Chicago, IL – 50 people rallied in Washington Square Park on Saturday, June 21, near the two Gold Coast properties of Illinois Governor JB Pritzker. They demand that the governor grant executive clemency to the hundreds of proven survivors of police torture and wrongful conviction who are still incarcerated in Illinois.

The action was organized by the Campaign to Free Incarcerated Survivors of Torture (CFIST), one of the central campaigns of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR).

Activist Jasmine Smith, co-chair of the CFIST Committee of CAARPR, kicked off the rally by informing the residents of Gold Coast about the governor’s abandonment of torture survivors in the Illinois prison system and highlighting parallels between plantations and “correctional” centers.

“We get calls day after day after day of the way that the prisons are being ran,” Smith said. “they have no functioning good water, that they have no functioning air conditioning, they have nothing by the means of keeping the person healthy and safe in those prisons.”

Smith, whose loved ones Rico Clark and Lester Owens were wrongfully convicted in 2006 and 2007, continued “They are being treated worse than animals, and we say shame on you, Governor, and shame on you, Lieutenant Governor, because y’all can step in at any time and take a strong stance when it comes to the prison and the ways that these prisons are being ran in Illinois, and you’re not.”

Survivors and family members shared testimonies of the crimes committed by police against themselves and their loved ones and their steadfast battles against the criminal legal system, as some passersby paused their daily walks to listen. Douglas Livingston, who has been incarcerated since his wrongful conviction in 2012, thanked attendees over the phone for fighting for his freedom from the outside. Livingston is one of over a dozen Black men, including Rico Clark and Lester Owens, who were wrongfully convicted by the corrupt practices of detective Brian P Forberg.

Marie Ketchum, whose brother, Sai Pinesta, has been incarcerated for over 20 years after being wrongfully convicted of murder, was one of several family members and survivors who spoke about the importance of organization in the fight to free survivors.

“Today, I’m here not just as a sister but as a voice for justice for my brother, Sai Pinesta, and countless others still trapped behind these walls,” Ketchum said. “We must speak, organize and fight. We must demand that elected officials, from prosecutors to governors like JB Pritzker, no longer turn a blind eye to the lives destroyed under their watch. Hold those in power accountable because they won’t correct themselves unless we force them to.”

Merawi Gerima, the other co-chair of the CFIST committee, was in Washington DC during the protest but linked the oppression of his own loved ones with those of immigrants in the U.S. and oppressed people around the world in a written statement.

“The best payback is our movement,” Gerima said. “Only we can stop both mass incarceration and mass deportation. Both are carried out by billionaires and their politicians, red and blue, against our people. Just like it’s the same people carrying out the genocide of Palestinians and now bombing Iran.”

Many of the protesters attended one of the weekly marches organized by the Coalition for Justice in Palestine (CJP) directly after the CFIST rally. Rania Salem, member and activist of the US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN), which is a member of CJP, spoke on the importance of international solidarity.

“The criminalization, police killings, and mass incarceration of Black people here in the belly of the beast is almost the same as how Palestinians in Palestine are criminalized, murdered by the IOF, and are imprisoned in Israeli jails,” Salem Said.

Protesters chanted “Free them all!” and “Free them now!” Jasmine Smith closed the rally by encouraging attendees to get involved by supporting survivors at court dates, planning future actions, and calling their alderpersons about the referendum for community power over policing (CPOP).

“We have many actions coming up,” Smith said in closing. “It’s gonna be a busy, freedom fighting ass summer.”

#ChicagoIL #IL #InJusticeSystem #PoliceCrimes #Torture #CFIST #CAARPR #NAARPR #CPOP

Chicago, IL – On the five-year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd, May 25, 300 activists and community members gathered in the streets of Chicago to protest against Trump’s Executive Order 14288 and demand community control over the police.

A broad group of forces was represented in the crowd, including the labor, immigrant rights, students, anti-war, Black, Palestinian and Filipino movements. Several elected officials joined in support as well.

The “Strengthening and Unleashing America’s Law Enforcement to Pursue Criminals and Protect Innocent Citizens” Executive Order is an attempt to take back the progressive gains in police accountability fought for and won in the wake of the George Floyd Rebellion. But organizers made it clear that Chicago will not go back to the way things were.

According to Faayani Aboma of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, “In response to George’s murder here in Chicago, the Chicago Alliance and our allies were able to convert the cry for justice in the historic uprisings into the passage of the 2021 Empowering Communities for Public Safety (ECPS) ordinance, to date the most progressive police accountability ordinance in the country.”

The crowd responded enthusiastically to calls for the city council to pass new legislation, the Civilian Power Over Policing referendum (CPOP), which would strengthen the movement’s wins gained from the ECPS ordinance. “CPOP-Fight back!” was the call of the day.

Trump’s EO was signed on April 28 and provides a premise for further militarization of the police, including promoting the distribution of non-lethal weapons, surveillance technology, tactical vehicles, and training support from military to local police departments.

Rania Salem, of the United States Palestinian Community Network, reminded participants of the connection between struggles for liberation at home and abroad. “As Palestinians we recognize the knee on George Floyd’s neck. It is the same pressure on the necks of our people in Palestine who are facing the first live-streamed genocide in human history. The same police who murder [civilians] here train with Israeli occupation forces that massacre Palestinians and Arabs on a daily basis.”

The executive order also prioritizes raising officers’ salaries and benefits, while in Chicago the police force account for nearly half of the entire city budget. Not only is this executive order an attack on the people, it also serves to quash dissent by local politicians, as it emboldens the Department of Justice to pursue prosecution of state and local officials who fail to yield to Trump’s witch hunt against all DEI initiatives.

Chicago’s own progressive mayor, Brandon Johnson, has continued to stand up to Trump’s racist policies, and has become a target of the administration as a result. “Together we will make it through,” said Anton Adkins from 290 Independent Political Organization of Chicago’s 29th Ward.

The protest then marched from Federal Plaza to Trump tower, uplifting calls covering a diverse range of issues, including, “From Chicago to the Philippines, stop the U.S. war machine!” and “CPD, KKK, IOF they’re all the same!”

While it remains to be seen what the enforcement the Executive Order will look like, Chicagoans have made it clear, chanting, “No Trump, no KKK, no racist USA.”

#ChicagoIL #IL #InJusticeSystem #CPOP #NAARPR #CAARPR