Press Release: Drop the Charges!

Press Releases are provided to Yellow Scene. In an effort to keep our community informed, we are now publishing some press peleases in whole.

Sign-On Statement: Drop the Charges on Denver Anti-Racist Organizers

We are calling on all individuals and organizations who care about justice and free speech to unite in this fight to defend the protest movement, and free these Denver-area organizers. More than ever, it is crucial that we stand together and united to say that “an injury to one is an injury to all,” that we will not be intimidated and that we will rally behind all those who are being targeted for fighting for racial justice.

If you or your organization can commit to a public show of solidarity, we ask that sign on to this solidarity statement below, or draft your own solidarity statement to circulate. Statements can be sent to [email protected].

Statement

Free the Denver anti-racist organizers! Drop the charges!
We, the undersigned, stand in solidarity with the anti-racist organizers who were arrested in Denver, Colorado as part of a coordinated police operation. We demand their immediate freedom and that the charges against them be dropped.

On Sept. 17, several protest leaders, including four members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, were arrested in Denver, Colorado in a coordinated police attack. The organizers now face over 30 bogus charges including “kidnapping” and “inciting a riot,” and potentially years in prison. They were targeted because of their dedicated organizing efforts in recent months to denouncing the police murder of Elijah McClain in Aurora, Colorado.

The same District Attorney, Dave Young, who has refused to charge the police officers who murdered Elijah McClain, directed these felony arrests of the organizers who have been protesting against him. He is engaged in a corrupt abuse of his authority to silence his critics and the demands for racial justice, a declaration of war against the First Amendment.

This attack is part of a larger assault on the anti-racist movement directed from the White House, Governor’s mansions, and local governments and police agencies around the country.

We understand that this can happen to any protester, who has used their voice to mobilize in the mass movement against racism in every single corner of the United States. We stand united against this attack on civil liberties and the ongoing movement for Black Lives.