April 2023
Welcome to the Chicago Alliance newsletter! Here, you get a monthly update on all of the work we have going on out in the field with our campaigns.
A Message from Frank Chapman: On the Mayoral Elections
Our focus from now through Election Day on Tuesday, April 4 is to get out the vote (GOTV). Our emphasis will be on direct contact with voters through door-to-door canvassing, street canvassing, text messaging, literature drops, and phone-banking. In these last few days leading up to April 4th, we must create a strong presence for Brandon Johnson on the South and West sides by knocking on every door, saturating our communities with Brandon Johnson fliers, posters, and literature. We need boots on the ground! Join Us. Call or text me at (312)939-2750 to volunteer, or sign up at the form below.
Empowering Communities for Public Safety (ECPS)
On the 28th of February, for the first time in the history of this country, the people of Chicago elected people into Police District Councils in 22 police districts to serve as community representatives with the power to hold police accountable for what they do and don’t do. We have been fighting for years to create the democratic option to say who polices our communities and how they are policed, and now it is a reality. This past Tuesday, we won a decisive majority in the Police District Councils. In each district, representatives could be elected to three seats. We won all three seats in 8 districts and 2 of the 3 seats in 6 districts, meaning the people’s movement won a total of 13 districts across the city outright. We were overjoyed to see that, as our candidates won in 14 districts across the city, Brandon Johnson secured his spot in the run-off election for mayor, another historic accomplishment of the progressive people’s movement. Winning this majority in the District Councils required continuous struggle. The Fraternal Order of Police sought to get candidates elected who would distort and undermine the purpose of the District Councils as stated in the law. Those attempts failed.
The Campaign to Free the Incarcerated Survivors of Police Torture (CFIST)
This month, the CFIST campaign organized another banner drop over Roosevelt and Dan Ryan and welcomed various new members into the mix. However, in this month’s newsletter we would like to highlight Stanley Gardner’s clemency petition, which currently sits on the Governor's desk waiting approval from Pritzker. Please call Governor Pritzker’s offices in Chicago (312-814-2121 or 312-814-2122) and Springfield (217-782-6830 or 217-782-6831) and urge that he grant the petition for commutation of sentence by Stanley Gardner. If they ask for it, Stanley’s IDOC number is B70903.
Stanley Gardner has been incarcerated for 21 years for a first-degree murder he committed by accident. Stanley was convicted of this through his own confession, which was forced out of him by CPD detectives James O’Brien, John Halloran and David Kowalski, who denied him food, heat and the use of restrooms, beat him, slapped him in the face and even threatened to kill him if he didn’t confess. Stanley acknowledges his responsibility and shows great remorse for the child’s death, but only his coerced confession made it first-degree murder when Stanley never had an intention for the accident to happen. No purpose is served through his continued incarceration for 29 more years.
Without parole in Illinois since 1978, those who are incarcerated are unable to be released early from prison, even if they are innocent and wrongfully convicted, without a clemency petition which is assessed by the Illinois Prison Review Board (PRB) who recommends the governor grant clemencies. The PRB has approved Stanley’s case and has told us that Stanley Gardner’s petition for clemency is now on the governor’s desk, pending his decision. Please take some time this week to make a call to the Governor’s office to make an appeal on Stanley’s behalf.
CFIST holds bi-weekly meetings every other Thursday on Zoom starting @6pm - bit.ly/CFISTMeeting. In addition, to get involved with CFIST, you can contact the form at this link.
Justice For Hadi
We continue to fight alongside The Arab American Action Network (AAAN) for justice for Hadi Abuatelah, a 17 year old who was violently brutalized by Oak Lawn police in the summer of 2022. Since then, we have protested monthly at Oak Lawn police board hearings and demanded the firing and indictment of all officers involved. Recently, one of the officers, Patrick O’Donnell was indicted on charges of felony aggravated battery and official misconduct. But there are still 2 more cops involved in the assault who need to be indicted, Brandon Collins and Mark Hollingsworth.
At the March police board meeting, community members were subjected to biased searches and pat-downs, while the police let their own supporters in early. Once inside, the public comment signup sheet was already filled with pro-police names. The police board allowed these counter-protesters colluding with police to set up a television and embark on a 24 minute long charade where they displayed Hadi’s traffic stop and abuse, and then began graphic video clips which had nothing to do with the case. This was a clear abuse of power by the board, in orchestration with the police and counter-protesters, to silence the voices of our community and disseminate false propaganda.
This is unacceptable and our people shut down the board meeting as they began to chant “shut down the video!”.
We will continue to demand justice, and pack the room at the next police board meeting in Oak Lawn on April 1 at 5:30PM. Join us and demand justice for Hadi! Indict the white racist cops! Read the full statement from AAAN here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1h2Du9ptvAUhjXoNCkdWOGs8Rk1Cp1ibRUUNNUBYwMg4