by Mansa Musa | Jan 26, 2026 | Politics and Movements: US, Prison Industrial Complex, prison reform, Prisons and Policing, Racial Justice, Rattling the Bars, video
Non-unanimous jury verdicts were a Jim Crow–era policy designed to silence Black jurors and secure convictions even when the state failed to prove its case. In 2026, over 1,000 people remain imprisoned in Louisiana after being convicted by non-unanimous juries. In this episode of Rattling the Bars, Mansa Musa speaks with Erica Navalance, Associate Director of Strategic Criminal Litigation at the Promise of Justice Initiative, about the case of Lloyd Gray and why the state of Louisiana continues to uphold unconstitutional convictions.
Guest:
Erica Navalance has worked with both Capital Appeals Project and Promise of Justice Initiative (PIJ) since 2015, but joined PJI full time in 2021 as a senior staff attorney for the Strategic Defense Litigation project, focusing on combatting excessive sentences, capital punishment, and other injustices in the criminal system.
Additional links/info:
Richard A. Webster, Verite News / ProPublica, What one man’s 45-year-old case tells us about the “Jim Crow juries” haunting Louisiana
Promise of Justice Initiative, Swastika found on DA file introduced into court, judge grants hearing for PJI client incarcerated for 45 Years
Credits:
Producer / Videographer / Post-Production: Cameron Granadino
Transcript
The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. A proofread version will be made available as soon as possible.
Mansa Musa:
Welcome to Rattling the Bars. This is the court of public opinion. And when justice fails to show up in America’s courtroom, we bring the truth here before the people convicted in 1980 at the age of 19, Lloyd Gray was sent to prison even though prosecutors failed to meet their burden and two black jurors refused to vote guilty in almost any other state that would have meant a hung jury,
by Maximillian Alvarez | Jan 26, 2026 | baltimore, ICE, Minneapolis, Politics and Movements: US, video
As tens of thousands of Minnesotans launched a massive general strike in Minneapolis, MN, Baltimoreans have joined other cities and towns around the US to rally and march in solidarity with Minnesota and to protest ICE terror and Trump authoritarianism. In collaboration with the Baltimore Beat, TRNN takes you into the heart of recent protests in Baltimore, MD, and speaks directly with residents standing up to ICE. Here’s what they said…“We stand with Minneapolis”: Baltimore marches against ICE (Jan. 23, 2026)
Transcript
The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. A proofread version will be made available as soon as possible.
Speaker 1:
Sistance is are occupied,
Speaker 2:
Resistance is justified. I’m Becky. I’m a lifelong Baltimore resident and I’m out here today because we’ve got a real crisis in this country with ice. We’ve all seen what the goons are doing in Minnesota, and we definitely don’t want them to come here to Baltimore though they’re really actually already here. They’ve been seen at the Towson Mall, they’ve been seen in Waverly, and they’re breaking the law every single day. They’re killing people. Renee good here. They are acting in a completely lawless manner. They have to be stopped. It’s sort of amazing that they still are allowed to do what they’re allowed to do. So we just got to get out here and show our anti-ice sentiment strongly. They cannot do this to Baltimore.
Speaker 3:
My name is Guard Marquee Deba. I am a member of the DC Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. I am here with my fellow sisters and the citizens of Baltimore, Maryland and it’s surrounding communities and cities. Because
by Julia Conley | Jan 26, 2026 | Article, Minneapolis, Politics and Movements: US, Reprint
This story originally appeared in Common Dreams on Jan. 25, 2026. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license.
As Minnesota residents and people across the US were reeling from the killing of protester Alex Pretti by Border Patrol agents on Saturday—the second fatal shooting by federal immigration agents in the city in less than three weeks—US Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a letter to Governor Tim Walz, telling him it is in his power to “restore the rule of law” in his state.
One suggestion the attorney general gave amounted to a “shakedown,” said US Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), and had nothing to do with the Trump administration’s persistent claims that immigrants have caused a crisis in Minnesota. Bondi demanded the Democratic governor turn over voter rolls for the state, as she has called on all 50 states and Washington, DC to do, prompting legal challenges from voting rights groups and voters.
Bondi wrote that Walz must allow the Department of Justice (DOJ) to access voter rolls to “confirm that Minnesota’s voter registration practices comply with federal law.”
“Fulfilling this commonsense request will better guarantee free and fair elections and boost confidence in the rule of law,” she wrote.
Gallego accused the DOJ of “using fear to get their hands on voter information.”
Pam Bondi sent a letter to Minnesota officials saying hand over the voter rolls, or ICE won’t back off. That’s a shakedown. They’re using fear to get their hands on voter information. In America, you don’t get to strong-arm your way into our elections. pic.twitter.com/IbJc3ufl9k— Ruben Gallego (@RubenGallego) January 25, 2026
The Trump administration filed a federal lawsuit last September against Minnesota and several other Democrat-governed states to demand personal information for all voters, including driver’s license numbers
by Michael Fox | Jan 23, 2026 | Podcast, Politics and Movements: International, Politics and Movements: US, Under the Shadow, Venezuela
by Maximillian Alvarez | Jan 23, 2026 | ICE, Minneapolis, Podcast, Politics and Movements: US, Prisons and Policing, Unions
The Trump administration’s federal invasion and occupation of the state of Minnesota continues to sow chaos in the Twin Cities, but grassroots resistance to ICE and Trump has also exploded. And on Friday, Jan. 23, unions, community organizations, small businesses, faith communities, and Minnesota residents of all kinds will participate in a mass strike, a day of “No work, no school, and no shopping.” We speak with Aminah Sheikh, a union organizer and an active member and executive board member of Twin Cities Democratic Socialists of America, and Nick Estes, an enrolled member of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe and an associate professor in American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota.
Additional links/info:
Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, ““Shut everything down”: Amid federal invasion, Minnesota calls for mass strike on Jan. 23”
Credits:
Post-Production by Stephen Frank
Hosted and produced by Maximillian Alvarez
Transcript
The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. A proofread version will be made available as soon as possible.
Nick Estes:
It doesn’t matter if you have a tribal ID that ain’t stopping ice. Give me your hands. Give me your hands. A passport. That ain’t stopping ICE. An ID card. That ain’t stop an ICE. No,
Speaker 2:
No! Shame! Oh my God. What the [expletive]!
Nick Estes:
This agenda is not just about immigration enforcement. It’s a campaign of terror.
Maximillian Alvarez:
Welcome everyone to The Real News Network podcast. My name is Maximillian Alvarez. I’m the editor in chief here at The Real News, and it’s so great to have you all with us as we speak. The state of Minnesota is under siege by our own federal government and residents.
by Shane Burley | Jan 22, 2026 | Article, ICE, Politics and Movements: US, Portland, Prisons and Policing
While protests have been continuous in Portland, Oregon—and around much of the country—over the last year, crowds have flooded city streets as a reaction to shocking moments of ICE violence. On Wednesday, January 7, ICE agents shot and killed a Minneapolis legal observer, Renee Good. The community response was swift as protests filled the icy streets of the Twin Cities, and Mayor Jacob Frey vocally demanded ICE “Get the fuck out of Minneapolis.” The federal government’s response was to have the FBI take over the investigation of the shooting, blocking local and state law enforcement. The White House blamed Good’s death on a “left-wing conspiracy” and lied about the events that took place.
The following day, two people were shot by ICE officers in their vehicle near Adventist Health hospital in the southeast side of Portland. ICE claims, like the officers did in Minneapolis, that the two alleged Venezuelan migrants had “weaponized their vehicle.” After being shot the two fled in their vehicle three miles to an apartment complex parking lot where they ultimately made an emergency medical call and were subsequently arrested and sent to separate critical care hospitals. DHS then went to social media to post photos of the alleged arrestees, saying, without providing evidence, that they were associates of the Tren de Aragua gang and involved in sex crimes.
“This is Oregon. We do not need you. You’re not welcome. And you need to get the hell out of our community,” said Oregon State Senator Casey Jama, himself a former refugee from Somalia, at a press conference just hours after the shooting.
Within hours, organizations called for demonstrations. Labor unions
