On October 22nd, 2025, the Los Angeles chapter of Dare to Struggle participated in the National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality. Activists came together with the families of people murdered by police to demand killer cops be thrown in jail for their crimes. This year’s O22 came following a spike in police shootings in LA, as well as a wave of summer rebellion against ICE.
Starting at the courthouse, we shouted “Free Eddie!”. Eddie Lee Baldwin was one of many rebels who were being prosecuted for speaking out against the mass deportations. We specifically called out the district attorney, Nathan Hochman, for going after protesters instead of going after killer cops such as the CHP officers who killed 21 year old Sei-Jah Rivera Langi earlier that year.
After impassioned speeches from the affected families, we took over the street. Protesters chanted “Fuck Karen Bass!” as we passed by city hall. Finally, we marched directly on LAPD headquarters. Almost immediately, we were surrounded by police cruisers as a helicopter flew overhead. Two chucklefuck pigs hopped out of their cars and grabbed one of our activists, handcuffing her and throwing her into the back of one of their cruisers. Meanwhile, half a dozen other pigs stood guard as the crowd demanded her release. Lisa Simpson, the mother of 18 year old Richard Risher who was brutally murdered by LAPD in 2016, was especially fierce in confronting the pigs. “Shut the fuck up!” she told one of the arresting officers. “We want y’all off the streets!” Of course, pigs will be pigs and they still took the activist in and held her for over an hour trying to figure out what to charge her with, eventually settling on a citation for “illegal burning” before letting her go, but not before making transphobic remarks about her body.
Now, in Dare to Struggle, we firmly believe in fighting any bullshit charges the pigs try to throw our way. But in this case we didn’t even get the chance. When ten of us showed up for court the morning of January 22nd, it turns out the chickenshit cops didn’t even bother to file the paperwork for the citation. Unfortunately, the pigs still have a year to file the paperwork, so we’ll have to regularly check to see if they’ve scheduled a court appearance. This tactic is pretty typical for LAPD: slapping activists with some trumped up charge or citation, letting them walk, and dragging them into court for appearances that aren’t even scheduled. On the one hand it serves to disrupt protests as they’re happening and later to force activists to waste their time consulting with lawyers and showing up to court. On the other hand, it exposes how baseless these charges are in the first place.
Outside the courthouse, Dare to Struggle activists, family, friends, and a local pastor gathered to denounce the LAPD for its track record of murder and repression of free speech. When a couple pigs wandered by, the crowd yelled “Jail killer cops!” and “Fuck LAPD!” Finally, the activist who was arrested spoke out:
“The fact is, it is right to rebel against police brutality. It is right to rebel against ICE. Because the only way we’re gonna have change in this country is if people stand up and take it by any means necessary… We need to stand behind these families that are fighting for justice and fight for a world in which people don’t have to be gunned down in the streets by the law enforcement that’s supposed to protect them.”
Dare to Struggle 