Dare to Struggle is committed to standing with the people subjected to the American nightmare. We don't lobby politicians. We don't use insular activist lingo.
Our starting point for stopping any of these injustices must be to organize sustained and audacious resistance based among the people under attack and uniting all who can be united. It's only when we dare to struggle that we can win victories and get a taste of our potential collective power. Dare To Struggle is a multinational organization open to anyone who wants to resist and stop injustice no
01/17/2026
Saturday! Join us in summing up this last week of action against ICE brutality:
- The swell of resistance here & across the US
- Obstacles
- The significance of fighting repression
- Most importantly, where do we go from here?
Thank you for this illustration of our protest in LA this last week.
¡Luchar contra lo imposible y vencer!
daretostruggle.org
12/30/2024
"Every precinct, every prison, every detachment of these agents of the system must be brought to justice."
On Saturday we held a rally and march in downtown Brooklyn to protest the brutal torture and murder of Robert Brooks. We met up near the Jay St bus stop where people catch the bus to visit loved ones at Rikers Island.
On December 10, Brooks was beaten to death in Marcy Correctional Institute in upstate NY. Body camera footage released Friday shows a room full of white correctional officers punching, kicking, and choking Brooks, a 43 year-old Black man.
Attorney General Letitia James and Governor Hochul are attempting to bury this story and prevent mass unrest against this modern day lynching.
Dozens gathered to chant Robert Brooks's name and shout down the pigs who threatened arrests and followed us onto the subway after the protest.
PHONE ZAP: Call the Utica office of the state attorney general at 315-864-2000 to demand the 14 people who killed Brooks be prosecuted and thrown in jail.
Anyone involved in this murder should face worse consequences than being fired.
We must rebuild a sustained mass movement against police brutality and mass incarceration to stop the torture and murders. Link up with Dare to Struggle to join the fight.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DENPUgzRQSL/
12/10/2024
WORD ON THE STREET: “At the end of the race, we’re in the same place”
https://daretostruggle.org/2024/11/13/word-on-the-street-at-the-end-of-the-race-were-in-the-same-place/
Dare to Struggle showed a man on Skid Row our flyer and asked him what he thought.
SKID ROW STANDS UP – POINTS OF UNITY 2
We can’t look to the system to fix the crisis of homelessness. Charities, non-profits, and “progressive” politicians schemes of reforms don’t make it better and often make it worse. Most shelters and “housing” for the homeless are dangerous and unlivable. The people need real solutions, not empty promises.”
This is what he said:
[These “solutions” are] just suggested excuses, that’s what I call them. Because they suggest and give the idea that there is a solution, when they make the problems worse than they are already. Politics! We got all these new buildings. I will say that there has been a higher percentage of correction and getting people off the street. That will get the mayor another election. But it won’t help the poor people in the streets.
And that’s just the facts about it. They do what they have to, and dance around and have parties and celebrations, and then we’re the last to receive anything. And then, they get to pick and choose who they want to receive these gifts. So it’s preferential treatment.
So when I look at them, the ones that are in the position to help, they can only suggest things to the government that’s gonna throw it out when it gets close to anywhere where they can actually get some funding. It looks good in a race, but at the end of the race, we’re in the same place. And [there’s been] a whole decade of it. I am tired of even hearing of it.
WORD ON THE STREET: “At the end of the race, we’re in the same place” Spoken by the people on Skid Row. Edited and published by Dare to Struggle. Distributed by Skid Row Stands Up. Issue #1, November 2024 Dare to Struggle showed a man on Skid Row our flyer and asked …
12/10/2024
This morning's press conference prior to a court appearance for Dare to Struggle members arrested on the National Day of Protest Against Police Brutality.
We demand:
(1) No more militarized police repression of protest!
(2) Drop all charges against those arrested outside the 73rd precinct on Oct 22nd
(3) Charge the cops who attacked the protest with assault and for violating constitutional rights.
(4) Charge the cops who shot up the Sutter Ave subway station on September 15.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DDZo9dbxz_B/
12/08/2024
12/08/2024
Cracks at Hotel California: Exposing the Realities of Cook County Jail
https://daretostruggle.org/2024/11/11/cracks-at-hotel-californiaexposing-the-realities-of-cook-county-jail/
"I really have been outside protesting, trying to bring attention to things that happen to people inside of the jail. The only reason Cook County jail even responded to me is because I was saying you all murdered my son and burned him while he was in there. They told me initially that Al had a heart attack. He’s 27 years old. How do you have a heart attack? Then they said, “Oh we’re sorry. He died of a drug overdose.” But no drugs were ever tested in his system. For four hours, he’s laying still. Come to find out there is a guard 5 to 10 feet away from him. My son was in the $100 million mental health division. It was not overpopulated. He walked up to a guard and said something, and me knowing Al all my life, he would have said “I don’t feel well.” So my son needed medical treatment while he was there. Thomas Dart runs that jail, and Toni Preckwinkle helps him run that jail.
You can go to jail for parking tickets. That doesn’t mean you’re a terrible person. My son never murdered anybody, he struggled. But he knew that I loved him in his life. I’m not ashamed of my boy.
This is a human rights violation. What happened to my son? We have a right to life. We have a right to be treated fairly and equitably. My son didn’t get that. It’s not just about my kid, it’s ‘bout everybody that my son represents. I want justice for Al. I want justice for everyone like Al, because we all could be Al."
- VICKKI WILLIS (ALTERIQ PLEASANT FOUNDATION) MOTHER OF ALTERIQ PLEASANT, WHO DIED IN CHICAGO POLICE CUSTODY AT COOK COUNTY JAIL
CRACKS AT HOTEL CALIFORNIA IS A NEWSLETTER THAT EXPOSES THE DAILY REALITY OF TORTURE, MURDER, AND MISTREATMENT INSIDE OF THE COOK COUNTY JAIL. WE BELIEVE THAT THE PEOPLE WHO CAN BEST TELL THE TRUTH ABOUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ARE THE PEOPLE ON THE INSIDE AND THEIR LOVED ONES ON THE OUTSIDE. THIS NEWSLETTER IS PRODUCED BY DARE TO STRUGGLE, AN ORGANIZATION COMMITTED TO STANDING WITH THE PEOPLE SUBJECTED TO THE HORRORS OF THE AMERICAN NIGHTMARE. SEND US YOUR STORY…
Email us your story about Cook County Jail. Email us at: [email protected]
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Cracks at Hotel California: Exposing the Realities of Cook County Jail Issue #1 Nov-Dec 2024 A modified interview with Vickki Willis (Alteriq Pleasant Foundation) mother of Alteriq Pleasant, who died in Chicago Police custody at Cook County Jail. The last time I spoke…
12/08/2024
Dare to Struggle Takes on O22 Nationwide!
https://daretostruggle.org/2024/10/23/dare-to-struggle-takes-on-o22-nationwide/
On October 22, 2024, Dare To Struggle held rallies and marches in 6 cities marking the national day of protest to stop police brutality. From coast to coast, we brought forward family members and loved ones of police violence victims to speak up and demand killer cops be punished. From the below reports from our chapters, we can see the beginnings of a revitalized and relaunched mass movement determined to put an end to police brutality, murder, and terror—one that relies on the people directly under the gun to take their place as leaders in the struggle, in opposition to all grifters and opportunist forces.
Dare to Struggle Takes on O22 Nationwide! On October 22, 2024, Dare To Struggle held rallies and marches in 6 cities marking the national day of protest to stop police brutality. From coast to coast, we brought forward family members and l…
12/07/2024
An Interview with the Mother of a 22-Year Old Inmate of Cook County Jail
https://daretostruggle.org/2024/12/01/an-interview-with-the-mother-of-a-22-year-old-inmate-of-cook-county-jail/
"Hopefully he will come home soon, but his mood is up and down. He gets depressed about being in jail, about the conditions, and being without his freedom. They just don’t supply them with the correct things. When he first went in, he didn’t have socks. His feet were black from the shoes he had there. They didn’t give him underwear. If you don’t buy these things, you don’t get them, like toothpaste, toothbrush, t shirt. Then it gets really cold in there. If you don’t have someone who loves you on the outside sending you money then you really suffer. Then the mail. I try to keep his spirits up and get him some books he would like. I have sent him 5 books, directly from Amazon, that have been confiscated. They don’t even return them to me. They will give my son a slip of paper saying they suspect drugs contaminating the paper. If the jail suspects the books have drugs on them, why don’t the call me or investigate me or say something to me? Any time there is a good book I send him, it disappears. That’s all they have in there. And it’s just unfortunate they take away the last source of entertainment. They will return pictures we send to him, saying they think they are contaminated, but won’t return the books. It’s totally unfair. And it gets expensive."
CRACKS AT HOTEL CALIFORNIA IS A NEWSLETTER THAT EXPOSES THE DAILY REALITY OF TORTURE, MURDER, AND MISTREATMENT INSIDE OF THE COOK COUNTY JAIL. WE BELIEVE THAT THE PEOPLE WHO CAN BEST TELL THE TRUTH ABOUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ARE THE PEOPLE ON THE INSIDE AND THEIR LOVED ONES ON THE OUTSIDE. THIS NEWSLETTER IS PRODUCED BY DARE TO STRUGGLE, AN ORGANIZATION COMMITTED TO STANDING WITH THE PEOPLE SUBJECTED TO THE HORRORS OF THE AMERICAN NIGHTMARE. SEND US YOUR STORY…
Email us your story about Cook County Jail. Email us at: [email protected]
Support the newsletter! Venmo:
An Interview with the Mother of a 22-Year Old Inmate of Cook County Jail Lucy, a mother of a 22-year-old inmate in Chicago’s Cook County Jail, discusses the conditions there, her son’s fight to get out, and the system he is up against My son was arrested Jun…
12/07/2024
Why Dare to Struggle members refused to take a plea deal, and why we need to fight the NYPD’s mass arrest playbook https://daretostruggle.org/2024/12/03/why-dare-to-struggle-members-refused-to-take-a-plea-deal-and-why-we-need-to-fight-the-nypds-mass-arrest-playbook/
At a court appearance in November, four people, including three members of Dare to Struggle, refused to take deals from a judge after we were arrested in Brownsville, Brooklyn on the October 22nd National Day of Protest Against Police Brutality. That evening, we were protesting outside the NYPD’s 73rd precinct, which has a long rap sheet of brutalizing Brownsville residents, including the September 15 subway shooting that left Derrell Mickles, Gregory Delpeche, and Kerry Gahalal severely wounded.
In waging struggles to confront murderous police departments, we view repression as inevitable. We also view prioritizing our own safety as a futile endeavor, strategically, to win demands like jailing killer cops as punishment for their crimes. It’s also selfish, since for the people of Brownsville living under the 73rd precinct, it’s never safe to walk down the street, sit in their cars, ride the subways, or buy a meal in a bodega.
Historically, radicals and revolutionaries in the US have made advances in the face of repression by meeting repression with more resistance (look up the case of Angelo Herndon for an example). In order to build mass movements against police brutality and other injustices, we need to learn from these historical lessons by fighting repression to strengthen our movements and win political battles, rather than accept uncritically that backing down in service of our “safety” is what’s best.
This view informed the decision of four of us arrested on October 22 to refuse to take a deal that a judge offered us, called an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal (ACD). An ACD deal results in a dismissal of charges as long as the person arrested doesn’t get arrested again for a period of time (usually three to six months). ACDs are a key feature of the court’s approach to handling mass arrests, and judges have likely given out hundreds of these deals in New York following mass arrests at pro-Palestine protests in the past year. Courts have been inconsistent in enforcing the ACD “stay out of trouble” stipulation, so a perception has grown among protesters that it’s safe to collect multiple ACD deals, and that they are effectively a non-consequence.
The principal problem with taking deals like ACDs and not fighting politicized charges more generally is that this allows the police to systematically beat and arrest people at protests, then keep those arrested from coming together to expose the brutality and unjust treatment they endured. It has also led to protesters viewing ACD deals as acceptable outcomes for protests, which lawyers reinforce, and dampens outrage directed at unjust and violent arrests because of the perceived lack of consequences. Taking a deal also lets the pigs off from getting their lazy asses to the courtroom.
This is part of a broader lack of a coherent strategy of collective resistance to repression, instead electing to take individualized approaches. It is in essence playing by the bourgeois state’s rules and counting on them to maintain the arrangement of letting people stack ACD deals, which we see as a questionable legal strategy. These are missed opportunities to face repression with defiance and uphold our righteous stands against injustices. While the four of us who refused to take an ACD are not facing serious charges, we nevertheless think it’s right to make a stink out of the fact that the police attacked our constitutional right to protest and refuse a plea deal that normalizes police repression of protest.
All this isn’t to say that taking an ACD or a plea deal for a more serious charge is never the right move. We need to maintain our ability to be in the streets and develop organization among the masses, and as Mao Zedong put it, “we should do our best to avoid unnecessary sacrifices.” But the current situation— where lawyers and Leftist “safety” culture steer people arrested from publicly fighting charges—needs to change.
There are numerous examples from the past year of pro-Palestine protesters pleading not guilty to bu****it charges designed to intimidate them into silence, including from campus protests at Arizona State University, Harvard, University of Florida, and Tulane. In November, in response to protest arrests at Cornell University, about 200 supporters packed a courtroom for a hearing in which three graduate students pleaded not guilty to disorderly conduct charges, as reported by the Cornell Daily Sun. These protesters were part of a group that clashed with police in September at a career fair on campus that welcomed defense contractors Boeing and L3Harris. Also in September, eight people arrested at a student encampment at the City College of New York pleaded not guilty to burglary felony charges, as reported by the Columbia Spectator. In a statement, one protester said: “We believe that challenging these charges is a necessary stand against the unjust system that seeks to silence dissent and criminalize resistance.”
Fighting charges from mass arrest events is a chance to take a courageous stand, collectively, in the face of threats of punishment. It’s also an opportunity to continue exposing the vicious and militarized police assaults against protest movements, like the April 30 attack on protesters at encampments at City College and Columbia, where hundreds of police officers made 282 arrests between the two campuses. In our case, talking to people in Brownsville about our experience getting arrested on October 22 has led to hearing peoples’ own testimonies of violence and mistreatment from the 73rd precinct, a small but crucial step in building our forces to fight back against police brutality in the neighborhood.
Regardless of the outcomes of our upcoming trials and those with higher legal stakes, it will always be right to rebel rather than to stay silent. The masses living under the gun of police brutality in the US, and the masses of Gaza now entering year two of genocide, are given no choice to escape bullets, prisons, and for Palestinians living in Gaza, the imminent threat of annihilation. After experiencing just an inkling of what the people of Brownsville endure from the 73rd precinct every week, we think it would be a mistake to retreat to safety. And as we noted in our previous statement on fighting repression, we have a responsibility to demonstrate to the masses that we can fight back against the ruling class’s repressive forces, and that we can reach a point in the struggle where they can no longer brutalize and murder with impunity.
Why Dare to Struggle members refused to take a plea deal, and why we need to fight the NYPD’s mass arrest playbook At a court appearance in November, four people, including three members of Dare to Struggle, refused to take deals from a judge after we were arrested in Brownsville, Brooklyn on the October 22nd N…
11/28/2024
At Least A Dozen Prisoners Set Themselves On Fire In A Virginia Supermax Prison In September 2024
https://daretostruggle.org/2024/11/22/at-least-a-dozen-prisoners-set-themselves-on-fire-in-a-virginia-supermax-prison-in-september-2024/
As “tough on crime” politicians play charades with their “progressive” counterparts around the country, over 1.2 million people languish in unfathomable conditions in US prisons.
To end the torture and brutality that incarcerated people face, we need to build a militant mass movement that rejects dead-end pursuits of reforms. We must instead unite the people living under mass incarceration to rebel against the prison system, within prisons and outside of them.
At Least A Dozen Prisoners Set Themselves On Fire In A Virginia Supermax Prison In September 2024 A solitary confinement cell in a Virginia prison In a two week span, at least a dozen Black men set themselves on fire at Virginia’s Supermax Red Onion State Prison. Two of these individuals,…
04/05/2024
Come to our mass meeting this Saturday at 2pm at the 67th St library to learn how to get involved with Dare to Struggle and to be a part of our discussion on how we should intervene in the social war among the masses.
When we go out to talk to people around the city, we run into a lot of backwards ideas that we have to contend with. The biggest reactionary current in NYC right now is hatred of immigrants, stoked by the media, politicians, and clout chasing YouTubers and TikTokers who need to be humbled. We also run into anti-LGBTQ and anti-youth outlooks among oppressed people that embolden violence and discrimination against these groups, whether inflicted by the NYPD or the masses themselves.
These currents are consciously inflamed to redirect outrage away from those in power to other oppressed groups, to keep people from coming together to take on a common enemy. If we’re to make any headway in challenging the rich and powerful who leech off the poor and oppressed in this city, we’ll need to take on these reactionary currents wherever we run into them.