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Scott Hechinger Profile picture
@ScottHech
Aug 26, 2020 • 12 tweets • 6 min read • Read on X
NEWS: At this pivotal moment, Chicago Mayor @LoriLightfoot is inciting fear. Calling for more police. Referring to calls to "defund" police as no more than a "nice hashtag." Chicago is not a war zone. Residents are not enemies. 20+ community orgs call for: JusticeNotFear.org
"When Mayor Lightfoot first ran for office, she visited one of our events in Hyde Park where we were collecting donations for Maurice Granton Jr.'s family after he was killed by police. Where is that support now?" India Jackson. Good Kids Mad City: gkmcenglewood.com Image
“Our obsession w/ locking up Black & brown people in record numbers & oversaturating communities w/ cops, all while defunding schools, shuttering community hospitals, & depriving residents of needed resources is actually the problem." Tanya Watkins. From: soulinchicago.org Image
In an open letter, 26 community groups are calling out @LoriLightfoot for "fueling the cycle of police violence & distrust" by ignoring their calls for change & escalating a law enforcement response that will trigger more violence & incarceration. Letter: bit.ly/3gwcryR Image
Police violence is nothing new especially in Chicago. For years, the Chicago police department literally tortured people, including over 100 Black men, to force confessions or to get them to falsely incriminate co-defendants. theatlantic.com/politics/archi…
RACISM: The Department of Justice concluded that Chicago police had long “violated the constitutional rights of residents for years, permitting racial bias against blacks, using excessive force and shooting people who did not pose immediate threats.” theroot.com/feds-confirm-t…
There’s a history here. A history that explains the indignation, as well as the community dream for better for the city and country. Chicago police murdered 17 year old Laquan McDonald and then lied about it until dash cam footage outed them. chicagoreporter.com/how-chicago-tr…
In the last decade alone, Chicago taxpayers paid over $700 million to settle lawsuits for police brutality. And while the police union opposes any discipline in even the most egregious cases, they’ve pledged to discipline any cops who demonstrate support for Black Lives Matter.
Chicago came together. Tried to rid themselves of police violence. Elected @LoriLightfoot on a promise of change. Claimed she recognized the dangers of overpolicing: "A militarized response to the violence isn’t what people want, & ... it’s not effective.”chicagomag.com/city-life/June…
But after the police killing of George Floyd, instead of listening, "progressive" Mayor @LoriLightfoot imposed a curfew, leading to hundreds of people being arrested peacefully protesting. 75% of those arrested were Black.chicago.suntimes.com/2020/5/30/2127…
When peaceful protestors were abused, arrested, pushed in front of police cruisers, tripped, pepper-sprayed, and beaten, she chose to write off the movement to defund the police as a “nice hashtag.” politico.com/news/2020/06/2…
As the letter writers demand, @LoriLightfoot: "Listen to the wounded & angry Chicago communities — the same ones who voted enthusiastically for you — and make good on your promises by embracing a reimagined and transformed vision of public safety." More: JusticeNotFear.org

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More from @ScottHech

Scott Hechinger Profile picture
Mar 18
“No judge has ever lost their job setting bail on someone.”

A NYC judge whispered that. To a public defender. Before depriving their destitute client of freedom. This happens every day. Judges are intimidated to throw poor people in cages.

Thread on a history of intimidation: Image
Public defenders @elizaorlins & @APetrigh tell about the open secret of "justice" throughout the country People are deprived of liberty, not based on merit. But judicial fear of negative press.

Story is paywalled. So Im transcribing it here:nydailynews.com/2024/03/15/int…
"The NYPD’s recent social media attack against a judge who released a defendant under supervision instead of setting bail and detaining them. The case drew headlines because the NYPD’s aggressive social media posts were full of misinformation, including misidentifying the judge." Image
Read 11 tweets
Scott Hechinger Profile picture
Feb 17
How copaganda works. Police, prosecutor, & prison interests use media to exaggerate & lie about "sensational" cases. Amplify them on repeat. Create the *perception* that "crime" or "migrants" are a "Crisis!"

Perpetual anger/fear buys votes & public opinion. Facts be damned. Image
How copaganda works. Police release a highly edited video that doesn't include their unprovoked, violent, & unjustified attack on a migrant. Manufactured "outcry" ensues. Lawmakers call for sweeping policy changes. New video later released. It's too late. Profound damage done. Image
How copaganda works. Even after previously withheld police footage showed the "attack on police" in Times Square was the opposite: An unprovoked attack *by police* on innocent people, reports continue only center the lie.

None (that I've seen) report on the overt police lie. Image
Read 12 tweets
Scott Hechinger Profile picture
Dec 4, 2023
An interesting story for you. Was catching up w/ a friend at coffeeshop. The mother of her friend walked by & joined us briefly. She’s from Chicago. She told us a story about talking to a Chicago police officer. Thanking him for his service.

What he told her will surprise you.
As quick background, she is a white woman. In her 60s. Well off. Grew up in the suburbs of Chicago. Now downtown. Forever Dem. Supported the end of cash bail. But is “fed up” w/ “all the violence.” Thinks “something has to be done.”

She saw a cop the other day & went up to him.
She told the cop how scared she was by everything she was reading in the news. Couldn’t imagine how tough things were “for him” given the “crime rates.” (Note: Homicides are down significantly in most of Chicago, but violence remains a scourge).

The cop told her to “buy a gun”
Read 17 tweets
Scott Hechinger Profile picture
Sep 18, 2023
Extraordinary work again from @TeenVogue -- the best justice journalism outlet in the country. On the day that cash bail is finally eliminated in Illinois, they release a critical explainer on "Copaganda."

How to identify & respond to lies & fearmongering about safety. Watch:
Must watch. The week that cash bail is finally eliminated in Illinois, local experts debunk harmful myths that the media peddles about bail reform. In this @TeenVogue video explainer.

"This fear has been built up & stoked by media misinformation. A refrain. A scapegoat " Watch:
Last year: Artists, survivors of violence, organizers, entrepreneurs, public defenders, policy experts, restorative justice practitioners, and system-impacted people sat for a series of conversations while exploring a groundbreaking exhibition on torture and incarceration.
Read 9 tweets
Scott Hechinger Profile picture
Aug 4, 2023
Teen Vogue out again w/ the best in political commentary, justice journalism & truth. A compelling & easily digestible explainer on "Abolition."

New vision of safety: "If policing prosecution & incarceration created safety, we'd be the safest country in the world." Watch. Learn:
When people hear the word "abolition" they think 'crazy leftist.' 'Idealistic.'

In reality: "We're the clear eyed ones. We have the whole history of the world to let us know what were doing now is not sustainable. We want a world where violence isn't the norm." Part 2:
Last year: Artists, survivors of violence, organizers, entrepreneurs, public defenders, policy experts, restorative justice practitioners, and system-impacted people sat for a series of conversations while exploring a groundbreaking exhibition on torture and incarceration.
Read 9 tweets
Scott Hechinger Profile picture
Aug 1, 2023
An important story to share. With a conservative Supreme Court for decades to come, state judges are more important & powerful than ever before.We should all care about state court decisions.

But right now, NY judges are fighting against any scrutiny. Calling it "intimidation."
As a public defender, even judges would admit the outsized media influence on their decisionmaking. "What if I end up on the cover of NY Post?" So theyd condemn people to Rikers.

But soon as researchers began studying their behavior, judges attacked it as "dangerous." More: Image
Judges are some of the most powerful actors in the criminal legal system. They perpetuate mass incarceration through their sentences and bail decisions. They decide if the cops violated the constitution or not.

Yet judges mostly operate in empty, unaccountable courtrooms. Image
Read 11 tweets

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