[En español abajo] On June 18, 2018, the members of the campaign to Erase the Gang Database, a coalition of individuals and community organizations, announced a new federal class action against the City of Chicago and Chicago Police Department (CPD), targeting CPD’s unconstitutional gang database, and urging City Council to take action.

On November 13, 2019, plaintiffs and defendants will appear in court where the judge will determine whether this lawsuit will move forward.

For months, the City and CPD have tried to get the Judge to dismiss this lawsuit but we are not backing down from exposing and holding the City and CPD accountable for the use of this racist tool.

CPD’s gang database is known to be used by Police to harass and falsely detain people. In addition, CPD provides its incorrect and inconsistent database to third parties, which can trigger further repercussions that can include job loss, denial of access to public housing and public education, inability to secure certain licensure, ineligibility for bond, and possible deportation.

Help us pack the court room on November 13. Join us in showing the judge that the CPD should be held accountable for the harm caused on communities of color.

On the same day, the Chicago City Council will meet and the Erase the Database coalition will deliver a letter asking aldermen to hold public hearings to discuss the report released by the Office of the Inspector General.

Join us for the day of action on November 13, 2019! Let’s hold the CPD for using a racist tool to target and surveil Black and Brown Chicagoans.

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El 18 de junio de 2018, los miembros de la campaña para Borrar la Base de Datos de Pandillas, una coalición de individuos y organizaciones comunitarias, anunciaron una demanda de clase federal contra la Ciudad de Chicago y el Departamento de Policía de Chicago (CPD), por el uso se la base de datos de pandillas inconstitucional de CPD, e urgiendo al concilio de la ciudad que tome cartas en el asunto

El 13 de noviembre de 2019, los demandantes y los demandados comparecerán en la corte donde el juez determinará si esta demanda avanzará.

Durante meses, la Ciudad y el CPD han tratado de convencer al Juez que termine la demanda. Pero continuamos con la meta de exponer y responsabilizar a la Ciudad y al CPD por el uso de esta herramienta racista.

Se sabe que la base de datos de pandillas de CPD es utilizada por la policía para hostigar y detener falsamente a personas. Además, CPD proporciona su base de datos incorrecta e inconsistente a terceros, lo que puede desencadenar más repercusiones que pueden incluir la pérdida de empleo, la denegación de acceso a la vivienda pública y la educación pública, la incapacidad de asegurar cierta licencia, la inelegibilidad para la fianza y la posible deportación.

Ayúdenos a llenar la sala del tribunal el 13 de noviembre. Únase a nosotros para mostrarle al juez que el CPD debe rendir cuentas por el daño causado a las comunidades de color.

El mismo día, el Consejo de la Ciudad de Chicago se reunirá y la coalición organizaciones entregará una carta pidiendo a los concejales que tengan audiencias públicas para discutir el informe publicado por la Oficina del Inspector General.

¡Únase a nosotros para el día de acción el 13 de noviembre! La policia de Chicago tiene que rendir cuentas por usar una herramienta racista para atacar y vigilar a las comunidades de color the Chicago.

Please support Alejandra Cano at her next check-in with immigration!

Alejandra is a legal permanent resident and has been in the U.S. since she was an infant. She is a single mother of two U.S. Citizen children and helps take care of her U.S. Citizen parents. She is involved in her community and is a spokesperson for addiction recovery groups.

If detained, she will be subject to mandatory detention for the length of her case. We are asking that you stand by Alejandra! Your support is crucial!

Seven years ago off-duty cop, Dante Servin, shot and killed Rekia Boyd from the window of his car. After her family and organizers led a campaign to get him fired and convicted, he quit. Now, he wants the courts to clear his public records of the case.
Rekia was 22 years old, a loved Black woman and her family can’t remove her loss from their lives. So Servin shouldn’t be allowed to remove the evidence of her murder from his life.

Let’s pack the courtroom in solidarity with Rekia and all victims of police and state violence!
#JUSTICE4REKIA#JUSTICE54THEMALL

JOIN US and DEMAND: The Trump/Pence Regime Must Go – NOW!

The time has come to launch mass, sustained, non-violent protests that come back week after week, refusing to stop until the Trump/Pence Regime has been removed from power.

**IT BEGINS: Saturday, October 19 New York & Los Angeles
** IT CONTINUES AND SPREADS: Saturday, October 26 NATIONWIDE PROTESTS – In Chicago, meet at Millennium Park, Wrigley Square, corner of Randolph & Michigan Ave, Loop

and then the next Saturday (11/2)… and the next (11/9)… and the next (11/16)…

Puerto Rico and Hong Kong show us how:
TrumpPenceOutNOW!

Concentration camps on the border… the earth melts and burns… the danger of war, even nuclear… white supremacy rules… fascist mobs and mass murderers… truth and science erased… the right to abortion near gone… democratic and civil rights are stripped away… THIS IS FASCISM UNFOLDING.

The Trump/Pence regime must go now because of the danger it poses to humanity. It must go now because fascism eliminates the right to dissent, undermining every aspiration and struggle for justice… it has direction and momentum that must be stopped before it becomes too late.

Impeachment hearings have begun – opening a new stage of struggle. The Trump/Pence regime and their hardcore base are gearing up and will not give up. The Democratic Party leadership refuses to utter the word Fascism and have conciliated and facilitated the assault on fundamental rights. Any illusions that “we can leave things to the Democrats” or wait til 2020 would be extremely dangerous. The only way to stop is by manifesting the power of millions in the streets. We must seize on the crisis now erupting to take history into our own hands – turning dread for the future into a force for hope.

The world as we have known it is being torn asunder. We must cast off fear and passivity because the future depends on it. Let’s refuse to allow our differences to stand in the way of rising together in an unprecedented, unrelenting mass struggle to confront the danger of a Trump/Pence fascist America.
In the Name of Humanity, We REFUSE to Accept a Fascist America!

#TrumpPenceOutNow
Office hours: Wed noon to 2 pm/Friday 4 pm to 6 pm
1212 W. Balmoral, 1 block west of Broadway, Unity Lutheran
Get materials, phone bank with others, get involved!
Donate: Venmo @refuse-fascism

Heartland Alliance runs seven detention centers for migrant children in the Chicago area. These are not “shelters”, they are prisons. Heartland claims to be a Humanitarian organization rescuing children, while in reality they are hired by the federal government to detain the children, investigate their families and extract information that is shared with ICE. This is a lucrative contract for Heartland. Between 2017-2020, Heartland was awarded $97, 689,604 in federal grants to lock up migrant children.

Heartland also raises Millions in donations through their fundraising campaigns. This is their annual fundraiser Gala, where Heartland and their philanthrocapitalist friends gather to celebrate their white savior accomplishments — all the while disavowing their role extracting profit from the bodies and lives of immigrant children.

Come help us ruin their dinner!

More info:
https://www.facebook.com/LaVillitaSolidaridad/photos/a.1914710601905412/1977794955596976/?type=3&theater

A short Primer on Migrant Detention:
https://www.facebook.com/LaVillitaSolidaridad/photos/a.1962123210497484/1962123190497486/?type=3&theater

Chicago is a major hub in the national network of child detention centers, which is a $1.7 Billion industry in 2019. We are ground zero in the fight to end the detention of migrant kids — Heartland is the second largest operator of permanent child detention facilities, in addition to several facilities operated in the metro region by the Catholic Archdiocese. We are pushing Heartland to END their contract with the federal government and instead to boycott and divest from all forms of cooperation with border enforcement. This would shift the ground in the national struggle to end the detention of migrant children and to abolish ALL forms of incarceration.

Heartland’s enormous political power is used to normalize the detention of migrant children, and leveraged to disinform communities about the realities of the child detention business. Over 100 child detention centers operate around the US, holding over 14,000 children on any given day. All of these facilities are calling themselves a form of “shelter”, and all are gaining legitimacy in the wake of Dump’s increased assault on migrant children. Compared to the massive influx “tent camps”, facilities like Heartland’s are supposed to look like a good alternative. But this masks the cycle of so-called “border crises” the US government has been producing, intentionally creating “capacity shortage” by capturing and prosecuting more and more migrants, using overcrowding “limited capacity” as excuses to expand detention. Children have repeatedly been used as pawns in this political game. The solution to the capacity crisis is not “nicer” prisons. It is an end to migrant detention and the policies that make it possible in the first place.