CTJM members, consisting of artists, activists, academics, and an attorney, began to meet and discuss the possibility and process of inviting people to submit proposals for speculative memorials for the Chicago Police torture cases based on CTJM co-founder Laurie Palmer's show, Three Acres on the Lake. Laurie invited any and all to submit speculative proposals of what they would do with this undeveloped land known as Du Sable Park in honor of Jean Baptist Point(e) Du Sable.

CTJM decided on a name for the group: Chicago Torture Justice Memorials (Project).

Members of CTJM also met with several of the Chicago Police torture survivors and family members to discuss how they felt about working on a memorial project, what feelings they had with respect to the torture they endured, their thoughts on Burge’s prosecution and sentence, and what needs they and others had that went unaddressed.

CTJM met often and worked to educate ourselves on the facts and circumstances of the Burge torture cases and grappled with several sticky issues, including how to depict the ugly and heinous nature of the racist torture; whether one can promote healing when people can never truly recover from torture; and how folks can respectfully depict the torture while also recognizing, documenting, and honoring the decades of activism seeking justice in these cases.

CTJM held its first public event to launch the open call at Jane Addams Hull-House, inviting all those who seek justice to submit speculative proposals for a monument to memorialize the Chicago Police torture cases. CTJM’s goal has always been to honor the survivors of torture, their family members, and the African American communities affected by the torture and to recall and honor the nearly three-decades long struggle for justice waged by torture survivors and their families, attorneys, community organizers, and people from every neighborhood and walk of life in Chicago.

CTJM held an opening exhibit and discussion titled “Forgetting to Remember: The Meaning of Memorials” at Mess Hall in Rogers Park to publicize the project and solicit submissions of memorials.

CTJM hosted "Pechakucha Presentations: Memorials that Do Political Work," where ten speakers presented a short slide show exploring the memorial form and some of its most interesting and relevant examples. The goal was to think through the memorial form together and to explore its most interesting or most successful iterations.

The next day, CTJM held a roundtable discussion titled “What Political Work Can A Memorial Project Do?" featuring Mario Venegas, a CTJM member, Chilean torture survivor, and member of BPAPT and Heartland Alliance Marjorie Kovler Center.

CTJM organized a Design Charette featuring Preston Jackson. The charrette was an intensive planning and design session where project organizers and artist-mentors offered contextual/historical insights and worked with participants to facilitate creative work.

CTJM organized a roundtable discussion with Chicago Police torture survivors David Bates, Darrell Cannon, Mark Clements, and Anthony Holmes asking them to share their insights on Burge torture cases and what kinds of memorials they imagined. Watch excerpts from the panel in the videos on the CTJM's Vimeo.

CTJM and BPAPT organized an event to discuss “Creative Activism” and the Chicago Police Torture cases at the Southside Community Art Center. Chicago Police torture survivor Marvin Reeves shared his idea for a memorial that included the names of the all those individuals who were wrongfully convicted in Illinois being etched into the stones surrounding Buckingham Fountain in Chicago with the date of their exoneration. Marvin’s proposal inspired CTJM, which later held its first memorial action on April 4, 2014, based on Marvin’s concept.

CTJM held an open house at the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum with spoken word and discussions of submitted memorial proposals.

After being invited to and speaking at an event hosted by the University of Chicago’s Human Rights Program, UN Special Rapporteur Juan Mendez met with CTJM/BPAPT to discuss reparations in the Chicago Police torture cases and other models providing reparations in Argentina and around the world.

The opening reception for CTJM’s art exhibit titled “Opening the Black Box: The Charge is Torture” was held at the Sullivan Galleries of the School of the Art Institute (SAIC) and displayed over 70 proposals for memorials documenting the Chicago Police torture cases. CTJM included a timeline of activism seeking justice over the decades.

The first version of the Reparations Ordinance was submitted as a speculative memorial and was displayed on the wall of the exhibit under Carla Mayer’s proposed memorial adding an additional star to the Chicago Flag for the Chicago Police Torture cases.

Mayer’s flag was made into a t-shirt and became the iconic image of the Burge torture reparations campaign.

The show ran from October 4 through December 21, 2012.

CTJM and Justseeds held a screen print workshop at the SAIC gallery titled “Graphics Against Torture."

CTJM held a spoken word event at the SAIC gallery titled “I Am Memory: Chicago Writers Against Torture."

CTJM held “A Film Festival Against Torture” at the SAIC gallery, showing “End of the Night Stick,” “To Turn a Blind Eye,” and “Beneath the Blindfold.”

CTJM mounted a new exhibit at Art In These Times titled “Reparations on my Soul,” exploring reparations for human rights violations from around the world. The opening reception was “A Conversation: What Do Reparations Look Like?"

CTJM hosted “Chicago Artists Against Torture: Beats, Rhymes, and Rhythms” at Art In These Times.