Chicago:
Stop the Attack on the RCYB2!
Hands Off AK and Shawn!Revolutionary Worker #986, December 13, 1998
On December 14, Bill "AK" Small and Shawn Wall are scheduled to go on trial in Chicago. These two members of the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade are accused of "interfering with a police officer," "obstructing an officer" and "resisting arrest." But the authorities are really persecuting them because the RCYB is standing shoulder to shoulder with the people against the bulldozers and eviction orders of "urban cleansing." The RCYB is active in Cabrini Green opposing the destruction of people's homes in the public housing projects--and mobilizing the new generation there to step to the front of the revolutionary struggle for liberation. The RCYB has played a key role in rallying support broadly throughout Chicago for the people of public housing and countering the lies the system's media spread about the people of public housing and their struggle.
AK and Shawn were arrested after a protest of 300 angry public housing residents in February 1997. At that important moment, the residents and their supporters marched into a public meeting organized by the city government to announce that they would not accept Chicago Mayor Richard Daley's plan for the destruction of the Cabrini Green community. This action was a major setback for the plans of the ruling class for dispersing Black and proletarian people from Chicago's Near Northside--and for the similar ruling class campaigns around the country that have taken Chicago's "urban cleansing" as their model. As the residents and supporters marched out of the meeting, members of the RCYB were singled out and arrested. AK has long been a special target of the police in Chicago for his outfront and tireless revolutionary activities.
Many people have joined together in Chicago and across the country and have signed a petition demanding that the charges against AK and Shawn be dropped immediately. And during the recent, fierce protests against police murder in Cabrini Green, many people from the projects have been actively working to build support for AK and Shawn's case.
In addition, there has been a struggle to save the Brigade House at 1142 N. Orleans, which the Chicago city government is trying to bulldoze. Many people are also supporting this struggle to save an important resistance center in the Cabrini Green community and have it recognized as an historic landmark where Civil Rights martyr Medgar Evers stayed in Chicago and met with the people of Cabrini Green.
***** Supporters of AK and Shawn have asked that people come "Pack the Courthouse!" on December 14 at 13th and Michigan, Room 502, 11 a.m. Statements of support can be faxed to the Chicago RCYB at 773-528-5353.
This article is posted in English and Spanish on Revolutionary Worker Online
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