What is #CPACNow?
How will it enable us to #DefundThePolice?
What else will CPAC empower us to do?
A thread on how exactly CPAC will overturn the power dynamic between police and our communities.
The #CPACNow ordinance was first written in 2012 after the police murder of Rekia Boyd. It would establish community control of the police, a goal first fought for by the Black Panther Party, by putting elected community members in charge of decisions around policing.
The word "community" is important here. The communities who need to be empowered are the ones most harmed by police violence, so #CPACNow council members will need at least 2 years of experience organizing in oppressed and marginalized communities.
City governments often use reformist reforms to find new ways for police to investigate themselves and dodge accountability. #CPACNow excludes police officers from the council to ensure that it serves the people and not the police.
Another problem with past reforms is that they haven't had the power to make real changes. #CPACNow will give us control of CPD's budget so we can #DefundCPD without asking the mayor for permission. It would also prevent the mayor from raising the budget a year or two from now.
#CPACNow will give us the power to hire and fire the superintendent. Certain alderpersons arguing for the status quo have claimed, incorrectly, that this part of the ordinance is unconstitutional.
#CPACNow will give us control over CPD policy, allowing us to end the police occupation of Black, Indigenous, and Latinx communities. This will give us more freedom to organize for a world without policing and prisons and to end the oppressive systems behind those institutions.
#CPACNow will have power over police union contracts. This means the council will be able to remove the barriers to police accountability placed in our way by the FOP.
Another difference between #CPACNow and reformist reforms is that CPAC will have decision making power, not just the ability to provide recommendations, in misconduct cases. This will empower us to truly hold police accountable.
We’re here at the @CCPSA_Chicago hearing with Superintendent Snelling to raise our demands on CPD.
First up for public comment is Kofi from @GKMC18 speaking on the need for immediate action following police crimes, including firing of officers, and an end to traffic stops.
In response, Snelling dodges the concrete demands and speaks about the need for training and partnering with violence prevention groups
Next up Miracle Boyd from @GKMC18 responds to Snelling’s claim that traffic stops have gone down by mentioning the 50,000 carried out last year, and speaks about the number of cases never addressed from 2020 and before and asks what he will do to address them.
THREAD: Gerald Reed has been incarcerated for 29 years after being tortured into confessing to a crime he did not commit. His incarceration exposes the illegitimacy of the prison system. W/ the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic, now is the time to #FreeGeraldReed and #FreeThemAll
Gerald was kidnapped by CPD on October 3rd, 1990. Detectives Michael Kill and Victor Breska, members of Jon Burge’s notorious “midnight crew”, proceeded to torture Gerald until he confessed to a double homicide.
During the “interrogation” the detectives broke a metal rod that had been placed in Gerald’s leg to repair his thigh bone from a gunshot wound. This injury has still not been adequately treated and Gerald cannot walk because of it.
Gerald Reed has been incarcerated for almost 30 Years for a crime he did not commit! This is injustice in it's truest form. Gerald's life is in danger.
CFIST continues to demand @GovPritzker immediately pardon Gerald Reed & ALL those tortured and wrongfully convicted. When we say #FreeGeraldReed, we also mean #FreeThemAll! We will continue to fight until Gerald & all those tortured are free!
Get involved: bit.ly/cfistinterest
Sign the CFIST petition pressure @GovPritzker to pardon all torture survivors! The Governor is the ONLY person who has the power to free torture survivors with the STROKE OF A PEN.
We are keeping the pressure and demanding #CPACnow until we have community control of the police and the community can control how we #DefundThePolice. Join us.
Tomorrow at 9:30 we're demanding #CPACNow outside of City Hall. You can help from wherever you are using our at home toolkit: bit.ly/GoodMorningLori and taking part in our social media blast starting at 8am.
Let's get #GoodMorningLori trending again!
White supremacy kills Black people in the streets, in their homes, at work, and in prisons. Lynchings by police and vigilantes must stop. Death by infection due to incarceration must stop. On this #DayOfProtest we are fighting to stop them. #StopPoliceCrimes #FreeThemAll
This #DayOfProtest is for Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Sean Reed, and everyone whose life was stolen by racist murderers. We demand justice for the families and community control of the police. #CPACNow #StopPoliceCrimes
This #DayOfProtest is for Gerald Reed, Clayborn Smith, Tamon Russell, and countless others who were kidnapped by police and tortured over many years of incarceration. We demand freedom and reparations for all torture survivors and the wrongfully convicted. #FreeThemAll