Winter 2024 Newsletter
Welcome to the Chicago Alliance newsletter! Here you'll find updates on all of the work we have going out in the field with our campaigns.
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Movement Memorial for Shasta Jones
As many of you know, our dear comrade and beloved friend Shasta Jones passed away last month. She was 43 years old and is survived by 5 children and 7 siblings. We send our heartfelt condolences to Shasta's family and friends.
Shasta was a freedom fighter and a community jewel who will live forever in our hearts and deeds. Her contributions to the struggle for community control of the police and the Black liberation movement as a whole were immeasurable. She was known by every person who walked in and out of our office on 63rd & Cottage Grove, and beloved by the community. Her efforts live on in not only the history she made, but in all those she touched, prepared and trained to carry on the struggle.
As a survivor of the prison system, Shasta had an unshakable resolve to fight for justice and to love those impacted by injustice. She extended her revolutionary love around the world with words and actions of solidarity. Her legendary trip to Cuba in 2019 has resonated throughout Chicago both in the stories she told and the lessons she taught as an organizer. She is fondly remembered by people in the Palestinian, Filipino, Chicano, immigrant rights, and workers’ movements among many others.
Please join us on Saturday, February 10, at 4:00pm as we in the movement honor Shasta. The movement memorial will be held at Pickens Memorial Temple at 5659 South Union Avenue in Chicago.
People wishing to make a contribution in support of Shasta's family may do so at the link below.
Solidarity with Palestinian People!
Since October 8th, the Coalition for Justice in Palestine has organized actions every Saturday without fail to raise the demands to end the genocide in Gaza, the occupation of Palestine, and U.S. aid to Israel.
With the leadership of the U.S. Palestinian Community Network and other Palestinian-led organizations, CJP has mobilized tens of thousands of people into the streets using a variety of tactics that ensure there will be no Business as Usual while U.S. elected officials use our tax dollars to fund a genocide that has claimed the lives of over 30,000 Palestinians.
Mass protests and marches in downtown Chicago shut down major roads, including Michigan Avenue and Lake Shore Drive. Public Car Caravans involving over 100 vehicles have slowed traffic in highly visible demonstrations outside the homes of complicit politicians including Jan Schakowsky, Sean Casten and Dick Durbin. On multiple occasions, on-the-ground public protests have been paired with coordinated highway shut downs that have brought tens of thousands of cars to a standstill on 1-94 and Lake Shore Drive.
To kick off the New Year, CAARPR joined USPCN Chicago and the Students for a Democratic Society in organizing a week of action to end the genocide in 2024, as part of a national effort by the National Alliance, USPCN, and SDS. The week of action began on Monday, January 1st with a Social Media Storm targeting genocidal politicians, uplifting Black and Palestinian Solidarity and demanding a free Palestine and an end to the genocide. On Tuesday, we flooded the phone lines of Jan Schakowsky, Sean Casten, Dick Durbin, Tammy Duckworth and more to demand they stand up and oppose the genocide. On Wednesday, we mobilized our base to join the Justice for Hadi and Justice for Murod campaigns at the Oak Lawn Police and Fire Commission meeting. On Friday, despite freezing winds, an incredible mobilization of organizations from the Black Liberation and immigrants rights movements stood in solidarity with our Palestinian comrades and rallied outside CPD headquarters, showing the strength of the relationship between the movements for liberation of oppressed peoples in the U.S. and the Palestinian Liberation movement. On Saturday, CJP organized another mass mobilization in downtown Chicago, and the week closed on Sunday with a vigil organized by healthcare and cultural workers for Palestine.
In the past two weeks, Israel's Zionist leaders and their U.S. funders have expanded their aggression to launch strikes in Yemen, whose people have shown their courage and solidarity with the Palestinian Resistance by denying Israeli ships passage through the Red Sea. These U.S. attacks are a further demonstration that the violence stemming from the Israeli occupation is not a war between Hamas and Israel but a broader conflict between U.S. imperialist forces, including Israel, and the entire Arab world. We will continue to raise the demand of # Hands Off Yemen as the struggle continues.
We saw a major victory this past Wednesday as Chicago became the largest city in the United States to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. USPCN, CAARPR, SDS, CRS, SOUL, Good Kids Mad City, Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, Organized Communities Against Deportation, and Anakbayan united to apply pressure to City Council, demanding they pass the resolution. We organized phone calls, mobilized people to City Council meetings, and reached out to the media. We were proud to see Mayor Brandon Johnson speak out publicly in favor of the resolution and that his vote was the deciding one when it got down to the wire. This measure passing the City Council sends the message that we have been sending for months, in every demonstration, phone blast, and disruption: CHICAGO STANDS WITH PALESTINE!
CAARPR is proud to unite with the USPCN and CJP, and stands in unconditional solidarity with the Unified Palestinian Resistance and all those bravely fighting back against U.S. aggression in the Middle East.
This coming week, alongside chapters of the National Alliance, SDS, and USPCN across the country, we’ll be participating in another national week of action to demand an end to the genocide and occupation in Palestine and an end to U.S. aggression towards Yemen. Follow our social media pages to find out ways to get involved!
Empowering Communities for Public Safety (ECPS)
Taking on FOP Arbitration
Over the last few months, we have been organizing to defeat a decision by an FOP-aligned arbitrator, Edwin Benn, that would have it so that Chicago Police officers facing discipline, regardless of the severity, should have the option to have that discipline heard in arbitration behind closed doors instead of going before the public Police Board. And in December, thanks to the organization of our movement, 33 aldermen sided with us to defeat that decision.
Following our defeat of arbitration, the rules state that the decision must be returned to the arbitrator for reconsideration. FOP-aligned arbitrator Benn held firm on his decision and pushed arbitration back to city council to set the stage for a second vote. But before heading for a full council vote, the decision went before the Committee on Workforce Development. At that meeting, many movement forces piled in to voice their total opposition to arbitration.
“This is the only union in these United States that I know of that defends murderers!” said Chicago Alliance Field Director, Frank Chapman.
In the end, the Workforce Development Committee sided with us in opposing arbitration by a vote of 10-5.
We expect that the second full city council vote will take place on February 16th. In the lead-up to that vote, we’re calling on all of our supporters to call their alderperson to demand they oppose arbitration. The following are 5 key alderpeople who have not made their position clear on arbitration this time around:
William Conway (34th ward): (312) 744-6820
Bennett Lawson (44th ward): (773) 525-6034
Scott Waguespack (32nd ward): (773) 248-1330
Nicole Lee (11th ward): (773) 254-6677
Even if the above aren’t your alder, we still urge you to call your alder to let them know that they must OPPOSE arbitration.
To access a script, fact sheet, or to find out who your alderperson is, head to bit.ly/notoarbitration.
Attend a training on the FOP Contract February 10
On the same day we were organizing to defeat arbitration, the FOP pushed a contract through city council that was a step backward for police accountability. And to make matters worse, the details of the contract were made public only ONE DAY before the council vote because of a FOIA request. This meant that the public had no time to respond to what ended up being a contract rife with anti-accountability measures.
In response, The Chicago Alliance will be hosting a training on the FOP contract on Saturday, February 10 at 10 AM at 6353 S Cottage Grove in Chicago. Attend this training to learn about the details of the contract and to learn about how a fight for community control of the police can stop this from ever happening again. Because with full community control of the police, the people would be in direct control of negotiations with the FOP.
Apply to be a Commissioner on the Community Commission for Public Safety (CCPSA)!
We’re calling on people from the movement for police accountability to put themselves forward for the city-wide Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA). Applicants can apply at https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/ccpsa.html until the February 7, 2024 12 PM deadline.
The CCPSA is one of two citywide bodies that was created by the 2021 Empowering Communities for Public Safety ordinance, which gave people in Chicago a say in police accountability like never before. Up to this point, the interim CCPSA have already notched huge successes, most notably in how it ended the long-decried and racist gang database and in how it prohibited police from associating with criminal, extremist, terrorist, or discriminatory organizations. But to continue our momentous progress, we need fighters who aren’t afraid to take the mantle of leadership to continue the battle to stop police crimes. It’s important that people from our communities who are fit for this task answer the call because it’s our level of struggle that will determine how effective we are.
To apply for the CCPSA or to get further information about the Commissioner role, including responsibilities, eligibility requirements, application timeline, and more, head to the landing page on the City of Chicago website: https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/ccpsa/supp_info/serving-on-a-community-commission.html
The Campaign to Free the Incarcerated Survivors of Police Torture (CFIST)
CFIST had a very productive quarter. We kicked off our Winter Campaign with a Press Conference at the Cook County Courthouse on the court date of Rico Clark, a Wrongful Conviction survivor at a critical point in his post-conviction trial. At the Press Conference, we came together with other orgs such as MAMAS and Innocent Demand Justice, as well as the families and attorneys of the wrongfully incarcerated to demand that the State’s Attorney’s Office release our wrongfully convicted loved ones from prison. We demanded mass exonerations of survivors of CPD Sgt. Brian P. Forberg, a crooked cop who was secretly married to an Assistant State’s Attorney while he was locking up dozens of innocent people. Speakers also included freed survivors of police torture such as David Lincoln, a survivor of Torture Cop Jon Burge himself.
After our Press Conference, the Chicago Tribune discovered that Brian P. Forberg had retired 5 days after our previous press conference at Rico Clark’s clemency hearing a few months ago. But crooked cops are not the only ones feeling the pressure of our movement. The State’s Attorney’s Office also elected to move to get Kevin Jackson’s case vacated as soon as possible. Kevin Jackson is yet another survivor of Sgt. Brian P. Forberg, and his exoneration will be a major blow to Forberg and all other torture cops, paving the way for mass exonerations for their survivors.
We are now embarking on the next phase of our Winter Campaign, focusing on drawing more people into our movement through a town hall meeting where we will invite the community to share their experiences with police torture and wrongful conviction, help people connect the dots between crooked cops and the network of dirty Assistant State’s Attorneys and Judges who protect them, and show how ECPS District Councilors can be recruited into the fight for justice. We have more people attending our meetings and showing up for court support consistently. We gained many wins, and we are charging ahead, unphased by this Chicago Winter. We invite all those hungry for justice to join us.
Free Anthony Gay!
Anthony Gay is a political prisoner and a freedom fighter currently held in federal prison on a false charge. To read more about the background of Anthony’s case, you can go to caarpr.org/free-anthony-gay.
We have continued our efforts to support and demand justice for Anthony Gay in the last period. Anthony had been denied contact with his family and supporters by Terre Haute federal prison for several months. We applied pressure to the facility and to the Bureau of Prisons to restore Anthony’s communication access. We then found out that Anthony had been moved to a new facility without his loved ones being notified. We then applied pressure to that facility and to the head of the Bureau of Prisons through a series of phone zaps. Recently, we got word that Anthony was able to speak with a close friend of his, who passed on Anthony’s primary request at this time, which is for people to send him letters.
We ask that all those who support Anthony’s fight for freedom write a letter to him at the address below:
MCFP or United States Medical Center for federal prisoners
1900 W Sunshine St
Springfield, MO 65807
Anthony Gay City 23170-026
MCFP # 417-862-7041
Justice for Hadi and Murod Kurdi
This month at the Oak Lawn Police & Fire Commission meeting, 60+ protesters came to show their support for Murod Kurdi and his family, and once again shut down the meeting. Protesters turned their seats facing away from the board in protest of the police malpractice and racist patterns of Oak Lawn Police Department.
Murod Kurdi was a 28 year old Palestinian-American who was struck by driver, Leanne Cusack. Cusack was drinking before she struck Murod with her car in front of his house and continued to drive 2 blocks before stopping and calling her boyfriend, instead of 911. Instead of OLPD following protocol for Cusack’s refusal of a breathalyzer, which would have been a forced blood draw, OLPD let her go home without charge for Murod’s murder with only a speeding ticket.
Last month, The Arab American Action Network (AAAN), U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN), The Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression(CAARPR) and allies attended Leanne Cusack’s court hearing where she attempted to fight her speeding ticket after already getting away with murder.
For this reason, we are asking the Illinois Attorney General’s office to take immediate action by launching an independent and comprehensive investigation into the OLPD’s repeated violations of the rights of Arabs and other communities of color.
In addition, the cops involved in the racist decision to let Murod’s killer go must be held accountable along with the 3 racist cops who beat Hadi Abuatelah nearly to death in July 2022.
Murod Kurdi should have celebrated his 29th birthday on January 12th. Instead, his family is still asking for justice. You can help by calling:
Cook County State’s Attorney, Kim Foxx (312) 603-1880 / (312) 603-5896
Illinois Attorney General, Kwame Raoul (217) 782-1090 / (312) 814-3000
Justice for Murod! Justice for Hadi!
March on the DNC
The Coalition to March on the Democratic National Conventionis growing by the day. On January 21st, we hosted an open meeting at our office on 63rd and Cottage Grove that was attended by over 80 people from all over the progressive political spectrum. The meeting included explanations from members of the coalition of the seven demands, as well as an open discussion section in which people shared ideas on demands, strategy, and tactics for the buildup and the march on August 19. Several organizations signed up to join the coalition or resolved to take the question of joining back to their leadership.
The struggle to get a permit from the city is ongoing. Meanwhile the committee is organizing a national conference on April 13th at Teamster City, 300 S Ashland, as part of building the coalition nationally after it's been built up locally. We are also attending the February 17th March on the RNC conference in Milwaukee as part of the buildup for the July 15th demonstration being led by our MAARPR comrades.
Check out marchondnc2024.org for more details. Stay tuned to @marchondnc2024 on social media for updates on future actions.