Chicago Reporter (https://www.chicagoreporter.com/category/powers-that-be/)
Curtis Black’s column
The soccer team Santas plays a match at Seven Bridges Ice Arena in Woodridge, Illinois. (Photo by Rita Oceguera/The Chicago Reporter)
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AURORA, Ill. – The first thing visitors hear opening the door of the facility is Spanish music. While the sound makes it seem as if nothing has changed, the building is still. The children who once ran freely, spilling chips as they chased one another, are gone.The screaming mothers and friends at the sidelines are no longer there.
Despite a consent decree and the Justice Department’s flagging of Chicago’s lacking foot pursuit and body camera policies back in 2017, reforms have been slow to come.
The planned closing of Mercy Hospital underscores the dramatic loss of maternity services in Chicago over the past year — reflecting the failure of local government agencies to adequately fund critical services in vulnerable communities, advocates say.
The latest Springfield scandal shouldn’t stop the drive for a graduated income tax to fund programs that promote equity and opportunity as Illinois contends with unprecedented crises and growing income inequality.
As memorials to the notorious Civil War era politician get challenged, Douglas’ legacy may offer lessons for the path forward in addressing racism and police brutality.
The Pritzker administration can increase incomes and shore up struggling employers by finally implementing a program that allows workers to stay on the job at reduced hours on partial unemployment insurance.
Both the Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability and the Civilian Police Accountability Council campaigns want to maximize the community’s role in selecting public safety leaders.
A lawsuit became necessary after Mayor Lori Lightfoot failed to back an ordinance on the immediate right to legal counsel in police custody, a measure called for by her Police Accountability Task Force four years ago, advocates say.
Restorative justice programs have already proven effective at Chicago Public Schools, but lack the level of funding budgeted for the district’s contract with the Chicago Police Department.
The Chicago Black Panther Party, Rainbow Coalition, the Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement and other historical organizing projects point to the possibilities for harnessing the vast mobilization of outrage we’re seeing today.
George Floyd’s horrifying death at the hands of Minneapolis police underscores the urgent need to continue working towards reforms outlined in the consent decree at the Chicago Police Department.
