New committee in Denver fights charges against PSL protestors
A slew of local protest organizers and leaders still face charges, including some felonies, after protests last summer calling for justice in Elijah McClain s death. Author: Lori Lizarraga Updated: 9:52 AM MST February 25, 2021
DENVER Protests in Aurora last summer forced open half a dozen new investigations into the death of 23-year-old Elijah McClain. Some of those demonstrations also resulted in dozens of charges, including some felonies, against several local protest organizers and leaders in two Colorado counties.
Now, lawyers and activists locally and across the country have come together to form the National Committee for Justice in Denver, calling on prosecutors to honor protesters First Amendment rights and drop all charges.
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2020 has been a lesson in the profound power of the people in struggle.
In August 2019, when the Aurora Police Department in Colorado killed Elijah McClain, they truly thought they could get away with it with no consequences. Aurora District Attorney Dave Young summarily declined to file any charges against the killer cops. APD didn’t even take them off the job. The city aided in blocking the McClain family from receiving any remittances. All of this despite the torture and killing of Elijah McClain at the hands of their own officers that was captured on camera.
The Party for Socialism and Liberation was part of a small core that fought with the McClain family for justice from day one, and this laid the groundwork for the movement that took shape this summer. But the reality is that without a mass movement, APD would have gotten away with it. Now, APD has had to learn that they don’t get to kill members of our community without consequence.
387 3 minutes read Detroit Police , defying public safety, walking unmasked through a Detroit Will Breathe protest in August. Photo: DWB.
Detroit Will Breathe organizers Tristan Taylor and Lloyd Simpson joined Party for Socialism and Liberation members Shabbir Manjee in Chicago, and Joel Ibrahim and Lillian House in Denver for an online forum on Dec. 5. They discussed state repression of the anti-racist movement and how to effectively counter it. The event was organized by the Detroit PSL.
In the wake of George Floyd’s murder, the activist group Detroit Will Breathe held over 150 days of peaceful protests for racial justice, often facing down police violence. Their actions included a march on Oct. 24 in racist Shelby Township in Macomb County, Mich.