NLG CHICAGO

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Continuing the Fight Against White Supremacy After Charlottesville

August 14, 2017

Contact: Pooja Gehi, Executive Director
212-679-5100,ext. 11 | director@nlg.org

or Tasha Moro, Communications Director
212-679-5100, ext. 15 | communications@nlg.org

NEW YORK—The National Lawyers Guild (NLG), founded in 1937 as the first racially-integrated, human rights bar association, is committed to ending white supremacy in all its forms.  Our hearts go out to the family and friends of Heather Heyer, who was murdered was while standing up to racism and fascism, as well as the 19 additional counter-protesters injured at the “Unite the Right Free Speech Rally” in Charlottesville, VA this weekend.

Primarily through local NLG chapters, the NLG provides mass defense legal support for anti-racist community organizers participating in protest actions and other demonstrations.  In Charlottesville, this support included:

As an organization committed to human rights, the NLG categorically refuses to provide legal support to white supremacists or other hate groups.

“The Charlottesville community experienced multiple waves of horror this weekend. NLG trained Legal Observers were on the ground watching as those who terrorized our community by fulfilling their promises to enact violence. Our hearts our broken but our chapter is united and resolute in our determination to provide legal support to organizers who will continue to protect Charlottesville,” said Andrew Mahler, NLG Central VA Chapter Chair.

While the hateful rhetoric and policies of President Donald Trump and his administration have emboldened racists to assert their “right” to hate speech and violence, the United States was founded in white supremacy—it is nothing new. It is in the spirit of dismantling this oppression that we move forward in the struggle to liberate our institutions, society, and culture.

Photo: NLG Legal Observers in Charlottesville, VA, August 12, 2017.

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JMLS Hosts The Path of Resistance: A Public Interest Symposium

The JMLS student chapters of the National Lawyers Guild and The American Constitution Society hosted a symposium on public interest law on Thursday, April 13th, as their final event of the semester.

Six attorneys from diverse public interest fields discussed their practices and offered advice on navigating law school and developing a career in people’s law.

Aneesha Gandhi is a Supervising Attorney at the National Immigrant Justice Center’s LGBT Immigration Rights Initiative. She primarily handles LGBT asylum cases.

Dima Khalidi is the founder and director of Palestine Legal. Her work focuses on advocating for and providing legal advice to Palestinian advocates.

Iveliz Orellano is an Assistant Cook County Public Defender and JMLS graduate. She began her career litigating civil rights and police misconduct cases.

Nicole Schult is an attorney at Uptown People’s Law Center. Her practice areas include: fair housing, social security, and prisoner’s rights.

Quinn Rallins is a community and health care justice attorney at the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law. He began his career as a clerk at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Equal Justice Initiative, and Greater Boston Legal Services.

Steven Saltzman has practiced law for over forty years. His practice areas include criminal defense, police brutality, and employment law.

 

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Chi NLG Lawyers Representing New Era Chicago Arrestees

We are proud to have our volunteers representing all nine of the New Era Chicago and New Era Detroit members arrested during the #Hood2Hood community clean-up program two weekends ago.

Below is the full story republished from a statement from the Chicago Community Bond Fund:

On April 4th, CCBF posted bond to free Cody and Ron from Cook County Jail. They were both arrested on Saturday, April 1st at a Hood2Hood community engagement program and neighborhood cleanup in Englewood organized by New Era Detroit (NED) and New Era Chicago (NEC). Both New Era chapters organize for Black unity and empowerment. During the event, organizers knocked on neighborhood doors to inform Englewood residents of local resources in their community and picked up trash to help clean up the neighborhood.

As the program was drawing to a close, Chicago police physically attacked the organizers and arrested nine people, including two minors. Four people, including Cody and Ron, were charged with felony aggravated battery to police officers and misdemeanor resisting arrest. All four were given significant bonds at bond court on Monday, April 3rd. The New Era Detroit and Chicago chapters were able to post $6,000 in bond for two of their members charged with felonies, but Ron’s bond was set at $50,000 and Cody’s was set at $30,000. On Tuesday, CCBF posted the ten percent of their bonds required to free both from Cook County Jail. Below you can read NED’s press release about the arrests prior to the posting of bond. Everyone arrested at the Hood2Hood program is now out of custody!

CCBF proudly stands in support of liberation movements facing police repression for organizing against community disinvestment and white supremacy.
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“CHICAGO, IL – Several members of New Era Detroit (NED) and New Era Chicago (NEC)–the flagship chapters of the New Era Nation–were violently attacked & arrested by officers of the Chicago Police Department during their first #Hood2Hood community engagement program this past weekend.

The planned event was going well. NED and NEC members had spent the day cleaning and removing blight from several Chicago neighborhoods. They spoke to several residents & delivered a message of unity, hope, and empowerment. They also denounced the self-destructive violence impacting Chicagoans and other communities of color around the country. ‘Love of self’ was the message of the day; it was black, it was beautiful, and it was peaceful.

That’s when the Chicago police arrived and everything changed.

Witnesses reported that between 30-45 police officers, without provocation or warning, began beating members with their clubs, taking and destroying all Pan-African flags, screaming profanities, racial slurs, and shoving anyone in the area not wearing a police uniform. Some officers deployed their department issued Tasers. Others pointed their guns at anyone who wasn’t law enforcement. A Chicago fireman heard an officer issue a warning to the group: ‘This ends today. You guys and your fucking flags. Expect this every time we see you!’ Nine individuals were arrested & charged with felony counts of Aggravated Battery of a Peace Officer. Five were released the same day.

However, four members of the Detroit chapter–Zeek, Momma K, Cody, and Ron–remain in Chicago police custody. Each arrestee’s ten percent bonds have been set for $30,000 to $50,000.

The Detroit chapter’s legal team was able to secure legal assistance through attorneys from the National Lawyers Guild of Chicago who have committed to providing on-going legal support for those charged with felonies. ‘This is why we exist,’ Attorney Max Suchan, National Lawyers Guild of Chicago Mass Defense Coordinator, said. ‘We are dedicated to helping groups who are doing movement work whenever we can.'”

For more on the story, see the WGNTV article here.

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2017 Midwest Conference Highlights

On behalf of the NLG Chicago board members and staff, thank you to our attendees, planning committee, and sponsors for making this years Midwest Conference a success!

Michael Deutsch of People’s Law gave the opening keynote address Saturday night. During his address, he described his first trial, defending the Black Panthers in Carbondale, IL. He won that case – not guilty on 47 counts. Deutsch shared his next principle of putting “the State on trial. Raise the political nature of the case at every step in the case.”

Timothy Rose, of Peoples Response Team, along with Debbie Southorn, from American Friends Service Committee, gave a panel on organizers and lawyers who have played a role in campaigns confronting racist policing.

They talked about “copwatch” training and the work of Protect Rogers Park. Southorn recommends The Reader’s article for more info. The moderator, Joey Mogul of People’s Law, encourages everyone to read the forthcoming book “Invisible No More”.

This year’s impressive environmental justice panel included Emily Coffey from the Shriver Center, and Bob Gough, Bruce Ellison, Carolyn Raffensperger from the Water Protector Legal Collective. The panel was moderated by Robin Martinez, a board member of the Heartland Conservation Alliance. Emily Coffey shared the story of East Chicago lead contamination harming low-income residents, which you can read more about in this Chicago Tribune article.

Another important panel this year was the “Community Responses to the Targeting of Immigrant Communities” panel which consisted of Mony Ruiz-Velasco the executive director of PASO Action, Reyna Wences of OCAD, Ana Guajardo founder of Immigrants Workers’ Project, and was moderated by? Lilian Jiménez Policy Director for 7th District Commissioner Chuy García. Reyna Wences described OCAD’s collaboration BYP100, Arab American Action Network, Asian Americans Advancing Justice & others to expand the concept of sanctuary.

National Lawyers Guild president Natasha Lycia Bannan gave a talk about movement lawyering, militarized policing, Water Protectors and immigrant defense in Chicago.

The evening dinner and celebration was at Nellie’s Puerto Rican Restaurant. Jan Susler and Jose Lopez spoke of Oscar Lopez‘s return to Paseo Boricua next month.

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DePaul Hosts “Lawyering Under Trump” Panel

Progressive lawyering under the Trump regime will bring new challenges, and intensification of old ones. The Trump administration has already passed several oppressive policies targeting minority groups – two travel bans targeting Muslims, expansion of ICE enforcement, repeal of Title IX guidance for transgender students, promises to expand private prisons, and more. With these threats looming and becoming reality, the DePaul Journal for Social Justice and the Center for Public Interest Law hosted a panel on Thursday March 30, 2017, that discussed radical lawyers’ responsibilities in safeguarding legal rights, resisting the growing power of an authoritarian regime, and supporting grassroots movements who are protesting and fighting state violence in the streets.

The panelists were:

Contact

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Chicago, IL 60605

chicago[@]nlg.org