The Northwest Side Coalition Against Racism And Hate shares your outrage at both recent events of police brutality across the country and the perpetuation of systemic racism and white supremacy.
We are participating in ongoing efforts for anti-racism and systemic change on Chicago’s northwest side and we are glad to stand together. We acknowledge that while we have diversity in our membership, we have a lot of white leaders and white folk who need to do our work in ourselves as well as in our community. We must hold ourselves as well as our public leaders and the police accountable.
We know there is an urgent need to respond to this moment, to organize, to make a visible stand for Black Lives Matter AND for police accountability and to be in solidarity for justice for so many of our black siblings including Laquan McDonald, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony Dade as well as for our neighbors who were recently brutalized by police at the Brickyard.
We are committed to organizing for and demanding action that goes further than symbolism. We are committed to follow the lead of Black-led community organizations who have been fighting for racial justice and Black Lives in Chicago for years and years.
To that end we will continue to partner with Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation (SOUL), Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAAPR). And alongside the Movement for Black Lives and Black Lives Matter Chicago we support various campaigns, including but not limited to these pressing ones:
10 Demands of Black Lives Matter Chicago (BLMCHI):
- CLOSE HOMAN SQUARE
We demand the immediate closing of Homan Square (and all other unknown “black sites” where over 7,000 people were “disappeared.” - CPAC NOW
We demand the immediate implementation of an elected Civilian Police Accountability Council (CPAC) with mandated inclusion of survivors and families of victims of police torture and violence – voted in by each neighborhood. We reject appointees and bourgeois election proposals, which expand the reach of the state to prevent the power of the people.
Action You can take right now:
The CPAC ordinance is currently in the public safety committee in Chicago City Council and, if enacted, it will create a democratically-elected Council to oversee the Chicago Police Department. There are currently 19 alderpeople who support this legislation. We need 26 to get it passed! Call Aldermen Napolitano (41), Alderman Gardnier (45) and Spasato and tell them you want them to sign on! - NO COPS IN SCHOOL
Cancel CPD contract with CPS. Fund restorative practices in all schools. Additional social workers and student support personnel in our schools. Make all schools Sustainable Community Schools. - ACCOUNTABILITY FOR POLICE MURDER & TORTURE
We demand immediate firing & prosecution of all police officers & government officials involved in torture and the cover ups of the murders of Pierre Loury & Ronald Johnson. We demand revoking Dante Servin’s pension for the murder of Rekia Boyd & revoking of pensions of all CPD officers who committed torture. - JUSTICE FOR ALL KILLED BY POLICE
We demand the name of officers involved in killing anyone in the City of Chicago fo the duration of the Chicago Police force. We demand the reopening of all closed cases. We need to know the full breadth of brutality. - FIRE MURDEROUS AND ABUSIVE COPS
We demand the immediate firing of CPD officers: Kevin Fry, George Hernandez and Robert Rialmo for the murders of Cedric Chatman, Ronald Johnson, Bettie Jones and Quintonio LeGrier – and we demand criminal charges of murder for each. We demand immediate firing of Officers Murphy and Lopez for brutally beating and tasing Pastor Catherine Brown. - END YOUTH INCARCERATION
We demand the immediate closing of the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center, the largest juvenile prison in the country. - DEFUND THE POLICE
We demand immediate disinvestment in CPD and a reallocation of the operating funds currently allocated toward policing, which represent 40% of the City’s operating budget and result in $4 million a day spent on policing. - INVEST IN COMMUNITY RESOURCES
We demand policing funds be re-invested in our communities through the reopening of the 50 schools closed, reopening of the mental health centers that were closed, housing for the homeless or nearly homeless, funding for crisis centers, free drug treatment and recover centers, and a jobs program for all who are unemployed or underemployed. - RELEASE IMPRISONED JON BURGE TORTURE SURVIVORS
We demand the immediate release of all torture survivors still in prison. Former CPD Commander Jon Burge & his henchmen tortured over 100 Black & Latinos (the youngest known was 13). Some still remain in prison despite the City admittIng that they were tortured. Free them now!
*also see: NWSide Coalition Checklist when planning an Anti-Racism/Racial Justice Event 2020