Brooklyn Against War Stands With Rick Toledo

Brooklyn Against War stands with Rick Toledo and joins the call for the California Attorney General to drop the charges!

Rick is an SDS organizer at California Polytechnic Humboldt, who has been targeted for intense political repression by his administration and the state attorney general’s office. Rick has been active in the student movement and has organized against ICE presence on campus, the university’s investments in Israel, and for accessibility among other causes.

In early March, dozens of students held a sit-in and building occupation as part of a longstanding campaign to divest from Israeli genocide and apartheid. After administrators tried to cut off the other students’ access to food and water and locked the bathrooms, Rick spoke in support of the students and their right to get food, water, and toilet paper.

Shortly after, police officers showed up at Rick’s home in the middle of the night and arrested him on a pre-charge Ramey warrant, accusing him of four felonies. Brooklyn Against War denounces the trumped-up charges, which are clearly intended to intimidate Rick and make an example out of him. The university also fired Rick from his position as an instructional aide, jeopardizing his livelihood.

Brooklyn Against War recognizes these attacks on the student movement for what they are: political repression against one of the strongest and most effective progressive forces in the country—the campus anti-genocide movement. Brooklyn Against War stands with Rick Toledo, Students for a Democratic Society, and students across the country who have been attacked and criminalized by their own administrations.

As Rick himself said, “They think that they can silence dissent, but it has never worked. You can never silence dissent with force and fear—people will push back. I think they’re going to learn this lesson the hard way.”

Brooklyn Against War

March 23, 2025