel and heartless police murder of George Floyd, people have said NO MORE! They have defiantly asserted that Black lives do and must matter, and this has included a growing section of white people who have denounced white silence as violence. Demonstrations have built around the world, including in places like London and other cities in the UK, where people linked this to other victims of police murder and targeted their anger at symbols of white supremacy and colonialism like statues of slave traders.
The mass outpourings defied bloody police repression, mass beatings, arrests, and violence—in Buffalo, New York City, Louisville, Los Angeles, and other places. After Trump threatened to bring in the military on June 2, people rose in even greater numbers and determination. In fact, Trump and the whole regime he heads and the fascist movement he leads and mobilizes have made clear their antagonism and determination to suppress this beautiful and righteous outpouring. In that light, the actions that are being called by Refuse Fascism are very important and need to grow—with FUCK TRUMP! resounding as a rally cry and choruses of Trump/Pence Out NOW! And the efforts of revolutionaries needs to redouble in “announcing ourselves and making ourselves known to the world,” manifesting Revolution—Nothing Less! and oriented to working towards this at the soonest possible time—and to attract and organize new forces into the revolution.
This page is frequently updated with reports and pictures from the continuing uprising, including from revolutionaries. Check back here often.
July 6, 2020
July 4: Beautiful, Defiant Protests and Flag-Burnings Go Up Against Trump’s Fascist, White Supremacist “Make America Great Again” Ugliness
July 4 is a day when the blood-soaked foundations of America built on genocide and slavery and its history of conquest and imperialist domination around the world are celebrated as “greatness.” And now in 2020, it’s a day when the fascist-in-chief on top of this empire is further ramping up the monstrous agenda of his regime—under the banner of “Make America Great Again”—posing urgent and grave dangers to all of humanity and the planet.
But this July 4 was not just marked by this fascist atrocity on top of the usual “USA, USA” ugliness. In a way not seen in a long time, this July 4 was marked by thousands in the streets across the country, NOT in celebration of America but in opposition to the whole way this system does people—in particular the police murders and violence against Black people and the systemic oppression of people of color, of women, of LGBQT people, and immigrants. On this day, people in cities around the country defiantly went into the streets in the face of the Trump/Pence regime’s rabid but very real threats of violent repression against protesters. This included Washington, DC, where the Trump/Pence regime was holding an ultra-jingoistic celebration of America and its military power. People are continuing to bring down monuments of slaveowners, colonizers and other reactionaries—on July 4, a statue of Christopher Columbus in Baltimore was pulled down and thrown into the harbor.
Revcoms Lead Others in Torching the American Flag
Washington, D.C.
Refuse Fascism: TRUMP/PENCE OUT NOW!
Los Angeles
July 3, 2020
Native Americans Protest Trump Rally Held on Stolen Land
On July 3, in the Black Hills of South Dakota, Trump held another rally to spread fascism, white supremacy, and COVID-19. Trump’s speech was a fascist call to arms against all those who have been taking to the streets against police murder of Black people and righteously taking down statues and symbols of white supremacy, the Confederacy, and colonial oppression—and against anyone opposing this regime.
But this did not go unopposed. Native American protesters blocked the highway leading to the rally site—protesting how this ugly rally, beneath Mt. Rushmore, was being held on land sacred to the Lakota and other Native peoples. They protested how this land had been stolen by the U.S. government. They protested the whole history of stolen land and the systematic and genocidal oppression of Native Americans. At the rally’s height, protesters numbered around 200. The protesters were mainly Native Americans of different tribes and others also joined.
Native American protesters blocked the highway leading to the Trump July 3rd rally site. They protested how this land, sacred to Lakota Sioux, had been stolen by the U.S. government and the systematic and genocidal oppression of Native Americans. (Photo: twitter.com/EEBormett)
June 29, 2020
Uniting in Struggle, Organizing for Revolution
Beautiful Rising in Santa Ana—Joyous, Internationalist, Revolutionary
The sight of dozens of mainly Latino people marching through downtown Santa Ana, California, shouting “Black Lives Matter!” on Saturday afternoon, June 27, was absolutely beautiful. A unity march brought together the fight for Black Lives with the demand “No more kids in cages!” and also merged powerfully for a short time with a protest against the occupation of Palestine. It was initiated by a Latina from the area who had never led a protest before and reached out to the Revolution Club and other groups to take this up with her. The collectivity of groups and individuals that led this together was part of the beauty and power of it, and the large Revolution—Nothing Less! banner became the symbol of unity of the march and the speak-out afterwards.
“We are the revcoms / the mighty, mighty revcoms”
June 22, 2020
A Beautiful Rising Continues, as Trump Speaks in Tulsa –
Revcoms Join Refuse Fascism in Saying Goddamn to Donald Trump and His Fascist Regime, Bringing Forth Revolution
June 20, Refuse Fascism outside the fascist Trump rally in Tulsa.
Defiant protests around the country continued on Saturday, June 20, many called by Refuse Fascism. The day before, Trump had threatened to viciously come down on anyone coming to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to protest the fascist rally he was holding there. But as an ugly, reactionary crowd attended Trump’s rally, there was righteous and defiant protest outside the arena, capturing the world’s attention and grabbing the split-screen.
Ugly Trump Rally Met by A Beautiful Day in Tulsa: The Crossroads America Faces – The Trump/Pence Regime Must Go, NOW!
Yesterday in Tulsa was a beautiful day! People from all walks of life and different backgrounds, came into the streets to repudiate Trump’s white supremacist fascist America and his attempts to threaten protests & Black people. Hope and an atmosphere of liberation filled the air, in stark contrast to the hundreds of racists camping out in Tulsa the night before.
Throughout the day, people were being told to not go down to oppose this rally, that a “race riot” would ensue – but people, especially young people did not let themselves be cowed by Trump’s repressive threats earlier that day and found their courage and conviction.
Emma Kaplan from Refuse Fascism interviewed on MSNBC by reporter Cal Perry.
June 20 Protests: Selections from @TheRevcom Tweets
Tulsa, Oklahoma
The Revcoms & @RefuseFascism in Tulsa outside the #TulsaTrumpRally
— The Revcoms (@therevcoms) June 20, 2020
This is a crossroads:
Will you accept a fascist America? Hoping this regime goes away thru elections? Or will we bring the power of people in the streets, until the demand is met: The Trump regime must go NOW! pic.twitter.com/fVUS4zeap3
New York City
That smooth transition from
— Trump/Pence Must Go NOW—#OutNow (@RefuseFascism) June 20, 2020
“No Trump, No KKK, No Fascist USA” to
“Hey Hey, Ho Ho, Donald Trump Has Got To Go”
NYC taking the streets to Trump Tower today to demand
No Murder of Black People By The Police
No Fascist Police State
Trump/ Pence Out Now pic.twitter.com/Z9L9jx7eHc
Chicago
Marching begins for “Close the Camps”! #BlackLivesMatter #BrownLivesMatter #RevolutionNothingLess pic.twitter.com/HDSdzSL9sg
— Revolution Club Chicago (@revclubchi) June 20, 2020
Los Angeles
Taking to the streets right now in Hollywood saying HELL NO to the KKK #TulsaTrumpRally! Trump and Pence Must Go! @RefuseFascismLA @RefuseFascism pic.twitter.com/3wR38eTVkA
— Revolution Club Los Angeles (@revclub_la) June 20, 2020
Stay tuned for more reports…
June 19, 2020
Juneteenth—a Righteous Anniversary and Celebration, Even More at This Moment...
June 19 – Tens of thousands of people across the country took to the streets on Juneteenth, the day on which the emancipation of Black people from slavery is celebrated. The protests and celebrations on Juneteenth were a righteous continuation of the weeks of demonstrations in thousands of cities against the police murder of George Floyd and countless other Black people who have been brutalized and killed by the police.
In Richmond, Virginia people torn down statues of the Confederate Gen. Williams Carter Wickham, and former Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Above: the statue of Jefferson Davis.
Righteous Toppling of Statues: Slave Owners, Confederate Generals, Imperialist Colonizers, Genocidal “Heroes,” and More….
As protests continue across the U.S. and all over the world against police murder and racism, the people are taking righteous action to topple statues of slave owners, colonial oppressors, imperialist rulers and other enforcers of systematic, racist, oppression.
June 15, 2020
From RefuseFascism.org
June 15, 2020
June 14, 2020
Atlanta: Police Murder a Black Man—AGAIN! People Rise Up to Say NO MORE!
Atlanta Protesters block University Avenue by Wendy's where Rayshard Brooks, 27, was shot and killed by Atlanta police, June 12. Photo: AP
It’s happened again. AGAIN! This time in Atlanta, the life of a young Black man was snuffed out for no reason. Watch the videos—yet again—of this murder by the pigs.
Rayshard Brooks was 27 years old, father of three girls ages 1, 2, and 8, and a 13-year-old stepson. He worked in a Mexican restaurant. At 10:23 on Friday night, Brooks was asleep in his car at a Wendy’s restaurant. A cop woke him up and ordered him out of his car. Then a second cop showed up, and for 20 minutes harassed Brooks for nothing. They gave him a field alcohol test and a breathalyzer (he was barely over the legal limit). They patted him down for weapons; he had none.
Los Angeles:
Revcoms Lead March, Speak Out For Black-Latino Unity
On June 12, 300 people came together to say “Black and Brown United Against This System” in a march led by the Revcoms through downtown LA to the Central American neighborhood near MacArthur Park. Some people heard about it in various ways and came to be part of it, and others just showed up downtown looking to see if people would be in the streets and found it. Many expressed appreciation that there were people continuing to lead people to stay in the streets.
The march started with the Revcoms talking about the ways people are oppressed by this system and then taught to hate each other, and the fight needed to put an end to the oppression caused by this system, including some vision of what a new society would be like. Latino comrades spoke very frankly about how masses of immigrants, as well as Chicanos, are turned against Black people.
The banner says “Black and Brown United Against This System”
Chicago:
Marching Through Downtown on the Two-Week Anniversary of Police Murder of George Floyd—and “Growing” the Protest Right on the Spot
When the mayor finally reopened downtown last Monday, we expected someone or some group would call a protest. When no one had by Wednesday, the Revolution Club (together with some new friends we have an online chat group with) concluded that we should call on people from all over the city to converge on downtown Saturday at 3 pm.
Mexico City and Jalisco: Justice for George Floyd, Giovanni López and All Victims of Police Brutality!
Demonstration in the state of Jalisco, Mexico.
The following was translated by revcom.us, from Aurora Roja, the blog of the Revolutionary Communist Organization, Mexico.
In repudiation of the murder of George Floyd by the police in Minneapolis, United States, and the murder of Giovanni López by the police of Ixtlahuacán de los Membrillos, state of Jalisco, Mexico, more than a hundred people demonstrated at the U.S. embassy in Mexico City on June 5, 2020.
France
BA's Nothing Less! statement distributed in France.
Protests erupted in nearly every big city in France and many smaller ones on June 5 and 6 as tens of thousands of youths and others defied an official ban and police repression. In Paris, as elsewhere, two illegal demonstrations declared solidarity with the upsurge in the U.S. and honored George Floyd and Adama Traoré, a young man killed by French police under similar circumstances. Here marchers surround the U.S. embassy in Paris.
Chicago:
After a week of brutal police attacks and arrests, tens of thousands take to the streets
Thousands had already gone up against police attack and arrests; there was a 9pm curfew and the National Guard locked down the whole downtown. June 6, a massive crowd estimated at 20,000-30,000 people gathered in Union Park on Chicago’s near west side—the largest protest to date. The crowd was overwhelming young people of all nationalities, races and genders. The Revolution Club and Refuse Fascism set up at a key entrance to the park. Chants led by the Revolution Club were taken up enthusiastically by the crowd. Among them: “1,2,3,4 Slavery, Genocide and War; 5,6,7,8, America was Never Great” “How do we get out of this mess? Revolution Nothing Less!”
Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN:
Thousands continue to visit site where George Floyd was lynched
June 6, thousands protested at the governor's mansion in St. Paul, MN linking the murder of George Floyd to the horrendous conditions in the prisons, and the heightened horrors due to the Covid19 pandemic. Carl Dix addressed the crowd, giving people a sense of the magnitude of what the protests and uprising have accomplished and the crucial crossroads we now face...
Organizers of the protest brought the Revolution Tour up to lead chants against Trump during the march and to speak about the need to drive the fascist regime from power in the name of humanity. All day thousands continued to visit the site where George Floyd was lynched, laying flowers, shedding tears, reading the names of others murdered by police....
June 14: A new grouping of friends of the Revolution Club in Minnesota took up the nationwide call to celebrate Trump's birthday in the streets—at the Minnesota State Capital—to demand “#TrumpPenceOutNow” and “We Say NO MORE! Revolution—Nothing Less!”
Washington, DC:
“It felt like a festival, a festival of defiance”
Washington, D.C. Photo: AP
D.C. saw the largest crowd since the upheaval began... It felt like a festival, a festival of defiance, a festival with a deep yearning for something radically different for Black people, with conviction that this “generation was not fucking taking it no more” and a real seriousness in debating the implications of what this means. The NYC Revolution Club and Refuse Fascism went out in the crowd -- People were asking: Who is Bob Avakian, what did we mean by an actual revolution, why we thought there was a chance to even win.
Protests Spread Broadly in Society »
May 30 to June 10
Cities Across the U.S.
Minneapolis – Demonstrators gathered outside the governor’s mansion where victims of police brutality told of their experiences. Photo: AP.
The Revcoms in Minneapolis
Minneapolis – Police line after firing barrage of tear gas at protesters, May 30, 2020. Photo: CNN.
Refuse Fascism at protest in Minneapolis, June 6.
Revcoms at protest in Minneapolis, June 6.
Revcoms at protest in St. Paul, June 6.
Washington, D.C. – Cops attacking newsmen June 1, 2020, to clear the way for Trump's photo op.
Washington, D.C. – Tens of thousands converged on the newly named Black Lives Matter Plaza in front of the White House, now surrounded by high fences and concrete barriers. Photo: AP.
Refuse Fascism joined by Revolution Club at the protest in Washington, D.C., June 6.
Philadelphia – Thousands of protesters packed the entire area around City Hall. Photo: AP.
Detroit, Michigan – There were several protests in Detroit and the surrounding areas. Photo: AP.
Chicago – 20,000 people protested, shutting down a portion of Lake Shore Drive.
Atlanta – Atlanta Police detain demonstrators protesting, Saturday, May 30, 2020. The protest started peacefully earlier in the day before demonstrators clashed with police.
Starkville, Mississippi – Thousands, many of them Mississippi State University students, protested on the MSU campus.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - A “lie-in” outside the Allegheny County Jail on June 4, to protest the murder of George Floyd. Photo: AP.
New Orleans – Thousands gather in Jackson Square. Photo: AP.
New York City – There were at least two dozen protests across the city, with many going past curfew and including a march across the Brooklyn Bridge. Photo: AP.
Vidor, Texas - 200 rallied in this city that in the past had been a stronghold of the KKK.
Berkeley, CA - Thousands flooded the streets, parks and intersections
Refuse Fascism at protest in San Francisco, June 6.
San Francisco, CA - Refuse Fascism Contingent in the protest where thousands marched across the Golden Gate Bridge.
Los Angeles – Thousands demonstrated in many areas of Los Angeles, with reports of at least 30 separate protests.
Louisville – Thousands gathered at Metro Hall with Breonna Taylor’s mother, on what would have been Breonna’s 27th birthday. Photo: AP.
Revcoms at protest in Los Angeles, June 6.
On June 5 hundreds of medical professionals in St. Louis lined the street outside the Barnes-Jewish Hospital and stood silently for 8 minutes, 46 seconds, to honor George Floyd. Photo: AP.
Maui, Hawai’i, May 31 – about 300 people held a sunset “paddle out for George Floyd”. Surfers held Paddle Out for George Floyd events in Galveston, TX; Malibu, CA; Dakar, Senegal; Biarritz, France, and other locations. Paddle outs are a Hawaiian tradition used to honor surfers who have died with groups paddling out and sitting together on surfboards.
Alabama – Protests were held in Montgomery as well as Birmingham and smaller cities. Photo: AP.
Protests Spread Broadly in Society
Professional soccer player in England, Jadon Sancho, with Justice for George Floyd shirt, May 31
NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace, with his car, June 10. Photo: AP
At 9 a.m. on June 9, ports across the U.S. West Coast ground to a halt as longshore workers stopped work to mourn the death of George Floyd. Photo: AP
Singer, Fiona Apple protesting in Santa Monica, CA.
Actor, Michael B. Jordan at protest in Beverly Hills, CA, June 6.
Game of Thrones star Sophie Turner and her husband, singer Joe Jonas, at a Black Lives Matter protest in Los Angeles, CA
A number of professional tennis players have spoken out against the murder of George Floyd, including Coco Gauff who posted a new Tik Tok video, wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, she asks, “Am I next?” Some players launched a “Rackets Down, Hands Up” campaign.
500 Pittsburgh Public Schools teachers, staff march to protest George Floyd’s death, June 8.
In Richmond, Virginia, protesters pulled down a century-old statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis in the former capital of the Confederacy.
Protestors in Bristol, UK, take down 100-year-old statue of a slave trader and dump it into the river. June 7. @carlottacorner Around Europe and in the U.S., many statues of slave traders, Confederate generals, and others have been taken down or defaced by protestors.
NBA player Jaylen Brown (Boston Celtics), vice president of the National Basketball Players Association, drove 15 hours from Boston to Atlanta to join the Black Lives Matter protest, June 6. NBA player Malcolm Brogdon (Indiana Pacers) also marched in this protest.
Pulitzer Prize winner musician Wynton Marsalis organized a “HearTOGETHER: A Healing Conversation in Music and Words” on June 6, dedicated to “George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, Breonna Taylor, and the countless Black Lives wrongfully and tragically lost before them, and to the value and dignity of all Black Lives.”
Singer Ariana Grande joined a Los Angeles protest on June 6, wearing a mask and a sign that read “Black Lives Matter.”
Sikh-Americans join a Black Lives Matter rally in Easton, PA, June 7. Michael-Kubel-Photography.
A group with Hmong Americans for Black Lives marches into a rally for George Floyd at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul, May 31. One protester, Youa Vang lost her son, 19-year-old Fong Lee, shot and killed by a Minneapolis cop in 2006 – an all white jury let the cop go free.
Hundreds of skateboarders “hill bombed” at a Black Lives Matter protest on Twin Peaks, in San Francisco, June 6.
Relatives of Jonathon Tubby, a Native American man killed by a Green Bay cop in 2018, speak out against police murder, June 7
Alameda County public defender Brendon Woods, center, takes part in a rally to support the Black Lives Matter in Oakland, CA, June 8. Other public defense attorneys around the San Francisco Bay Area marched to courthouses with Black Lives Matter shirts.
Latin America
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Hundreds protested up against police tear gas. Photo: AP.
Kingston, Jamaica - Several hundred protested outside the U.S. Embassy.
Mexico City, Mexico – Hundreds of people gathered at a protest/vigil in Mexico City. Sign reads, “Your Struggle is My Struggle”. Photo: AP.
Europe
Paris, France – 1,000s defied a government’s ban and went up against riot police at the U.S. Embassy
Berlin, Germany – 20,000+ demonstrated (above), and tens of thousands protested in other cities in Germany
Oslo, Norway – Thousands of protesters outside Parliament building
Genoa, Italy – A crowd of about 1,000 protested.
London, UK - Tens of thousands protested in Parliament Square and clashed with the police. Photo: AP.
Asia – Pacific
Sydney, Australia – Protesters also spoke out against racism and police brutality against the Aboriginal people.
Seoul, South Korea – Dozens gathered, some with “can’t breathe” masks and signs like “George Floyd Rest in Peace” and “Koreans for Black Lives Matter.” Photo: AP.
Auckland, New Zealand - Protesters also spoke out against police brutality of the Māori people. Photo: AP.
Tokyo, Japan - Hundreds of people of various nationalities took to the streets. Photo: AP.
Africa
Nairobi, Kenya – Mural of George Floyd. Haki is Swahili for Justice
Pretoria, South Africa – Re-enacting the murder of George Floyd in front of the U.S. embassy. Photo: AP.
Dakar, Senegal – Protesters in front of African Renaissance Monument – the sign in French reads, “Too Much is Too Much”. Photo: AP.
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