Essential Work
Listen: Youth organizers discuss Black joy, West Side history and the future
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“We are the revolution. It is in our bodies. It is in our bones. It is in our art. It is in the way that we speak.”
Essential Work
‘To be a West Side organizer’
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“We understand,” community organizer Destiny Harris writes, “that we will never have access to the resources we need in abundance if we wait on the government.”
Essential Work
‘My ancestors were freedom fighters, and they’re teaching me how to fight’
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Let Us Breath organizer Kaleb Autman, 18, reflects on his awakening as a West Side activist and how he’s responding to the needs of his community.
Commentary
Amara Enyia: Beware ‘dialogue as spectacle’ in fight to transform Chicago police
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“A truth and reconciliation process may create sympathy,” writes former Chicago mayoral candidate Amara Enyia. “But justice isn’t about sympathy and sentiment – it’s about tangible action.”
Commentary
Appeals court condemns humiliating mass strip search of women prisoners
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Despite the apparent potential for abuse, the federal courts have historically taken a hands-off approach to prison strip searches—but that changed last month, writes attorney Alan Mills.
Commentary
Black Chicago has been looted for decades
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Three weeks ago, the nation was transfixed on images of people running out of downtown stores with their hands full. But the historic plunder of Black Chicago deserves our attention, too.
Commentary
Hundreds serving mandatory life sentences under Illinois ‘three strikes’ law
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“Each received what amounts to a death sentence for one horrifying but familiar reason: race,” writes attorney and advocate Jennifer Soble.
Essential Work
Listen: Chicago youth leaders Miracle Boyd and China Smith reflect on activism, trauma, and growth
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Two youth organizers with GoodKids MadCity share what activism has taught them, how it has affected them, and how they want to transform Chicago.
Essential Work
Essential Work: Young Black activists ‘in the middle of history’ confront Covid-19 and racism
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GoodKids MadCity youth organizers China Smith and Miracle Boyd reflect on their experiences amid the pandemic and the growing movement against racial injustice, part of our ‘Essential Work’ series.
Commentary
Abolition: ‘They said what they said’
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To educate ourselves, and our readers, Injustice Watch hosted a conversation with six Chicago-area abolitionists. Here’s a snapshot of what we heard.