The Reparations Campaign
2014-2015
2014
CTJM met with executive staff of Amnesty International, USA (AI) to discuss their upcoming annual conference in Chicago and their ideas for a new domestic program focused on human rights violations in the US. When AI launched this program, which included violations committed by law enforcement officials, they highlighted the Burge torture cases. CTJM and AI agreed to work together to pass the reparations ordinance
CTJM decided on a name for the group: Chicago Torture Justice Memorials (Project).
The hearing scheduled with Chicago’s Finance Committee was cancelled in light of Alderman Howard Brookins’s chief of staff being indicted on corruption charges the week before. CTJM sought to reschedule the hearing and were delayed for a year in doing so.
Amnesty International released its 10 Point Human Rights Agenda for Chicago and Illinois on the first day of its conference in Chicago, calling on all to support the passage of the reparations ordinance.
CTJM and AI organized CTJM’s first annual memorial action on Daley Plaza where the names of known Burge torture survivors were read and large banners, each bearing the name of a torture survivor and the date they were tortured, were raised in the crowd.
CTJM and AI coordinated lobbying efforts to gain the support of alderpeople, including holding a Teach-In on how to lobby alderpeople. At the time, CTJM had fewer than 10 alderpeople who agreed to endorse the ordinance.
CTJM had a retreat to strategize on how to push the ordinance in City Council and were joined by Amisha Patel, the executive director of Grassroots Collaborative. Amisha provided expert advice to CTJM on how to organize the alderpeople and suggested CTJM figure out how to raise the profile of the ordinance in the public eye once again. Shortly thereafter, CTJM members met with Aldermanic sponsors Moreno, Moore and Sawyer to discuss how to push the ordinance in City Council.
CTJM members attended Chicago’ City Council meeting and worked with Aldermen Brookins, Moreno, and Sawyer, securing the support of 24 alderpeople.
CTJM and Amnesty International held a press conference on the day Burge was released to a halfway house after serving less than four years of his four and half year sentence. CTJM pointed out the cruel irony that Burge was released from prison and given the opportunity to begin his life anew with the benefit of his police pension funded by Chicago taxpayers’ money, while scores of Chicago Police Torture survivors continued to suffer from the psychological effects of the torture they endured without any compensation or assistance, and they had no legal recourse for any redress.
The press conference was covered widely in the local, national, and international press, including the Chicago Tribune, DNAinfo.com, The Guardian, MSNBC, Atlantic Black Star, WGNTV, In These Times, and other media outlets.
Anthony Holmes spoke at the press conference describing his torture and need for help: “It was first time I felt the press believed me.”
CTJM also announced the support of over half of the alderpeople in City Council and the support of the Chicago Teachers’ Union (CTU) President Karen Lewis, who was contemplating a run for mayor and mayoral candidate Dr. Amara Enyia.
In response to the press conference, a spokesperson for Mayor Emanuel released the following statement:
“While Jon Burge will leave prison today, the horrible stain he left on Chicago’s history remains and we sympathize with his victims. He is a disgrace to the hard working men and women at CPD and a disgrace to our City – and most importantly he has negatively impacted the lives of the very people he was sworn to protect. On behalf of the City of Chicago I want to once again apologize to the victims and their families for the injustices they have suffered and reaffirm my pledge as Mayor to do everything in my power to right these wrongs and bring a close to this dark chapter in Chicago’s history.”
Mayor Emanuel appeared before the Chicago Sun-Times editorial board seeking their endorsement in the upcoming Mayoral election. In response to sharp questions by intrepid Chicago Sun-Times reporter Fran Spielman, Mayor Emanuel acknowledged for the first time that the torture survivors were entitled to financial redress in addition to an apology, saying:
“Because the law says the statute of limitations are over doesn’t mean our obligations are over.”
We Charge Genocide publicly released its shadow report to the UN Committee Against Torture condemning the City of Chicago and Chicago Police Department for systemic racist violence, including shootings, the use of tasers, sexual abuse, and stop and frisk practices.
National Conference of Black Lawyers (NCBL) and Black People Against Police Torture (BPAPT) also submitted a shadow report to the UN Committee Against Torture on the Chicago Police torture cases condemning the City of Chicago for the police torture cases and lack of redress for the torture survivors and family members.
CTJM, working with the Midwest Coalition for Human Rights, submitted a shadow report to the UN Committee Against Torture condemning the City of Chicago for the Burge torture cases and the lack of reparations for the torture survivors and family members.
CTJM and AI joined forces with Project NIA and WCG, convening a twitter power hour in honor of UN Day launching the newly minted twitter hashtag #RahmRepNow, asking people to tweet at Mayor Emanuel to demand he support the reparations ordinance. The hashtag trended locally and generated a news piece in HuffPost.
The UN Committee Against Torture held hearings with a U.S. Delegation to determine whether the U.S. Government has complied with the UN Convention Against Torture. We Charge Genocide sent a courageous delegation, all youth of color, to present WCG’s report and findings to the UN Committee. CTJM and Transformative Justice Law Project of Chicago also sent representatives to Geneva, Switzerland.
The WCG youth delegation documented their trip to Geneva on social media. The delegation also made the decision to walkout during the second day of the proceeding and initiated a historic protest inside the UN during the presentation of U.S. Government representatives, garnering the attention and respect of watchers worldwide.
The UN Committee Against Torture issued its findings condemning the City of Chicago for failing to provide adequate redress to Burge torture survivors and noted that the “vast majority of those tortured” most of whom are African American “have received no compensation for the extensive injuries they suffered, calling on the U.S. Government to support the reparations ordinance pending in Chicago’s City Council” (para 26).
In response to WCG’s advocacy, the UN Committee also cited its concerns about police militarization, racial profiling, and excessive use of force by law enforcement officials against African American and Latino youth, immigrants and LGBTQI individuals, noting particular concern regarding “police violence in Chicago, especially against African-American and Latine young people who are allegedly being consistently profiled, harassed and subjected to excessive force by Chicago Police.” The Committee further expressed “deep concern” about frequent and recurrent shootings and fatal pursuits of unarmed black individuals, and the appalling use of tasers resulting in death, including the tragic death of Dominique Franklin, Jr., in Chicago and the “alleged difficulties” of holding police officers accountable for such abuses.
WCG reported back to the Chicagoland community on the UN Committee Against Torture’s findings to a packed audience of hundreds at Roosevelt University.
Mariame Kaba, executive director of Project NIA, member of WCG, and advisory board member of CTJM inspired those in attendance to join the newly formed CTJM/AI/Project NIA/WCG coalition to fight for reparations for the Chicago Police torture survivors at attend the Holiday Action in support of the reparations ordinance.
CTJM/Project NIA/WCG/AI and supporters marched from Chicago Police Headquarters to City Hall, culminating in the delivery of over 40,000 petition signatures in support of the Ordinance and the creation of an ad hoc memorial for torture survivors with hundreds in front of the Mayor’s office. As part of the Holiday Action to Pass the Reparations Ordinance organizers read the names of all the “naughty” and “nice” alderpeople who did not/did support the ordinance. During the march to City Hall, Alderman and Mayoral Candidate Bob Fioretti announces his support for the ordinance.
2015
Representatives from CTJM, Project NIA, and We Charge Genocide (WCG)/Amnesty International (AI) began to have weekly meetings to organize the reparations campaign. The meetings continued through the passage of the reparations legislation.
On the 2015 anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s, birthday, CTJM, Project NIA, WCG/AI, and collaborators held a sing-in outside the Chicago City Council’s Finance Committee meeting.
In response, journalists asked Mayor Emanuel about the Reparations Ordinance. Emanuel goes on record saying that he will meet with the aldermanic sponsors and believes that redress is necessary.
That evening, WCG, Black Youth Project 100 (BYP100), the Chicago Light Brigade, Project NIA, the Palestinian Youth Collective of Chicago, the Village Leadership Academy, and many more held a youth-led march to the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center and demonstrated outside its walls as part of a nationwide series of actions to #ReclaimMLKDay. In addition to calling out racist police violence and the racist targeting of Black youth, too many of whom were caged at the Detention Center, organizers called on hundreds in attendance to support the reparations ordinance.
After intense lobbying by CTJM, Project NIA, WCG, and allies, Jesus Chuy Garcia publicly endorsed the reparations ordinance.
CTJM/AI/Project NIA/WCG and collaborators organized a contingent of 50 supporters to attend the Chicago City Council meeting wearing black CTJM t-shirts. When Alderman Brookins called for an immediate hearing for the Reparations Ordinance and its passage from the floor, people stood in solidarity to show support. Other supporters conducted a die-in outside of the council chambers.
Project NIA and WCG held a conference called “Watching the Watchers Conference: Strategies to End Police Violence” at Roosevelt University with hundreds in attendance. Attendees signed hundreds of postcards addressed to Mayor Emanuel and Chicago’s alderpeople urging them to pass the reparations legislation. Within weeks, over 1,000 postcards were sent to Mayor Emanuel’s office.
The Chicago Light Brigade and Project NIA organized and staged a “Reparations Now” light installation outside Mayor Emanuel’s House calling on him to support the reparations ordinance.
Project NIA led a call for “Reparations Sunday,” asking religious organizations to discuss, and request their congregations to pass, the reparations ordinance. Chicago’s Trinity participated in Reparations Sunday, and Darrell Cannon addressed the congregation at Reverend Marshall Hatch’s New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church.
Over 250 people attended CTJM, Project NIA, and WCG/AI’s “Rally for Reparations: A People’s Hearing” at the historic Chicago Temple, within view of City Hall. The Valentine’s Day rally called on Chicago’s mayoral and aldermanic candidates to “show some love” for the Chicago Police Torture survivors and “have a heart” by passing the reparations ordinance.
The packed house heard from Chicago Police torture survivors Darrell Cannon, Mark Clements, and Anthony Holmes, chief aldermanic sponsors Joe Moreno and Howard Brookins Jr., mayoral candidate William Doc Walls, and several advocates, activists, and experts urging the crowd to support the reparations ordinance.
After the rally, hundreds braved the bone chilling cold and gusty Chicago weather to create a living memorial for the Chicago Police torture survivors by holding up a banner bearing the name and date of torture for all known Burge torture survivors.
In response to the growing movement and on the heels of the Rally for Reparations, Corporation Counsel called CTJM to set up a meeting to discuss the reparations ordinance.
CTJM and Amnesty International representatives Martha Biondi, Dorothy Burge, Ernest Coverson, Jasmine Heiss, Joey Mogul, and Flint Taylor served as the negotiations team.
Members of the team met with Corporation Counsel and other members of Mayor Emanuel’s administration on February 23, March 12, and April 2. The coalition demanded a public hearing on the reparations ordinance.
We Charge Genocide and the Chicago Light Brigade led a #TrainTakeOver for Reparations on the eve of the Mayoral and Aldermanic election.
Mayor Emanuel failed to win 50% of the votes and was forced into a run-off election against Cook County Commissioner Jesús “Chuy” García.
WCG and the Chicago Light Brigade demonstrated in Daley Plaza, calling it “Reparations Not Black Sites: A Rally For the Run Off” in response to the city’s mayoral election run-off and to a series of articles by The Guardian exposing Chicago Police Departments’ Homan Square site as a location where people have been subjected to torture, physical abuse, and harassment while held incommunicado.
Project NIA published an inspiring music video using FM Supreme’s song “Still Believe” and photographs taken by movement photographer Sarah Jane Rhee, Page May, Kelly Hayes, and Rachel Hoffman to urge others to join the Fight for Reparations. Tom Callahan was commissioned to produce the video.
CTJM and Project NIA launched a City Wide teach-in on the Burge torture cases, titled #TeachBurge, calling on teachers, educators, organizers, and activists to conduct teach-ins on the cases. They developed a set of materials and provided curricula for people to use. 13 teach-ins were held across the City between March 9 and April 14.
The coalition, led by WCG and Project NIA, held a Pop-Up Exhibit outside Mayor Emanuel’s Office at City Hall, demonstrating in words and visuals the need for the reparations ordinance and the need to memorialize racist police violence from the past to the present.
Kuumba Lynx members powerfully performed “Reparations are owed to the 110 Black men,” speaking out against the cycle of police torture and genocide, and won Young Chicago Authors‘ Louder Than A Bomb: The Chicago Youth Poetry Festival of 2015, #LTAB2015.
CTJM and Project NIA held a speak-out and protest outside the 3rd and final Mayoral debate between Mayor Emanuel and Cook County Commissioner Jesus Chuy Garcia at Northeastern Illinois University.
Mayor Emanuel was re-elected.
Amnesty International ran ads in the RedEye urging Mayor Emanuel to support the reparations ordinance.
The coalition convened a phone bank to call and urge Chicago’s alderpeople to attend the finance committee meeting and vote in favor of the reparations package in committee.
Chicago’s City Council’s Finance Committee held a hearing on the reparations ordinance. On the eve of the hearing, the coalition finalized negotiations and a reparations package with Mayor Emanuel and his administration.
Hundreds packed the City Council’s chambers and third floor balcony and witnessed Chicago Police torture survivors Anthony Holmes, Darrell Cannon, Mark Clements, and Mary L. Johnson, whose son was tortured by Jon Burge, testify, courageously sharing their harrowing experiences of the torture they endured, and describing the ongoing pain and trauma they and their families continued to suffer. Read the full transcripts here.
It was a momentous occasion and a transformative moment to see these three survivors, who only years ago were caged behind prison walls, step into the well of the City Council chambers and address the politicians, media, and people of the City.
“It ain’t a day that go by that I don’t suffer. But that’s part of the life I got to live… I wasn’t the only one suffering in this. My whole family suffered. And they continued to suffer just like I suffered each day.”
Long-time advocates and CTJM members Dorothy Burge (also a member of BPAPT), Joey Mogul, Flint Taylor, and Mario Venegas, also testified at the hearing, explaining why each part of the reparations legislation needed to be enacted. Dorothy Burge testified:
“What we’re asking for is a restorative justice practice. We’re asking for a process where people admit that harm has been done… You talk about who did the harm and then what should happen to make the people who were harmed whole.
The coalition convened a phone bank to call and urge Chicago’s Alderpeople to vote in favor of the reparations package on May 6th in Chicago’s City Council.
Fourteen Chicago Police torture survivors and three family members attended Chicago’s City Council meeting, and their names are read out loud by aldermanic sponsor Joe Moreno. Chicago’s City Council unanimously passed the Reparations for Burge Torture Victims Ordinance and an accompanying resolution, becoming the first municipality in the U.S. to provide reparations for racially motivated law enforcement violence.
In doing so, the City of Chicago agreed to acknowledge the City’s responsibility for gross human rights violations and committed significant resources to begin repair the harms inflicted on the torture survivors, their families, and the communities they came from. The enactment of this legislation sent a strong message that activism and organizing matter in the ongoing struggle for human rights and social justice.
This historic moment was the product of decades of activism, litigation, investigative journalism, and the inspirational, intergenerational, and multi-racial campaign waged by the coalition in the context of #BlackLivesMatter over the previous six months.
L.C. Riley, a Burge torture survivor said, “May 6, will be a day to remember for those of us that was tortured by Burge and CPD in the early 70s and 80s and 90s… My thanks goes out to People’s Law Office and CTJM community for years of work they have put into this.”
#ReparationsWon
After the City Hall meeting, the community celebrated at Silverroom in Hyde Park.