STOP POLICE CRIMES

The coalitions behind the Civilian Police Accountability Council (CPAC) and Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability (GAPA) ordinances have united and created an ordinance to transform policing in Chicago. The two coalitions represent more than 100 organizations and tens of thousands of people. Hundreds of community members from neighborhoods across the city were directly involved in creating the ordinance that integrates the best thinking on police reform in Chicago and gives Chicago communities a powerful voice in determining what policing looks like. Aldermen who have led efforts for reform have been deeply involved, and the coalitions and aldermanic leaders are working to ensure that there is City Council support for the change Chicago needs. Learn more »

CAMPAIGN TO FREE INCARCERATED SURVIVORS OF POLICE TORTURE (CFIST)

We are a group of survivors, family members, and advocates of justice. We seek to free all survivors of police torture and wrongful conviction, and to support their success upon release. Our goal is a community-focused, transformative justice system.

Illinois is the only state in the United States that has a Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission (TIRC) created by statute. Chicago is the only city in the United States that has officially, by city ordinance, apologized for the systematic torture and wrongful conviction of men and women.  It is the only city that has created a publicly financed fund for the payment of reparations to torture survivors. 

And yet, most torture survivors remain in prison decades later. At best they have been released after serving long, unjustified sentences and are now branded as felons. One part of the issue is the lack of funding with the TIRC, which investigates claims of torture. In fact, the TIRC has a backlog of 540 cases due to a lack of resources and the enormous issue of police torture in this state. This means that, although 120 cases of police torture have been acknowledged, the number may actually be far larger than we can imagine.  Learn more »

IMMIGRATION

When Rasmea Odeh, a survivor of vicious torture at the hands of the Israeli military, was compelled to undergo hours of psychological evaluation by a government forensic examiner, the Alliance stood with Rasmea throughout this whole entire ordeal. The 69-year-old Rasmea is a legend in the Palestine national movement. To learn more about Rasmea, please go here: http://justice4rasmea.org/

Rasmea was targeted by Homeland Security because of her courageous and outstanding work supporting Palestinian women victimized by Israeli military aggression and deprived of their homeland rights. For standing with her people she was prosecuted and deported. The Rasmea Odeh case is clearly the government’s declaration of war against peace movements in solidarity with national liberation struggles against imperialism. We were attacked but FRSO, in unity with the Chicago Alliance, the USPCN and others, stood up and fought back. We kept Rasmea out of prison by putting the U.S. government on trial and building a mass movement in her defense.

As we continue to build a mass movement in defense of our democratic rights we see the attacks against the immigrant community with the federal and local police being the forefront of mass deportations. So, we must raise the question what does it mean to have a sanctuary city, with rogue, racist cops who kill and trample on the rights of the people with impunity? It means you have what Mayor Rahm Emanuel is proposing, namely, a sanctuary city in form but still a city of police tyranny in content. The immigrant community must become united with the Black community in their demand for community control of the police. Together we can stop the ICE raids and the police tyranny in our communities.

We can do this, and the proof is the recent exoneration of some 19 victims of police crimes and torture and a dozen who have been recently set free. The States Attorney, Kim Foxx, is not just another States Attorney caught in the noose of corruption and dancing to the tune of the FOP. No, she’s not! She has publicly endorsed CPAC and she has called Chicago the torture capital of the United States. Our movement must take full responsibility for this because we are responsible for it. These are clear indications that we can make victory inevitable by keeping on the path we are on.

LABOR

The Alliance recognizes that the rights of all workers to organize and bargain collectively are fundamental to democracy. The Alliance Labor Committee stands in solidarity with all poor and working people.

We defend workers who are fired, assaulted, even murdered for their struggle for these basic rights. We stand firmly in resistance to ongoing violent police crimes that threaten democracy and the health and safety of working class communities of color, Latinx and Black in particular. We partner with key Chicago labor unions and labor support groups in support of the Empowering Communities for Public Safety (ECPS) Ordinance, speak at union halls, lead rallies, and organize demonstrations by workers. We support the active involvement of all socially responsible labor unions in the movement for justice.

PRISONER RIGHTS

An injustice to one threatens injustice to all!

We have no illusion that we can bring justice to a fundamentally unjust system simply by calling attention to its serious violations of human rights.  Our goal has always been to organize prisoners and their families and friends into a broad democratic movement that involves the whole community. An injustice to one threatens injustice to all.  It is only through a mass movement engaged in mass political struggle that change will come.

We intervene directly in emergency medical cases and press for immediate action on the part of Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) medical staff and medical contractors.​

We intervene directly in cases of brutality and crimes committed by staff against prisoners and press for immediate restorative action on the part of IDOC staff.

We have and will testify before State Legislative Committee hearings concerning these problems.

Proposal for an independent Medical Ombudsman over the IDOC medical system​

Working with correctional health care experts and broad community forces we put forward a proposal for a Medical Ombudsman over the IDOC medical system. This proposal wants IDOC to separate prisoner medical grievances from the mass of everyday grievances filed and fast track them into a different healthcare system, independent of IDOC medical staff.