NLG CHICAGO

by

Reparations Ordinance for Chicago Police Torture Survivors

callrahm

On October 16, 2013, a Reparations Ordinance for Chicago Police Torture Survivors was introduced in Chicago’s City Council. It has already garnered the support of 27 alderpeople.

Despite ongoing requests from Chicagoans, the Finance Committee of Chicago’s City Council, headed by Alderman Ed Burke, has not yet scheduled a hearing for the ordinance.

Today, At the next Finance Committee meeting on January 15, there was a sign-in for Reparations at City Hall, 2nd floor. 


 ABOUT THE REPARATIONS ORDINANCE:

 Among other demands, the ordinance would require the city to administer financial reparations to all Burge torture survivors who are unable to sue for monetary damages because the statute of limitations for their claims has expired. The proposed ordinance would also provide all torture survivors and their families with tuition-free education at City Colleges; create a center on the South Side of Chicago that would provide psychological counseling, health care services and vocational training to those affected by law enforcement torture and abuse; require Chicago Public Schools to teach about these cases and sponsor the construction of public torture memorials. And it asks the city’s leaders to issue a formal apology to those who were tortured and their communities.

For the full text of the Reparations Ordinance see: http://chicagotorture.org/#reparations

This event is organized by Project NIA, Amnesty International, and Chicago Torture Justice Memorials.

torture

by

Court rules Chicago’s park curfew ordinance is constitutional

Illinois Appellate Court Reverses Circuit Court Finding of Unconstitutionality in the Occupy Chicago Cases

As protests against police misconduct and racial injustice sweep the nation, a panel of the Illinois Appellate Court Tuesday, December 23, 2014 upheld one of the largest mass arrests in the city’s history.
Occupy Chicago protesters, represented by pro bono attorneys with the National Lawyers Guild of Chicago (NLG), People’s Law Office (PLO), and Durkin & Roberts had won an earlier lower court decision dismissing their 2011 arrests as an unconstitutional violation of their First Amendment rights.  The case, City of Chicago v. Tieg Alexander, et al., 1-12-2858, dates back to October of 2011, when approximately 300 activists associated with Occupy Chicago were arrested on two consecutive Saturdays in Grant Park.
Ninety-two of the arrestees challenged their arrests and were victorious in the Circuit Court, which struck down the ordinance used to arrest them.  Today a panel of the Illinois Appellate Court overturned that decision, in a rollback of First Amendment rights.
“The policing in these cases illustrates Rahm Emanuel’s shameful corporate agenda, designed to elevate corporate interests and erode the rights of everyday people,” said Sarah Gelsomino, attorney with the People’s Law Office and National Lawyers Guild.  “It’s outrageous that the City continues to waste our money on prosecuting activists for a petty curfew violation.”
NLG attorney Molly Armour stated:  “Today’s decision strikes a blow to protest movements at the very moment we see how essential they are to the national dialogue and to affecting fundamental social justice.  As lower court recognized — public spaces should be reserved for the People and the moments in our history where dissent is essential.”
“The National Lawyers Guild will continue to demand protections for those who challenge injustice,” Gelsomino says.  “The fight to protect freedoms of speech and assembly is vital, especially now as protests against racist and oppressive policing sweep the country.”
The NLG continues to support people’s movements in the streets with its Legal Observer™ Program and in the courts defending those arrested.  While disappointed in the ruling, the NLG remains steadfast in its commitment to the fights for social, economic, and racial justice.
The National Lawyers Guild was founded in 1937 and is the oldest and largest public interest/human rights bar organization in the United States. Its headquarters are in New York and it has chapters in every state.

 

*** Appellate Court Opinion ***
        Illinois Appellate Decision – December 23, 2014
       http://peopleslawoffice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Occupy-Chicago-Appellate-Opinion.pdf
*** Documents from Occupy Chicago Appeal ***
        City of Chicago’s Appeal Brief – May 8, 2013
        http://peopleslawoffice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/City-brief.pdf
        Occupy Chicago Response Brief – September 30, 2013
        http://peopleslawoffice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Filed-Appellate-Occupy-Brief_201310021144.pdf
        City of Chicago’s Reply Brief – December 12, 2013
        http://peopleslawoffice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Occupy-Reply-Brief-12.12.13.pdf
*** Documents from Trial Level Court ***
        Decision Ruling in Favor of Occupy Chicago – September 27, 2012
        http://peopleslawoffice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Decision-Ruling-in-Favor-of-Occupy-Chicago1.pdf
        Occupy Chicago Reply to City – February 10, 2012
        http://peopleslawoffice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Occupy-Chicago-Reply-to-City.pdf
        Original Occupy Chicago Motion to Dismiss – November 4, 2011
        http://peopleslawoffice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Occupy-Chicago-Motion-to-Dismiss.pdf

by

NLG Stands with People of Ferguson

NLG Stands with People of Ferguson, Condemns Systematic Police Violence in Communities of Color
 
FERGUSON, Mo. — The NLG joins the people of Ferguson in expressing disheartenment at the grand jury decision to not indict police officer Darren Wilson for the killing of unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown. The rampant impunity with which police murder innocent people of color, as well as the heavily militarized response to protests in Ferguson, are symptoms of a larger system of racial injustice that has criminalized and oppressed people of color since the country’s founding. In just the last week, police have shot and killed two other unarmed African-Americans – Akai Gurley, 28, “accidentally” gunned down in his Brooklyn stairwell; and Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old boy holding a BB gun near a Cleveland playground. As Ferguson and the rest of the nation rallies to demand an end to this state sanctioned violence, the NLG will be working to support and uphold the First Amendment rights of protesters.

The NLG helped establish the Ferguson Legal Defense Committee (FLDC). The FLDC is coordinating legal support for arrestees with support from Guild members from New York, Chicago, Detroit, and elsewhere. NLG Legal Observers will be monitoring police activity in Ferguson and solidarity demonstrations nationwide to ensure that the rights of protesters are respected.

These extrajudicial killings are bolstered by the rhetoric from mainstream media that criminalizes peaceful protesters, especially people of color, while repeatedly failing to challenge the motives and actions of police officers and other officials in positions of power. Guild Legal Worker Vice President Kris Hermes, who has been working on the ground in Ferguson, explains that the media’s profitable sensationalism “serves as a cover to use violent repression against protesters,” while the “grand jury system was manipulated to exonerate Wilson.” Given Gov. Jay Nixon’s preemptive “state of emergency,” deployment of the National Guard, and FAA “no-fly zone” declarations, the government’s intent to squash dissent in Ferguson is clear.

As Ferguson protesters emphasized in an open letter, their struggle speaks to a much larger tradition of racial oppression, of which police brutality is just one part:

“This fight for the dignity of our people, for the importance of our lives, for the protection of our children, is one that did not begin Michael’s murder and will not end with this announcement. The ‘system’ you have told us to rely on has kept us on the margins of society […] This system you have admonished us to believe in has consistently, unfailingly, and unabashedly let us down and kicked us out, time and time again.”

The NLG calls on lawyers, law students, and legal workers of conscience to contribute their legal knowledge to defending the people of Ferguson. Volunteers who are ready, willing, and able to contribute to these efforts in Ferguson may sign up here.

The NLG is accepting donations for its efforts in Ferguson and elsewhere.

by

New NLG Palestine Delegation Report on Political Prisoners in Israel

New report by National Lawyers Guild Palestine delegation shines a light on political prisoners in Israeli jails

“Prisoners of Injustice,” released today, is a new report that summarizes the findings and experiences of the May 2014 National Lawyers Guild delegation to Palestine examining the conditions and situation of Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails.

The report reviews the experiences and findings of the delegation, who observed Israeli military trials and met with human rights organizations, families of Palestinian prisoners, and former prisoners, among others.

The report also details the delegation’s observations on the construction of the oppressive “separation Wall,” the expansion of Jewish-only settlements in the West Bank, and Palestinian popular protest.

Over 500 Palestinian prisoners are currently held in administrative detention, without charge or trial; the report looks at the role of administrative detention in suppressing Palestinian dissent. In addition, the report examines the targeting of children and youth for arrest and imprisonment.

The delegation also observes the connections and similarities between “war on terror” prosecutions, mass incarceration, and militarized, racialized policing in the United States, and the situation of Palestinians under occupation.

The delegation worked closely with Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, as well as with Defence for Children International Palestine Section, throughout its time in the West Bank.

The delegation urges the widest possible distribution of the report to decision-makers, lawyers, legal workers, law students, organizations and activists.

The National Lawyers Guild was formed in 1937 as the nation’s first racially integrated bar association to advocate for the protection of constitutional, human and civil rights.

To read the report, please click here to download:
http://www.nlginternational.org/report/PrisonersOfInjustice-Report.pdf

To download or view the report on Scribd, please see:https://www.scribd.com/doc/248780890/Prisoners-of-Injustice-Report-of-the-National-Lawyers-Guild-Delegation-to-Palestine

 

by

Chicago All Chapter Meeting

Now that we are energized after a successful Convention, join fellow chapter members for an overview of the Chicago Guild, interactive subcommittee breakout sessions, networking and involvement opportunities, and chapter board elections!  We will have light snacks during the meeting, and will head to a happy hour TBA immediately afterwards for mingling and networking.

When: Friday, Nov. 7 at 5:30pm, happy hour TBA to follow! 
Where: Grace Place 637 S Dearborn St
Who: All are welcome! Members, soon-to-be members, students (note: only members will be eligible to run or vote in Chapter elections)
RSVP: not required, but appreciated, on Facebook or to chicago@nlg.org

 

Subcommittees to learn more about include: NextGen, TUPOCC, Labor & Employment, Mass Defense, and Police Accountability.

Contact

637 S. Dearborn St., 3rd Floor
Chicago, IL 60605

chicago[@]nlg.org