Syd Loving
Syd Camille Loving is a fighter against police crimes from Dallas and a member of the Central Committee of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization/FightBack!.[1]
Movement to Fight Trump's Agenda
Syd Loving, Frank Chapman, Marisol Marquez.
Tampa 5 rally
On July 12, 30 organizers, activists and community members beat the 105-degree heat and joined in solidarity to seek justice for the Tampa 5, rallying at Dealey Plaza, on the day of the Five’s court appearance.
Several organizations - including UTA Progressive Student Union, National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression - Dallas (NAARPR-Dallas), Austin SDS, Dallas Anti-War Committee, Freedom Road Socialist Organization - Dallas, Palestinian Youth Movement, La Frontera Nos Cruzo, and the Dallas Peace and Justice Center - spoke in solidarity with the Tampa 5.
Jay Rodriguez of the UTA Progressive Student Unionspoke to the rally, "Protesting against the repressive laws that Ron DeSantis is absolutely justified, and students and activists should continue to do so.
Syd Loving of NAARPR-Dallas said, "We are in a new era of repression and this requires a new era of solidarity, repression is not new, but there are things about this case that are different, usually the charges are dropped but a month later, they added another person and two months later they added three new felony counts, after that they were offered a deal, the deal said that they had to apologize to the officers that brutalized and harassed them and they said ‘hell no!’ We're gonna fight repression with solidarity and we will not allow the Tampa 5 to be the canaries in the coal mine."
Jake Holtzman of the Austin SDS said, "We are going to follow the example of the heroic activists in Tampa, who continue to organize and fight for diversity programs and increases to Black enrollment on their campus at the University of South Florida. Because we know that the only way we ever win demands for the people is by organizing, protesting and fighting back! Because we say: Protesting is not a crime, justice for the Tampa 5!"
Jo Hargis of the Dallas Anti-War Committee said, "When we are attacked by the state, we need to recognize that we are the threat they see us to be to the status quo. And when we come together, and when we are in solidarity across our movements, the people our government sees as a threat. They see the Teamsters as a threat. The Teamsters are probably going to go on strike very soon. We see that they see student organizing as a threat. We see that they see diversity, people standing up for that as a threat."
Cassandra Swart, another member of the Dallas Anti-War Committee said, "The United States does not have a right to clamp to down on human rights violations internationally while clamping down on rights in their country. As a transgender woman I am deeply concerned about the attacks on trans and other rights but the attacks on these rights shouldn't not make us lose hope, we have the right to fight these attacks from Florida to Texas."
Omar Lazcano, another member of PSU, said, "The Tampa 5 told truth and the people are on their side. We know they carry the truth; we are the people, standing beside them."[2]
Anti-police rally
On January 28 2023, over 50 people gathered in Civic Garden Park in Downtown Dallas to protest the brutal murder of Tyre Nichols by police in Memphis, Tennessee. The rally was organized by the National Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression-Dallas.
Local activist Olinka Green led a chant of the names of victims, including Tyre Nichols, Sandra Bland, Atatiana Jefferson, Santos Rodriguez and DeeDee Hall, an African American trans woman who was killed by police in Dallas in 2022.
Syd Loving, co-chair of NAARPR Dallas, demanded justice for Tyre Nichols and emphasized the importance and need for community control of the police. "What we really have to do is change the power dynamics between the police and the communities they are policing and bring these police departments in all our cities under heel," stated Loving.
Kawana Menchaca, co-chair of NAARPR Dallas stated "We need to make sure we never forget Tyre Nichols, and we never forget those fuckers who did their job, and know that's business as usual. The only control that can stop that kind of bullshit is community control of the police."
Xavi Velasquez of La Frontera Nos Cruzo gave a speech emphasizing similarities between the Chicano struggle and the African American struggle, and the connection between U.S. imperialism and policing in the United States.
Jo Hargis of the Dallas Anti-War Committee emphasized the connection between police brutality domestically and U, S. imperialism abroad. "The system of militarism, the system of exploitation that we spread around the world, we also direct against oppressed nationalities here at home," stated Hargis.[3]
Kyle Rittenhouse protest
On November 21 2021, around 50 people gathered at Civic Garden across the street from the Earle Cabell Federal Building in downtown Dallas to protest the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse. The rally was called by the Dallas Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (DAARPR).
Syd Loving, chair of DAARPR, started off the speeches at the rally, condemning the acquittal of Rittenhouse as political repression against the movement against police crimes, and discussing how the American judicial system systematically sides with racist murderers like Kyle Rittenhouse.
Kawana Scott of DAARPR speech addressed the bias of Judge Bruce Schroeder in favor of Kyle Rittenhouse, and the stark contrast between the treatment of Rittenhouse and Black young people who have been persecuted by the U.S. government.
Andrew Velasquez of DAARPR spoke about how the American government sides with racist killers such as Rittenhouse, and how the courts protect them, and the role of movement against police violence in opposing them.
Notable Dallas activist Olinka Green gave a passionate speech demanding an end to impunity for racist killers such as Kyle Rittenhouse and George Zimmerman. "This country was built off the torture and rape and lynching of people of other colors. This country was built off the rape and killing of women and children, its hands are bloody with the blood of the innocent, and so if you think we will get justice in the court system, you're wrong," stated Green.[4]
FRSO Presents International Women's Day
Event by Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Freedom Road Socialist Organization - Tampa and 3 others
Saturday, March 6, 2021 at 6 PM EST – 8 PM EST
Join us for our International Women's Day event! We'll be hearing from different forces from around the country about how to organize for socialism to deal blows against patriarchy and gender oppression! Speakers:
- Syd Loving, Coordinator for the Dallas Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression
- Tracy Molm, FRSO
- Cherrene Horazuk, labor leader
- Marisol Marquez, Chicana activist and FRSO member
- Elizabeth Kramer, Labor Organizer[5]
March for Black Lives
On September 19 2020, the Dallas Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, together with a number of other groups, held a march for Black lives. The group met at a downtown Dallas park before marching to city hall. According to the group's social media, a main demand of the march was that the Dallas City Council, which is now finalizing the budget, "redirect a significant portion of the police budget to community needs."
Before the march, the group held a rally in the park. One speaker was DAARPR chair Syd Loving, who condemned the recent arrests of Black Lives Matter protesters in Colorado. Other speakers included DAARPR co-chair Jennifer Miller, DAARPR organizer Kawana Scott, Black Youth Project 100 organizer Gabrielle Morris and Olinka Green from the Poor People's Campaign.[6]
Dallas DAAPR rally
According to Cassandra Swart of FighBack! News June 10, 2020:
Dallas, TX - On Saturday, June 6, about 5000 people rallied in 100-degree weather at Belo Garden Park across the street from the Earle Cabell Federal Building in downtown Dallas, to demand justice for victims of police violence, community control of the police, and the resignation of Renee Hall, the chief of the Dallas Police Department.
The protest was called by the Dallas Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (DAARPR), Progressive Student Union at the University of Texas at Arlington, American Muslims for Palestine Dallas, Migrante Texas, and Black Youth Project 100-Dallas. First the crowd heard speeches, starting off with an introduction by Syd Loving, coordinator of DAARPR, demanding community control of the police. Next was Jennifer Miller, co-coordinator of DAARPR, calling for the resignation of Chief Renee Hall in response to violent police attacks on protesters.
Those attacks included the case of Brandon Saenz, who lost his eye while peacefully attending a DAARPR-organized May 30 protest after being shot in the face by projectiles fired by the police. Tear gas was used and rubber bullets were fired on crowds of protesters - including children. Miller also mentioned the mass arrest of hundreds of protestors on June 1 at Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge. "Chief Hall, you are complicit and guilty of crimes against the city of Dallas, and the people who visit it!" declared Miller, "You have the moral duty and obligation to resign!"
Drew Carter, president of the Black Student Union at Rice University, talked about the connection of the modern police to slave patrols, and called for the removal of police occupying Black and brown communities. Avee Herrera of the National Alliance for Filipino Concerns-Texas, called for solidarity between the Black and Filipino community and linked the struggle in the Philippines against police terror to the struggle against police terror in the United States, pointing out that American police train Filipino police.
Fadya Risheq of American Muslims for Palestine spoke and linked the struggle of Palestinians against the Israel apartheid government to the struggle against police terror in the United States, mentioning that the Minneapolis Police Department received assistance from the Israeli Defense Forces. Next the crowd heard from Indianna Taylor of Black Youth Project 100-Dallas, who announced the demands for the city to divest in the Dallas Police Department and invest more in community services, to free incarcerated prisoners locked up unjustly, whether wrongfully convicted or convicted of low-level crimes, and an end to police brutality against Black people.
The crowd then marched around downtown Dallas past City Hall. The crowds chanted the names of recent victims of police terror such as George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, as well as chants such as "I can't breathe," "Fuck 12," "ACAB" and "No justice, no peace." On their way back the marchers stopped and kneeled for eight minutes in memory of George Floyd and other victims of police terror. The crowd then returned to Belo Garden Park to hearing closing statements from the Dallas Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.[7]
Pioneer Valley DSA Facebook group
Members of the Pioneer Valley Democratic Socialists of America public Facebook group, as of October 15, 2017 included Syd Loving;[8]