On Monday, CPAC was voted on in the Public Safety Committee. This decision will be voted on Wednesday, and thus CPAC will be up for a vote. The time for CPAC is now! FLOOD CITY HALL!

Monday’s vote was a vote to kill CPAC entirely. At the end of the meeting, the chair said that their vote will be brought back to the City Council on Wed for a vote from the larger body. They will be voting on if they agree with the decision to kill CPAC. Tell your alderman to vote NO against the public safety committee action.

For too long, our current “accountability” system has been denying justice to survivors of police crimes and their families. COPA/IPRA and the police board, in assistance with CPD, the FOP, the Mayor’s office, and the Courts, have been letting killer cops roam free to harm more Black and brown working families. The solution is community control of the police through an all-elected civilian police accountability system (CPAC). This movement has 55,000 supporters and nearly 60 endorsing organizations. Last summer, the Public Safety Committee’s community hosted community hearings on police accountability which were dominated by support for CPAC. Ald. Reboyras, chair of the committee, ignores this movement and continues to sit in the pocket of the Mayor and the FOP.

Jason Van Dyke is one of a few police officers convicted of 2nd degree murder for the killing of an unarmed Black youth. The movement for justice for Laquan put him behind bars. We are now in a moment where the system is vulnerable and the people are organized and ready. The time for real systemic change is now!

CALL YOUR ALDERMAN! Find their phone number: https://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/mayor/iframe/lookup_ward_and_alderman.html

#CPACNow!

35th ward alderman Carlos Ramirez-Rosa is bringing a proposal for an elected Civilian Police Accountability Council (CPAC) to a vote at the City Council meeting this Wednesday, October 31st. Let’s get a strong showing of UIC students showing our support for CPAC.

Read more about CPAC here: http://naarpr.org/civilian-police-accountability-council-cpac/

ABOUT THE SPONSORS

UIC Student Action is a student-led grassroots organization at the University of Illinois at Chicago that organizes for economic, racial, and gender justice both on and off campus.

The Jane Addams Advocacy Initiative is a student-led, faculty-supported group of the UIC Jane Addams College of Social Work that seeks to offer social work students a pathway to fulfill our ethical duty “to be aware of the impact of the political arena and advocate for changes in policy and legislation to improve social conditions in order to meet basic human needs and promote social justice” (NASW Code of Ethics, 2008).

Join an interfaith, inter-community vigil of solidarity in memory of the fallen members of the Tree of Life Synagogue. Anti-Semitism can have no home in America. We must call it out directly as well as speaking out against homophobia, transphobia, islamophobia, xenophobia, racism, sexism, and bigotry of all forms. Join us to mourn, pray, and stand in solidarity.

Last week, Ald. Carlos Rosa announced his plans to envoke Rule 41 to finally free the CPAC ordinance from the Public Safety Committee and force the City Council to vote on the bill on Wed, Oct 31st. Ald Reboyras, the chair of that committee, has called for an emergency meeting of the city council on Monday at Noon to block the vote from happening. Arrive at 10:30 AM to sign up to speak.

After five public hearings dominated by support for CPAC, after mobilizing thousands in the streets on Black Friday and other major rallies, after garnering 55,000 supporters in every ward (more than *any other* police accountability ordinance) - the City Council refuses to acknowledge the overwhelming support for community control of the police. In the wake of the conviction of Jason Van Dyke, the people are demanding systemic change and real accountability. Members of the city council continue to enable police murders and police violence by refusing to stand on the side of justice.

Everyone in the greater Chicago area needs to get on their phone, call Ald. Ariel Reboyras, Chair of the Public Safety Committee and demand that he allow CPAC to get on the City Council floor for a vote Oct. 31, 2018. Ald. Reboyras’ phone number is: (773)794-3095.

Failure to allow this vote will be a slap in the face of every family affected by police murder and police torture, and we, and they, they won’t stand for it! The community has spoken: CPAC Now!

On October 29, 2018, 21 youth will confront the federal government at the #TrialoftheCentury in open court.

They are the #youthvgov plaintiffs in Juliana v. United States, and they allege that the U.S. government has knowingly violated their constitutional rights for over 50 years by contributing to climate change. They’re asking for a science-based National Climate Recovery Plan. This plan would end the reign of fossil fuels and require the United States government to do its part to stop dangerous climate change for young people and all future generations.

These brave youth need your help.

Join us from the rally at the federal courthouse in Illinois to be a part of the #TrialoftheCentury and support these young climate warriors. Our freedom depends on a climate system that will sustain human life. Let’s show the government that it has a duty to prepare and implement a Climate Recovery Plan to protect our basic and most fundamental rights!

To help us plan and organize these rallies, sign up at https://actionnetwork.org/forms/organize-a-rally-in-your-community

For more information or to find the rally in a different state, visit www.youthvgov.org/october29

To get email updates from Our Children’s Trust, sign up here: www.youthvgov.org/join

Call to Action

WHAT: Following the unsolved murders of two black transgender women in Chicago in 2018 and as the Trump Administration readies a new attack on transgender people across the country, transgender advocates will hold a press conference and rally to demand an update into the murders of Dejanay Stanton (she, her) and Ciara Minaj Carter Frazier (she, her) from the Chicago Police Department and request that elected officials and candidates for city offices provide a plan that will seek justice and curb violence towards transgender people specifically targeting transgender women of color.

When: Thursday, October 25, 2025 | Press Conference: 6:30pm and
Rally to follow

Where: Chicago Police Department Headquarters
3510 South Michigan | Chicago
(near 35th CTA green line and Sox/35th red CTA bus)

Speakers in order of the program (2 minutes per speaker)
• Reyna Ortiz, Board Vice Chair, Equality Illinois (she/her)
• Valerie Charm | Mother of Dejanay Stanton (she/her)
• Channyn Lynne Parker | Manager, Broadway Youth Center (she/her)
• LaSaia Wade | CEO, Brave Space Alliance (she/they)
• Beverly Ross | transgender community advocate (she/her)
• Lia Stokes aka Amailia Black | entertainer and community activist (she/her)
• Gearah Goldstein | transgender community advocate (she/her)
• Brian C. Johnson | CEO, Equality Illinois (he/him)
• Elise Malary | transgender community advocate (she/her)

LGBTQ clergy will lead a human chain around the perimeter of the police department hymning “We Shall Overcome.”

Following news of contributions of $1.5 million and $100,000 from megadonors Ken Griffin and Richard Uihlein to anti-LGBTQ attorney general candidate Erika Harold last week, Equality Illinois, the Human Rights Campaign, and LGBTQ advocates will call on major donors like Griffin and Uihlein to stop funding hate and to stop contributing to anti-LGBTQ candidates like Erika Harold.

It is our fundamental belief that when we fund campaigns that focus on divisive rhetoric, it trickles down to communities that have been historically marginalized. Over the last few years, we have seen murder rates among trans people rise and harmful policies adopted to target LGBTQ people.

Join us at our press event at 3:30pm at the Federal Plaza. After the press event, we will descend around the perimeter of the offices of Ken Griffin. We will stand on the sidewalk with signs and peacefully demonstrate that funding hate in Illinois is unacceptable.

If there is a Blue Wave, will you rest while hoping the Trump/Pence regime will be driven out by the Democrats and all will take care of itself? If there is no Blue Wave, will you be demoralized, run back home depressed, and literally let fascism consolidate? Blue Wave or not, Democratic leadership such as Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi are already refusing to impeach the Trump/Pence regime. Blue Wave or not, We the People have nothing to lose. Voting is not alway the most powerful form of democratic expression or disapproval. The Civil Rights movement did not happen in a voting booth. The Vietnam war did not end in a voting booth. Spiro Agnew’s and Richard Nixon’s resignation did not happen in a voting booth.

The removal of the Trump/Pence regime will not happen in a voting booth either. South Korea, Armenia, and Slovakia are recent historical evidence of how successful a mass protest can be in driving out unpopular corrupt leadership as they drove out their own presidents from power. The people in those countries obviously studied a certain amount of American history in regards to what a mass protest can do.

Why have we forgotten our history? Join us the day after the elections on November 7th no matter what results are. History teaches us that fascists don’t play by the rule book. Our means cannot be traditional either. As South Korea, Armenia, and Slovakia learned from our history books, let’s now learn from their recent chapters in history and add some new pages to ours.

Read the Call to Action:
https://refusefascism.org/2018/10/07/wed-nov-7-sat-nov-10-be-in-the-streets-in-the-name-of-humanity-the-trump-pence-regime-must-go/

If you are interested in volunteering, join the following group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/632245246958493/

The Cube of Truth is a peaceful static demonstration akin to an art performance. This demonstration operates in a structured manner that triggers curiosity and interest from the public; we attempt to lead bystanders to a vegan conclusion through a combination of local standard-practice animal exploitation footage and conversations with a value-based sales approach.

Masks, signs, and outreach literature are provided. Black upper clothing appropriate for the weather is essential, and please bring a fully charged laptop or tablet if you have one. If you are bringing a laptop or a tablet, please download the following:

Media player:
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

Footage:
https://goo.gl/so6qGp