Right now there are 157 people infected w/ Covid in Chicago jail. A growing outbreak. Last year, a man died despite his wife calling 132 times. The spillover to communities esp Black & brown harms everyone. And beloved “progressive” sheriff Tom Dart calls this “success.” Outrage:
Meet Cassandra Greer-Lee. Public school teacher. Fierce advocate. Her husband called terrified of COVID outbreak in Chicago jail. “Is anyone surviving this?” She called *132 times* to try to get help. No response. Beloved sheriff Tom Dart calls his jail a “success.” More:
Nickolas Lee was unable to social distance in Cook County Jail in Chicago, like so many others throughout the country. Denied even basic sanitary precautions like soap and a mask, and caged in large groups with others who were symptomatic. His story:
More on the horrific conditions that Chicago sheriff Tom Dart— beloved & thought of as a progressive champion — calls a “success.” He’s out there slamming calls for decarceration. Claiming caging people is a public health & safety policy. Torture chambers:
READ THIS: An NYC public defender's brilliant oped in Teen Vogue. Grappling w/ why even those who oppose mass criminalization keep believing in it. "Weve been educated by the same popular culture — taught to accept the same cruelty." A Law & Order mindset. teenvogue.com/story/law-and-…
NYC Public Defender & movement lawyer, Olayemi Olurin (@msolurin) starts w/ this upsetting observation: The crisis on Rikers every one was talking about just a month ago has already "faded from headlines." This is a "familiar pattern." But she doesn't stop there. She asks *why.
Familiar pattern: "Extreme events of injustice generate public outrage & awareness. Then stories fade, everyone forgets, & the status quo prevails. It’s as if this crisis isn’t happening." And the very systems that caused & created these injustices continue to expand. Again: Why?
THREAD: This is about Compton, CA. About the choices we make as taxpayers. Whether to invest in families, in community, in health & safety. Or continue to throw billions away at police & incarceration that only harms. This thread is also about what you can do right now. Read on:
Compton, CA is an American cultural capital. And a city where glaring social inequities overlap. 30% of residents are Black, 68% are Latino. And incredibly, 1 in 5 are below the poverty line. Not enough money for medication, groceries, school, transportation, housing. The basics.
As families, children, & elderly struggle to survive, Compton taxpayers pay more per resident per geographic area to the Sheriff than any city in LA County. $22 million. All despite the harm of Compton Executioners: 1 of the Sheriff's violent deputy gangs.knock-la.com/lasd-gangs-lit…
Right now, in real time, the top cop in Los Angeles (@LACoSheriff) is live & lying about “crime” being “up” when it’s down, police being “defunded” when their outrageously high budget has increased, & truth not mattering at all even when data is right there to prove him a liar.
Here is the Los Angeles top cop *lying* that police are being “defunded.” Again: that’s a lie. “The budget has continued to increase.” Did I mention the top LA cop is brazenly lying? And every knows it? Why isn’t this national news?
Here is the top cop in LA (@LACoSheriff) admitting there are *two* upcoming academies for new cops despite minutes earlier claiming that he’s been forced into a hiring freeze & he’s also being defunded. The lies are so brazen. He doesn’t care. He’ll get away with them.
Thread: More problematic “crime” reporting. This time from @NPR. The very premise—man charged in Wisconsin parade killings is “poster boy for backlash against bail reform”—is only bc outlets like NPR promote the lie. Nothing to do w/ “bail reform.” More:npr.org/2021/11/25/105…
I ache for the victims in Wisconsin. Committed to finding solutions to avoid future tragedies like this one. Thats why I want to set record straight: There is no “bail reform” in Wisconsin. No significant change to bail laws in Wisconsin in a decade. Bail was set in this case.
NPR (& other outlets) even mentioning “bail reform” in context of deaths in Wisconsin is enough to generate the fear & anger to incentivize judges & prosecutors to cage way more at expense of law/reason. Lawmakers to pass harsher laws. Real bail stories:
This is a breathless, sensationalist lie from a NYT reporter. NYPD has never come close to “solving” 90% of anything. And violent crime didn’t “spike.” All major crimes, save for homicides (still at historic lows), continued their 30+ year decline. Why are you doing this, Ali?
As a public defender, I represented literally hundreds of Black men & women accused of doing this. Most literally couldn’t afford $2.75 subway fare. Difference between eating/not. Arrested, caged, forced to plea to the crime of “theft of services.” But when you’re white & proud:
This year, NYC hired *500 more subway cops.* There were already 4000 NYPD in subway. $245 million/yr. They mostly target Black people for jumping the turnstile & attack. Fail to prevent crime. Instead of investing in free/affordable public transportation. gothamist.com/news/500-more-…
This is what subway policing normally looks like. NYPD surround woman selling churros. Crying. Telling her she stops or get arrested. Trying to talk to them in Spanish. Rolling their eyes. Lead out in cuffs. Cart taken away. This is police violence.