Chicago, IL – On April 18, the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, alongside other organizations in the Black liberation movement, called a rally at Chicago Police Department Headquarters ahead of the police board meeting to demand that the five officers who fired 96 shots and murdered Dexter Reed, Jr. be fired, indicted and convicted.

200 activists and supporters from all corners of the movement in Chicago, from torture survivors to family members of those killed by police violence, as well as those from the Palestinian liberation movement, converged on CPD HQ to make clear to the powers that be that Chicagoans will no longer stand for police terror.

Led by Kobi Guillory, co-chair of the Chicago Alliance, protesters repeatedly erupted into chants of “16 shots, 96 rounds, no more cover-ups in this town,” to draw the connection between the killing and cover-up of Dexter Reed’s murder with the one of Laquan McDonald in 2015, when CPD officer Jason Van Dyke fired 16 shots and killed 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. In the aftermath, then-Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel and then-State's Attorney Anita Alvarez went to great lengths to cover up the footage. Years later, and the murder and cover-ups in Chicago continue.

“Frankly, I’m sick of this shit,” said Chantel Brooks, mother of Michael Westley, 15-year-old boy who CPD killed in 2013. “Every time somebody else dies, it ain’t do nothing but bring back memories. It’s hurtful. When is this gonna change? When are our kids gonna stop getting preyed on? When are they going to stop getting killed? When does a Black life really fucking matter? My son was a good kid, and they shot him in the fucking back like a fucking animal, and he never got justice.”

In addition to the demand on the police board to fire the five cops who murdered Reed, the lead organizers of the response to Reed’s killing put forward three other demands: Fire Police Superintendent Snelling; end pretextual traffic stops, and disband the TACT teams, which operate as death squads that maraud through Black neighborhoods with impunity. In fact, it was a TACT team that conducted the pretextual traffic stop that resulted in Reed being killed. The TACT team that pulled him over claimed Reed wasn’t wearing a seat belt despite the fact that he wasn’t visible through his tinted windows.

After the rally, protesters filed into CPD headquarters to make their demands to fire the officers known to the police board.

“Dexter Reed should be here today,” Grace Patino, a member of CAARPR said. “The officers involved in the execution of Dexter Reed must be immediately fired and prosecuted to the fullest extent possible. We need an immediate end to pretextual traffic stops, and Larry Snelling should be fired.”

Out of self-preservation, the police heavily limited the number of people who could attend the meeting. Those who couldn’t enter remained outside for the duration of the meeting, beating on drums and chanting for justice for Dexter Reed. After the meeting, with there being no doubt that the police board received the movement’s message loud and clear, attendees gathered outside for more chants and to discuss its next steps.

The three remaining demands of firing the superintendent, ending pretextual stops, and disbanding the tact teams fall within the purview of the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA), a police accountability body created by the 2021 ECPS ordinance, the passage of which was led by the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. With power over CPD policy, the CCPSA can end pretextual stops and disband the tact teams. And in the realm of the superintendent, the CCPSA can issue a no confidence vote, which would put a ball in Mayor Brandon Johnson’s court to decide if the superintendent should be fired. The movement will take these demands to the next CCPSA meeting on Thursday, April 25.

This upswell in response to Dexter Reed’s murder took place just as there was an upsurge in the movement for Palestine. Just days before the protest at CPD headquarters, the Chicago Coalition for Justice in Palestine called a Tax Day march in downtown Chicago. At that march, CPD brutalized many, arrested 14 protesters, and charged four with felonies. Only days later, and in a growing testament to the convergence of the Black liberation and Palestinian liberation movement in Chicago, Arabs and Palestinians, many of whom were at the Tax Day protest or at the jail support in the aftermath of the arrests, also came to the Thursday rally at CPD headquarters to demand justice for Dexter Reed. The chant of “CPD, KKK, IOF they’re all the same” made the rounds throughout the evening.

“Our Palestinian and Arab communities will always stand in unconditional solidarity with the Black community,” said Rania Salem of the US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN). “We Palestinians know and understand all too well the dehumanization and brutality that Black and brown people in this country face, as our people in Palestine experience the same kind of dehumanization and violence from the US-supported, illegal military occupation and the racist, white supremacist, settler-colonial, Zionist state known as Israel.”

#ChicagoIL #IL #InJusticeSystem #PoliceBrutality #KillerCops #CAARPR #ECPS #CCPSA #USPCN

Chicago, IL – “You can't throw a stone and not hit someone who is affected by police torture and wrongful conviction here in Chicago, the torture capital of the United States,” said Merawi Gerima, a co-chair of the Campaign to Free Incarcerated Survivors of Torture (CFIST.)

Gerima was speaking at the annual People's Hearing on Police Crimes on Saturday, February 24, at the office of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR) in Woodlawn neighborhood on the predominantly Black South Side.

Activists and organizers raised demands for freedom for survivors of torture, wrongful conviction and political imprisonment. They called for improvement of conditions in prisons, accountability for cops who killed and tortured people, an end to cruel practices like solitary confinement, and renewed the call for community control of the police.

“Growing up in Englewood, I saw my brother get beat up by the police. My nephews got beat up by the police,” said Norma Scales, the aunt of Douglas Livingston, who was wrongfully convicted due to Sergeant Brian P. Forberg, emphasizing the widespread nature of police crimes in Chicago.

“It's mind boggling that hundreds of people have been tortured by police into confessing to crimes they didn't commit. It's even more mind boggling that many of them are still in prison 20, 30, or 40 years later,” said Frank Chapman, CAARPR field organizer, explaining the history of police torture in Chicago.

Chapman particularly focused on Detective Jon Burge, who trained a whole generation of CPD detectives in torture techniques he learned from the U.S. war on Vietnam. CAARPR initiated the Campaign to Free Incarcerated Survivors of Torture in 2019 to demand mass pardons for Burge’s victims and all survivors of police torture.

Chapman also spoke about cases of survivors of wrongful conviction who had gotten their charges dropped by Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx.

“Kim Foxx started budging because of the noise people made and the outreach people was doing to bring awareness to these cases,” said Jasmine Smith, one of the co-chairs of the Campaign to Free Incarcerated Survivors of Torture, describing how the strategy of mass pressure works to free survivors.

“We need masses of the community coming out and speaking on behalf of our loved ones,” said Marylin Mulero of Innocent Demand Justice, who spent 28 years incarcerated for a crime she didn't commit.

“The police are still using torture, not just in Chicago but all over the country,” said Curtis Ferdinand with the Chicago Torture Justice Center (CTJC), explaining how torture and other police crimes in Chicago are connected to the system of white supremacy throughout the United States.

Many other survivors and loved ones of people harmed or killed by the police and prisons, including Cassandra Greer, Adolfo Davis, Melba Brown and David Lincoln, spoke about the violence committed by the state and how they have been fighting for justice. Speakers made connections between police crimes and other crimes of the ruling class, such as the genocide in Gaza, homelessness, deportations and exploitation of workers.

“This movement is about survival. It’s about resistance. We don’t just preach against injustice. We fight injustice, and it’s not just Black people, it’s everybody who needs to join together and fight,” stated Frank Chapman said before reciting a poem about solidarity with Palestine. “We can’t give up hope and we can never give up unity.”

“These stories remind us of why we have to unify and transform our society into one where these things can never happen again,” said Gerima before describing how the movement for community control of the police has already taken steps towards empowering oppressed people in Chicago to stop police crimes with Empowering Communities for Public Safety (ECPS).

The People’s Hearing ended with chants of “free them all!”

#ChicagoIL #InJusticeSystem #PoliceCrimes #Torture #PoliceBrutality #OppressedNationalities #CAARPR #CFIST #ECPS #Feature

Chicago, IL – “How do you spell racist? FOP!” The crowd of 50 protesters on the LaSalle Street side of Chicago City Hall were loud and determined, December 13. As usual when there is a vote in city council that the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) cares about, there were extra cops on hand for intimidation. But the movement for police accountability had been standing up to the Chicago Police Department for decades.

Among the protesters was Anjanette Young, a medical social worker. In 2019, the Chicago Police mistakenly raided her West Side home. Young, a Black woman, had just stepped out of the shower when they busted in her front door. They handcuffed her naked in her living room, while over a dozen male officers – almost all white – searched her home. After more than ten minutes, finally the officer in charge realized the dimensions of the mistake he had made, and allowed a woman cop to uncuff Young, give her a blanket for partial cover, but then cuffed her again while the search continued.

Young pursued getting the body cam video released to the press to expose the abuse she had suffered. Needless to say, she isn’t one to back down because the cops were out in force.

Arbitrator decision threatens to reverse gains in police accountability

FOP President John Catanzara came into the city council meeting confident of victory. An arbitrator (a judge in labor disputes) had given their union the ability to go to arbitration if an officer was facing serious discipline, “serious” defined as a year of suspension or greater punishment. No other public sector union has this in their contract.

On top of the arbitrator decision, the cops had another advantage the other city unions don’t have. What they get from arbitration or negotiation with the city lawyers can’t be overturned by a simple majority of the city council. It requires three-fifths of all council members. This is a result of decades of pro-cop mayors.

For decades, the FOP was happy to go before the unelected Police Board for decisions in disciplinary disputes. They got favorable rulings for their members, despite Chicago’s horrendous record of police crimes.

They sought this change from the arbitrator after the historic democratic gains after decades of struggle led by the Black liberation movement. In February, councilors were elected to hold the police accountable in each of the 22 CPD districts. The Empowering Communities for Public Safety ordinance created this first-in-the-country system for democratic civilian oversight of the cops. In addition, those councilors choose the members of the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA), tasked with drafting policy and hiring the heads of Chicago Police Department and Police Board, among other powers.

Chicago City Hall packed with protesters

When the protesters came inside, there were dozens more supporters of police accountability lining up to get into the city council chamber. Among those were members and officers of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 73. President Dian Palmer led a large number of her members in their trademark purple gear. One of the largest of the public sector unions representing city employees, Local 73 was among the first to support the ECPS legislation. Too many of Local 73’s mostly Black and Latino members have loved ones who had been victims or survivors of police crimes at the hands of racist cops.

In addition, there were hundreds of Palestinian activists led by the US Palestinian Community Network, in attendance to support a resolution, sponsored by Alderwoman Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez, to end the genocide. USPCN and other Palestinian organizations had supported the ECPS legislation as well.

Finally, also present were organizations fighting to defend the city’s Sanctuary City status against a Republican-backed effort to overturn an ordinance that has been in place since it was first passed under Mayor Harold Washington in the 1980s. The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, Centro Sin Fronteras, and Healthy Hood brought out a large number of activists as well.

City council and Mayor Brandon Johnson prevail in lopsided vote

A long debate in the council chambers over the different issues was interrupted repeatedly by protesters, such that the council took a lengthy recess. When the votes were counted, the FOP supporters were crushed: 33-17.

A statement issued by the ECPS coalition explained that the fight isn’t over. The FOP gets to go back to their friendly arbitrator, then back to city council. “We must ensure the city council rejects it again and support the legal fight that ensues.”

Their statement also highlighted that there’s another attack on accountability in the new FOP contract. “One example is the ability for investigations of misconduct to be dropped if they take more than 18 months to conclude. The vast majority of investigations carried out by COPA currently take longer than 18 months.”

In public comment, Husam Marajda of the US Palestinian Community Network, which is also an affiliate of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR), spoke during public comment: “The city of Chicago democratically elected a body that is in charge of making decisions and changes to police conduct issues and this is an attempt to undermine it. The FOP and an arbitration clause in their contract are a threat to democracy and go against the people’s demand in the city.” He went on to call for support for Alderwoman Rodriguez’s resolution against the genocide of Palestinians.

Frank Chapman of CAARPR noted that this is the third time the movement has dealt a political setback to the FOP in this calendar year. “We defeated the majority of the candidates they ran for police district council in the February general election; their candidate for mayor, Paul Vallas, lost to Brandon Johnson in the run-off in April, and now this!”

#ChicagoIL #InJusticeSystem #FOP #NAARPR #CAARPR #USPCN #ECPS #Feature

Chicago, IL – In Chicago, the movement to stop police crimes is demanding city hall act to block the most recent attempt by the Fraternal Order of Police to undermine police accountability. Chicago organizers, district councilors and alderpersons spoke in a press conference Thursday September 14, to demand the Chicago City Council vote down an FOP-aligned arbitrator's decision to give officers accused of serious misconduct the choice of behind-closed-doors arbitration instead of going before the Chicago Police Board.

The arbitrator's decision in June comes on the heels of historic democratic gains won by the people of Chicago when they voted in February to elect three district councilors in every police district. The Empowering Communities for Public Safety ordinance created the 66 directly-elected district-level positions designed to hold the police accountable on a local level, as well as the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA), tasked with drafting policy and hiring the heads of Chicago Police Department and Police Board, among other powers.

The police board was previously the designated decision-making body for any case of alleged police misconduct that was severe enough to warrant firing or suspension of a year or more. It's no accident the FOP is trying to get around the board now that it falls under the purview of the CCPSA, according to Frank Chapman, field organizer for the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.

“The FOP is invoking arbitration at this particular juncture to undermine the inalienable democratic right of our people to say who polices our communities and how our communities are policed,” Chapman said.

3rd District Councilor Anthony David Bryant agreed with Chapman and emphasized the importance of transparency and community oversight.

The CCPSA and Chicago District Councils are “not led by the mayor’s office, not led by wanna-be politicians. This body is community-driven and community-led,” Bryant said. “The role of transparency is crucial to ensure the system of police accountability is fully functional to address the harm and brutality caused by CPD onto our neighbors.”

20th Ward Alderwoman Jeanette Taylor spoke on the need for real police accountability in light of huge payouts for police crime settlements. “Every city council meeting, we're spending millions and millions of dollars on police misconduct,” Taylor said. The Chicago Tribune reported last week that the Chicago city council has approved $220 million to settle police misconduct lawsuits since 2021.

Edwin Benn, the arbitrator responsible for the June decision, has worked with the FOP since 1978 and has often ruled to promote officers accused of misconduct instead of holding them accountable.

The movement to stop police crimes and its allies have shown their ability to beat the FOP time and again. The movement won at the ballot box in the district council elections, securing 35 district council seats to the FOP's six, and again in the mayoral runoff election, when voters from the South and West Sides showed out in force to defeat the FOP-backed candidate, Paul Vallas.

#ChicagoIL #CAARPR #CCP #ECPS

On Thursday, September 7, the people's movements won another historic victory with the removal of the gang database by a unanimous vote of the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA). We express our utmost congratulations and gratitude to all the organizations and community members who fought for years to erase the gang database, and to everyone who fought to pass the Empowering Communities for Public Safety (ECPS) ordinance which made the CCPSA a reality. Our movement is powerful and it is growing.

The gang database was a tool of racial profiling which targeted Black and brown people as young as 9 years old by labeling them as gang members, creating barriers to housing and employment and increasing the frequency of violent interactions with police. Youth organizations have led the struggle against the gang database since 2017 and managed to stop earlier iterations of the database from being implemented by the previous mayor, Lori Lightfoot.

Erasing the gang database is exactly the kind of policy change ECPS was intended to enact and make permanent. When Lightfoot tried to instate a new version of the database in 2022, the newly formed CCPSA put a stop to it, and that same Commission, led by community and labor organizer Anthony Driver, scrapped the database altogether on September 7th.

In recent years we have seen monumental wins in the struggle for police accountability such as the passage of ECPS in July.

2021; the elections of Brandon Johnson, progressive alderpersons and a majority of pro accountability District Councilors in February and April this year; and freedom for survivors of police torture and wrongful conviction such as the Hernandez brothers. However, the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), which fights tooth and nail to maintain police impunity, will try to undo all our victories. We encourage all our allies in the movement to stay ready for the police to try reinstating the gang database through some other avenue, and to fight against the FOP's current attempts to bypass accountability by referring even the most severe cases of misconduct to private arbitration instead of the public Police Board.

As we celebrate this win, now is also the time to further consolidate the gains of ECPS by getting more people to engage with the CCPSA and their local District Councilors, pushing policies such as the Peace Book and Treatment Not Trauma, and opposing all efforts of the FOP to undermine the new system of police accountability. This victory, like all people's victories, has come through unity in the struggles of many diverse communities across the city. We need to maintain this unity as we continue to struggle for the empowerment of the people to truly hold the police accountable.

#ChicagoIL #CAARPR #ECPS #GangDatabase

According to Frank Chapman, Field Organizer of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, “In Chicago, we have built the broadest coalition for police accountability of any city in the country. At the center of that coalition is a strategic alliance between the Black Liberation movement and a number of progressive unions.”

Chapman continued, “In addition to the unions signed on to this statement, we also have the support of SEIU Local 1 with 30,000 members; UNITE HERE Local 1 with 15,000 members; plus our longtime ally, the United Electrical workers union; several AFSCME locals, and other Illinois Federation of Teachers locals.

“With this kind of working-class support, we believe the Chicago City Council will adopt this ordinance.”

In addition to this statement, these unions are mobilizing their members to press city council members to vote yes on the ordinance. SEIU Local 73 sent an email to its 16,000 members living in Chicago, stating, “ECPS will give communities a decisive voice in police accountability, including asking voters to decide by referendum if they want to undertake further democratic reforms and create a fully elected police accountability commission.”

#ChicagoIL #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #CommunityControlOfPolice #EmpoweringCommunitiesForPublicSafety #ECPS