Racism

June 7, 2021

The QAnon Coup: hysteria and conspiracy at the end of the world

In the halls of Congress, Democrats are attempting (or at least feigning an attempt) to force an investigation into the January 6th riot, in which Trump supporters invaded the US Capitol building. Many on the left correctly view this step as a piece of political theater designed to simultaneously appease their base and generate a rationale for further expansion of the national security state. Despite the ridiculous charade of the capitalist parties, however, there is nothing frivolous about the riot or the horde of fanatical “QAnon” conspiracy theorists that spawned it. The events of January 6 portend the emergence of a new, radicalized Right which the Left must be prepared to combat.

April 6, 2021

by Heather Lea Ramírez

#WatchingForChange: Las Deportaciones Continúan Bajo el Mandato de Biden

“La Administración puede decidir no deportar a nadie, dejando de lado la Orden de Restricción Temporal (TRO). La moral, la humanidad y las obligaciones internacionales que exigen a la Administración que cumpla. De lo contrario, Estados Unidos está fletando aviones de la muerte”.

Han pasado menos de tres meses desde que el presidente Biden asumió el cargo. A pesar de la salida de Trump, muchas organizaciones y activistas por los derechos de los inmigrantes reconocen que la lucha está lejos de terminar. El primer día que tomó posesión de su cargo, Biden firmó una orden ejecutiva para una moratoria de deportaciones de 100 días, una pausa de deportaciones de ciertos individuos seleccionados.

November 3, 2020

by Ivan Waldo

NYPD’s Disparate Response to Protests

Earlier this month, there were protests in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn that violated COVID-19 restrictions, set fires in the streets and saw a mob attack a journalist, all while the NYPD was on the scene. The incidents were in response to restrictions imposed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo on specific communities experiencing a resurgence in COVID-19 infections. A couple of weeks prior, a human rights organization’s report exposed the violent oppressive response the NYPD executed against protesters during a planned protest in the Bronx in June, organized in response to the continuing legacies of systemic racism and police brutality.

September 30, 2020

by Héctor Reyes

Assimilate This! Is it possible or desirable to assimilate into a white supremacist, colonial settler, and imperialist nation?

Assimilation is this political plasticine that is frequently at the core of newspaper editorials, scapegoating by politicians, and ideological constructs of what it is to be a citizen of the United States of America (U.S.). As such, it refers to a myth-soaked narrative of the history of the U.S. as a nation; who is assumed to belong to it, or who can be allowed to earn a spot in that ark of glorified passengers known as “Americans.”
The term “American” sits at the center of this chauvinistic and exaggerated conception of who is a “red-blooded” inhabitant, and therefore a bona fide “citizen” of the U.S. It is a misguided and vainglorious term that robs the rest of the inhabitants of the Americas of such self-designation. For everyone born or naturalized in Latin America, Central America and the Caribbean

September 29, 2020

by Gerardo Rayo

To end racism and change the world, we need to burn down the past

The white base of a statue. Two men on the base. One of them pushes the other one. The man who is pushing is wearing a white shirt, a little bit stained, probably because of work in the fields. In his left hand he is holding and leaning on a sledgehammer. His skin is dark, brown, he wears a cap, and his right hand is fully extended, with a gesture of contempt and pride toward the other man whom he has toppled.

September 23, 2020

by Gerardo Rayo

Incendiar el pasado para acabar con el racismo (y transformar el mundo)

La base blanca de una estatua. Dos hombres sobre la base. Uno de ellos empuja al otro. El hombre que empuja lleva una camisa blanca, un poco percudida, seguramente por el trabajo en el campo. En su mano izquierda lleva un mazo sobre el que ahora se recarga. Su piel es oscura, morena, lleva una gorra y su mano derecha está completamente extendida, con ese ademán de desprecio y orgullo hacia el otro hombre a quien ha empujado. El hombre que empuja es indio. A su alrededor muchos otros indios ven el acontecimiento, son todos ellos los que empujan al mismo hombre contra el que dirigen su rabia. Es de día, el cielo se ve despejado.

September 8, 2020

by Héctor Rivera

Biking is not a crime: justice for Dijon Kizzee

On Saturday, August 5, protestors blocked all northbound lanes of the 110 Freeway in South Los Angeles to demand justice for Dijon Kizzee, an African American man killed by two Los Angeles County Sheriff’s officers.

The protest began at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s station on Imperial Highway, where Black Lives Matter organizers had called a demonstration in solidarity with the Kizzee family. The demonstration got underway with a ritual prayer honoring the lives of those lost to police violence.

September 7, 2020

by Lupita Romero and Eric Nava-Perez

Honoring the past to forge a new future: the Chicano Moratorium 50 years on

This past weekend in Los Angeles, thousands took to the streets to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Chicano Moratorium, the largest Chicano-led mass protest in U.S. history. On August 29th, 1970, over 20,000 Mexican and Chicano youth poured throughout the streets of Los Angeles to protest the Vietnam war, police brutality, and ongoing inequality that the Mexican and Chicano community faced in California and throughout the southwest.

July 7, 2020

by Justin Akers Chacón

Growing movement to get cops out of schools

Inspired by the rebellion against police brutality and racism, school boards across the country are being called upon to terminate contracts with local police departments. This is a growing expression of the Black Lives Matter struggle and important step in the movement to defund the police.

Parents and community groups whose children have been victims of abuse or profiling have been pressing school boards to end the practice, but elected officials have been reluctant or unwilling to confront police violence on campuses—until now. By July, there are over fourteen districts that have already terminated contracts, including Minneapolis-St. Paul, Denver, Portland (Oregon), San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Madison, Milwaukee, Seattle, Columbus, and Charlottesville. Several other districts are in the process of “reviewing contracts.”

June 3, 2020

by Puntorojo Editorial Collective

Declaración de Puntorojo: Latinx debe solidarizarse con el movimiento por la liberación Negra

La revista Punto Rojo publica las voces y los puntos de vista de pensadores, trabajadores, académicos y activistas radicales mexicanos, chicanxs, latinxs y transnacionales. Nuestra publicación se solidariza con la comunidad negra y sus familiares a través del país que buscan justicia por las vidas negras arrebatadas por la violencia estatal. Justicia para George Floyd (Minneapolis), Breonna Taylor (Louisville), Tony McDade (Tallahassee), Ahmaud Arbery (Brunswick), Nina Pop (Sikeston) y por la innumerable cantidad de vidas perdidas a la violencia policial.