Commentary

Cook County Jail election guide rejection harms voters and the free press
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County officials say the jail mailroom accidentally rejected Injustice Watch’s judicial election guide. But accidents violate the Constitution, too.
Views, opinions, and analysis of the latest news and pressing issues.
County officials say the jail mailroom accidentally rejected Injustice Watch’s judicial election guide. But accidents violate the Constitution, too.
Their idea of progress isn’t attained by settling for incremental reforms.
Ieliot Jackson spent nearly eight years in prison after he was wrongfully convicted of selling less than one gram of heroin. He was granted a certificate of innocence in 2019. Jackson recounts the obstacles he faced in the courts and why it is important to always #CheckYourJudges.
“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.”
“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.”
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.
“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.”
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.
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.
“Each received what amounts to a death sentence for one horrifying but familiar reason: race,” writes attorney and advocate Jennifer Soble.