Working Families Unite

Political, economic and religious leaders tell us when to stand, when to sit and when to kneel. This cabal of “leaders” was created to control the working class. Now the Trump administration is literally threatening to invade Chicago by deploying the National Guard. ICE has already taken over the Great Lakes Naval Station near Chicago as its command post.

On Sept. 12, ICE agents made a traffic stop in Franklin Park, just outside of Chicago. The driver, Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez, a Mexican immigrant who had two traffic violations on his record. When Villegas-Gonzalez attempted to drive away, an agent shot and murdered him. Bystander videos of the traffic stop contradict the ICE reports that they were in danger. This is much more than an attack against the undocumented. 

It has become a crime to be sick. A crime to be homeless. A crime to be poor. Take away SNAP benefits. Drive working people to the edge. Whatever you are doing, the political state will find or create a law to put you behind bars. Why? When they can no longer meet the needs of the people they abandon all pretense of democracy and they resort to force. They build corporate private owned prisons and reap the dividends by tossing working class people into them. Good luck looking for a job when you exit the prison system.

You may wonder why the working people do not rise up and put an end to this suppression. Using a favorite Machiavellian arrow in their ancient quiver, the capitalists pit working families against each other to stay in power. Back in the day, old white Southern politicians explained to the white poor, “At least you ain’t black,” to convince poor whites to side with their class enemy rather than ally with their black class brothers and sisters. The same divide-and-conquer tactic was used in 2022 when Republican Texas governor Gregg Abbott bused asylum seekers  to Chicago, a northern Democratic city. 

The mayor of Chicago at the time, Lori Lightfoot, guided the migrants to underserved black-majority areas like progressive alderwoman Jeanette Taylor’s 20th Ward. Lightfoot’s cynical action created infighting between new arrivals and legacy Chicagoans, both of whom need the same support from their government. It is a tale as old as time, but accelerated by a ruling class desperate to hold on to power.

ATTACKING CHICAGO TO ATTACK AMERICA

All the while the working class  is proving  it will not play their games. Thousands attended the No Kings march, the Labor Day march and many other protests. President Donald Trump posted a meme from the film “Apocalypse Now” with Trump dressed as Robert Duvall. As Chicago burns in the background of the meme, Trump tweets: “I love the smell of deportations in the morning … Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR.” 

ICE’s Operation Midway Blitz has greatly increased the number of  its agents and  its raids on working families. It raids Home Depot stores looking for day-laborers. It raids schools  when families are dropping off and picking up  their children. Meanwhile, families need to make  emergency plans in case ICE detains a family member. This is literally giving your child away. In fact, federal agents marched in downtown Chicago on September 28, in one instance kidnapping a family from celebrating in popular Millenium Park. The mother and her two children were detained in the O’Hare Airport detention center, while the father was transported to ICE’s detention and processing center in suburban Broadview.

Trump’s focus on Chicago is no accident. During his first term, the people of Chicago repeatedly expressed their hatred for his policies with mass protests. In one instance the mass protests actually forced Trump to cancel his appearance at the UIC Forum. Since then Trump has displayed his vendetta against Chicago and its people. Now, with Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, who in 2023 came to office on the basis of a popular movement, Trump is attempting to undermine him as well as Illinois Governor JB Pritzker. 

Johnson is taking incoming attacks from within Chicago as well. Chicago and in turn Illinois’s corporate media portray Chicago as a city of mayhem  where crime is rampant. They claim criminals go unpunished,  alleging the SAFE-T Act, passed by the state of Illinois in the wake of the George Floyd murder and the rebellions that followed. The Act provided for basic criminal justice reforms such as the elimination of cash bail. Cash bail is a barrier to obtaining justice, keeping those accused of a crime behind bars because they are poor. Johnson’s and Pritzker’s critics assert this Act as a core reason for crime. 

Mayor Johnson responded to Trump’s threats with an executive order called the “Protecting Chicago Initiative.”  It rejects federal military deployment; upholds the Chicago Police Department’s (CPD) independence from Trump; requires identification for federal agents and expands the “Know Your Rights” information campaign. Pritzker is reenforcing Illinois’  sanctuary state status.

A recent press conference held by Veterans for Peace called on Pritzker to offer sanctuary to members of the National Guard who refuse to be deployed to Chicago. The cabal is scared and can only respond by making it clear: No one can challenge Trump’s authority. Not the Constitution. Not the law. The ruling class is afraid of the movement and the attacks on Pritzker and Johnson are attacks on the movement – in Chicago and all across America.

CONSCIOUSNESS IS ADVANCING

A recent Gallup poll [https://news.gallup.com/poll/694835/image-capitalism-slips.aspx] shows that Capitalism is steadily losing support . “Since 2016, more Democrats have held positive views of socialism than of capitalism, with the gap expanding…” The ruling class is up against the wall. This is time for the working class to come together to resist this occupation. We know not to kneel; our class knows when to stand up for our rights. Working-class families are hearkening back to Haymarket martyr Louis Lingg’s quote, “I despise you. I despise your order; your laws; your force-propped authority.”  

Daily protesters confront ICE in Broadview as ICE agents fire pepper balls and tear gas to disperse them. Six protesters have been arrested and face federal charges. Rapid response teams are engaging with ICE to hinder their kidnapping efforts. More and more of our class brothers and sisters are beginning to recognize that we are not only in the same economic boat, but that the ruling class is attacking what is left of our democracy. These economic and political changes are forcing the working class to take some form of political action. Consciousness of the possibilities is changing.

As Chicagoans, we deserve what Mayor Johnson refers to as an affordable, livable Chicago. Johnson introduced the “Bring Chicago Home” ordinance, a one-time tax on properties when they are sold to create a substantial and legally dedicated revenue stream to provide permanent affordable housing for people experiencing homelessness. The “Cut the Tape initiative” would streamline and expedite housing and commercial development; 142 units of housing from South Shore to the Near North Side with the Green Social Housing initiative. Working-class families don’t want to sell their souls to the highest bidder or have our country taken away by the few powerful elite. Chicagoans deserve an affordable, livable Chicago. When we unite, we win the kind of society we need and the society we deserve.

Published on October 1, 2025
This article originated in Rally!
P.O. Box 408002 Chicago, IL 60640 rally@lrna.org
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