SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Responding to a nationwide call from students and parents for immediate action on gun safety in the wake of another tragic mass shooting, Illinois House Democrats passed critical legislation reducing access to assault rifles, banning the sale of ‘bump stock’ modifications, and licensing gun dealers to ensure all state and federal laws are […]
The new season of Facets Teach-Ins will address critical issues of our time
Tuesday, September 12, 2017: Chicago – The new fall season for Facets Teach-Ins address the relationships between men and women, the dangers of nuclear war, the understanding of Islam, definitions of a political revolution and the role of women in film and media. The Teach-Ins, which Facets began in February 2017, are a twice-monthly program […]
You Can Die and Then be Buried or you can Raise Above the Grave and Fight
So our goal is always—no matter what we’re doing—it’s to educate people. Always. We had our last forum and we say we don’t need to know the politicians. You meet one politician, you’ve met them all. They need to know who we are. So when we have a forum, it’s about you knowing me, not me knowing you. You’re one of a billion. But now you need to know who I am. Because I’m not one of the zillion and even if I am, it’s a zillion of me you need to know…
The Real Barriers to Care: What We Truly Need to Combat HIV
When I hear folks in healthcare concerned about young people adhering to the regiment of a medication like PrEP, I don’t often hear them talking about the structural oppressions that make adherence difficult to impossible: lack of safe storage; the bureaucracy around Medicaid that makes it so easy to lose care; being denied services based on gender markers, or a new name that doesn’t match medical records; not having state ID, a social security number, or other documentation; lack of bus fare to pick up or refill prescriptions; the criminalization of survival crimes and/or quality of life crimes; limited access to a consistent phone number or email; the lack of youth-only spaces.
Introducing the Chicago Community Bond Fund, or, Why We Should Let Most People Out of Cook County Jail
CCBF is a revolving fund that will pay bond for people charged with crimes in Cook County Jail (CCJ). In addition, we will engage in education about the role of bond in the criminal legal system and ultimately advocate for the abolition of money bond. CCBF supports individuals whose lives and communities have been impacted by structural violence and whose bonds are completely out of proportion to their ability to pay.
How to Provide Healing When Capitalism is Killing Us: The Revolutionary Potential of Community Healthcare From Below
We need to build a mass political movement, which will relentlessly dismantle oppressive systems from multiple angles—through social justice unionism, de-privatizing and wholly subsidizing public services, universal health coverage for everyone without exception, and ultimately removing the most toxic poison to public health: capitalism itself. True healing will require an end to what is killing us, and the creation of a future where our systems enable collective well-being, prevent violence and disease, and protect us from exploitation and oppression.
Collective Chicago Torture Justice Timeline
2008 – 2009 Standish Willis calls for “Reparations” for the Chicago Police torture survivors. He is the first to frame the need for significant and expansive redress using the language of reparations. Oct 16, 2008 Jon Burge is indicted for perjury and obstruction of justice for falsely denying he and detectives at Area 2 Police […]