Bianca Young was incarcerated while awaiting trial for 2 years because she couldn’t afford to post her high bond. This newstory about her plight features interviews with two NLG Chicago attorneys: Sharlyn Grace of Chicago Appleseed and Max Suchan of Chicago Community Bond Fund. We are proud of our members who are fighting mass incarceration, including pushing for an end to monetary bond and reducing pretrial detention.
The UIC Social Justice Initiative hosted an event in which Albert Woodfox spoke on his journey for justice in conversation with scholar-activist Beth Richie.
After being held in solitary confinement for 43 years, Albert Woodfox walked out of Louisiana State prison on February 19, 2016. Woodfox was the last incarcerated member of the Angola Three.
The name “Angola Three” was given to Albert Woodfox, Robert King and Herman Wallace because of their extensive incarceration in Louisiana State Penitentiary, also known as Angola Prison. The three were put in solitary confinement in April 1972, after the alleged killing of a corrections officer.
Robert King spent 29 years in solitary confinement before his conviction was overturned and Herman Wallace was released after 41 years in prison.
The 4 decades Woodfox spent in solitary makes him one of America’s longest serving solitary confinement prisoners. His unconditional release was decided on June 10, 2015, although he was not released until almost a year later.
The event was also co-sponsored by: Prison and Neighborhood Arts Project , Illinois Coalition Against Torture , Chicago Committee to Free Black Political Prisoners , African American Studies at University of Illinois at Chicago , Northwestern Department of African American Studies , Gallery 400
FROM #NoDAPL NLG LEGAL TEAM IN NORTH DAKOTA
Contact: NLG Attorneys
Bruce Ellison 605-858-1850
Jeff Haas 505-469-0714
Rachel Lederman 415-350-6496
BISMARCK, ND—North Dakota U.S. District Court Judge Daniel L. Hovland today dissolved a temporary restraining order against Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman Dave Archambault II and a number of named and unnamed participants in protests against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). Dakota Access LLP, the consortium building the DAPL, applied for the restraining order on an ex parte basis on August 15, citing demonstrations earlier in August that effectively shut down construction near the Oahe Crossing in North Dakota, where the DAPL is planned to cross the Missouri River and a dammed portion of the river known as Lake Oahe. The federal court granted the ex parte restraining order the following day, enjoining Mr. Archambault and others, including Standing Rock Sioux Tribe members Valerie Wolf Necklace and Clifton Verle Howell, from “unlawfully interfering in any way” with pipeline construction.
Valerie Wolf Necklace and Clifton Verle Howell, represented by the National Lawyers Guild legal team that is defending the Camp Sacred Stone water protectors, argued that the restraining order was an unconstitutional prior restraint on fundamental First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and assembly and free expression of religion, was not supported by competent evidence, and that Dakota Access does not have standing to prohibit water protectors from praying at and protecting ancestral sacred sites on public or private land. As described in three declarations by expert Tim Mentz filed in support of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s lawsuit for injunctive relief against DAPL[1], many Lakota / Dakota sacred sites lie within and near the pipeline corridor, including burial sites and other historic sacred sites that are used for prayer and spiritual connection and are vital to the religious life and heritage of the Lakota / Dakota people.
The water protectors deny that they have engaged in any unlawful or violent acts. “I participated in these actions to protect my family’s right to hunt, fish, and swim in clean water. I want my kids to be proud that we stood up to protect our source of clean drinking water,” said Clifton Verle Hollow. “I am pleased that the court has dropped its order preventing us from doing what we have traditionally done.”
After sacred sites were identified in court filings in the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s lawsuit in the Washington D.C. federal court on September 2, Dakota Access bulldozed many of the sites on September 3, bringing in private security guards who maced and unleashed attack dogs on unarmed, peaceful water protectors. As Judge Hovland recognized in his September 16 order, although the D.C. District Court subsequently denied the Tribe’s request for an injunction stopping construction, on September 9, the United States Department of Justice, the Department of the Army and the Department of the Interior released a joint statement recognizing that “important issues raised by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and other tribal nations and their members regarding the Dakota Access pipeline specifically, and pipeline-related decision-making generally, remain” and halted construction of the Oahe Crossing on federal land, also requesting that Dakota Access stop construction on the privately owned land in that area until the federal government determines whether it will need to reconsider any of its previous decisions to allow construction of the Oahe Crossing. However, Dakota Access has continued construction.
North Dakota District Judge Hovland’s September 16 order dissolves any federal court prohibition on protests against the pipeline and leaves it up to local authorities and the criminal courts to deal with those accused of breaking the law. Meanwhile, local authorities are now charging as felonies, nonviolent actions of protesters including peacefully locking themselves to stationary earth movers. “Although the judge went out of his way to show his disdain for many of the water protectors, he also became aware that this was a political controversy that he likely could not control and the mechanism of an injunction was unwieldy and likely ineffective in light of the determination of those resisting the pipeline construction over sacred sites and threatening the water supply,” said NLG attorney Jeff Haas.
[1] Standing Rock Sioux Tribe v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, D.D.C. No. C16-1534 JEB
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Photo: Water protectors at Standing Rock, courtesy of Rachel Lederman.
Dis-Orientation is an annual city-wide retreat for law students hosted by the National Lawyers Guild of Chicago. This year, Dis-Orientation was hosted by the Northwestern Law School NLG Chapter. The speakers included NLG Chicago activist and law professor Bernardine Dohrn, Juan F Perea of Loyola Law, Destiny Peery of Northwestern Law, and community organizer & recent law grad Quinn Kareem Rallins.
Prof Juan Perea introduced “the Epistemology of Ignorance” to a group of mostly 1st year law studentsat Dis-orientation, teaching them all the ways the constitution is pro-slavery. You can read Prof Perea’s law review article about the pro-slavery constitution here.
Bernardine Dohrn spoke about how lawyers & law students can support current social movements. Quinn Kareem Rallins discussed the question of whether change comes from the law or organizing people. He shared the story of using legal services at Boston Legal Aid to support organizing by Project No One Leaves in their fight against foreclosures.
Prof. Destiny Peery reminded us of the dangers of implicit bias in both teaching and the practice of law. The most important step in combating implicit bias is acknowledging it exists. You can take a test and explore your own biases here.
Finally, there was a panel of current law students shares their strategies for surviving & thriving in law school.
For more resources check out the Guerrilla Guides to Law Teaching.
The National Lawyers Guild of Chicago’s Mass Defense Committee, National Police Accountability Project-Chicago Chapter, and the Cook County Bar Association put together a special training by movement attorneys Emmanuel Andre (Law Office of Emmanuel Andre), Melinda Power (West Town Law Office), and Janine Hoft (People’s Law Office) on how to represent people
charged with ordinance violations or misdemeanor offenses in Chicago as a result of their political activity. This training was designed for attorneys with little or no criminal defense experience or who would like more discussion and education on representing political people in criminal cases. The training covered bond court, Chicago city ordinance violations, and misdemeanor criminal cases.
Attendees were invited to use their skills as a criminal defense attorney to help political movements and join the NLG Chicago’s Mass Defense Committee (MDC) Attorney Referral List. The MDC Attorney Referral List is a local list attorneys who represent activists arrested at protests on a free or low-cost basis. Referral List attorneys
have represented over 300 protestors free of charge in 2016. Recent MDC clients have included people from the Black Lives Matter Movement, the Mental Health Movement, Jewish Voice for Peace, anti-Illinois budget cut organizers, and many more!
Facebook event here.
Please email chicago@nlg.org with any questions.
The NLG Chicago Mass Defense Committee is a volunteer network of legal workers, law students, and lawyers committed to providing effective legal support for progressive movements.
Last month, The Stoop dedicated its live show to raising awareness and donations for NLG Chicago. Chapter Administrator Remigio Torres, actress Jasmin Cardenas, and comedian Jaime De Leon all shared stories under the theme “You can get with this, or you can get with that. As thanks, NLG Chicago is using the proceeds to give away 3 tickets to its Annual Dinner.
The Stoop is a monthly, off-book, live storytelling event hosted by Lily Be at Rosa’s Lounge in Humboldt Park. Now in our third year of sharing real Chicago stories, they also support Chicago-based non-profits through donation collections during our live show. It exists as a platform that brings Chicagoans to a better understanding of one another and inspire change. They believe that you can’t change people if you don’t understand them. Every month, Chicagoans fill Rosa’s Lounge to hear untold stories presented by community members who would never consider sharing. Stoop-styled stories are raw, not sanitized, and imperfect.
The Stoop will be back at Rosa’s Lounge on October 27 where the theme is ‘Sheisty’. Find them on Facebook for more details.
Join NLG Chicago on Friday, November 11 at the Irish American Heritage Center (4626 N. Knox Ave.) for a night of celebrating our awesome Chicago activist community. Learn about our dinner honorees and purchase tickets at dinner.nlgchicago.org.
(Dis)Orientation is an event for students to discuss surviving law school with our values and commitment to social justice intact. Come meet NLG law students, legal workers, and attorneys, while attending panels and trainings on how to become a people’s lawyer.
The NLG is dedicated to the need for basic change in the structure of our political and economic system. We seek to unite lawyers, law students, legal workers, and jailhouse lawyers to function as an effective force in the service of the people, to the end that human rights shall be regarded as more sacred than property interests.
Our aim is to bring together all those who recognize the importance of safeguarding and extending the rights of workers, women, farmers, people with disabilities and people of color, upon whom the welfare of the entire nation depends; who seek actively to eliminate racism; who work to maintain and protect our civil rights and liberties in the face of persistent attacks upon them; and who look upon the law as an instrument for the protection of the people, rather than for their repression.
Free food will be provided, with a happy hour to follow!
Chicago Alderman are currently preparing to vote on increased penalties for people found guilty of talking back to police officers. The National Lawyers Guild of Chicago is appalled to see Chicago City Council members pushing to add police officers and other first responders to a list of protected classes under our city’s hate crimes ordinance. The proposed changes increase possible fines under the ordinance from $500 to $2,500 and violators will continue to face up to six months in jail. We urge Chicago residents, aldermen, and fellow members of the legal community to oppose this unnecessary expansion and reject any increased penalties for civilians interacting with police officers.
The amendment seeks to add police officers, firefighters, and emergency medical crews to the hate crime law’s current list of protected identities based on race, sex, sexual orientation, disability, and active or prior military status. Unlike the usual list of immutable characteristics normally protected by hate crimes legislation, career choices do not create a traditionally identifiable “minority” group with a history of social marginalization. In fact, police officers historically and currently enjoy greater protection and social power than the average community member. This proposed amendment is an offensive misuse of hate crimes legislation, which proponents claim is needed to protect society’s most vulnerable members.
There is furthermore no documented problem of past or current discrimination or violence directed at police officers. The proposed expansion is a solution to a problem than does not exist. Despite attempts by the law enforcement community and its allies to portray the Black Lives Matter movement as an attack on police that has endangered officers, no such “Ferguson Effect” has been found. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2015 tied with 2008 for the second lowest death rate for police on national record. According to data from the National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund, over the last three years the leading cause of police officer deaths in the line of duty is car accidents.
The proposed ordinance will serve primarily as another arsenal in the police department’s cache of discretionary charges that can be used against protesters. In addition to vandalism and trespass, the ordinance’s most likely use is to enhance the penalties for misdemeanor assault–a state charge that can be brought following “conduct which places another in reasonable apprehension of receiving a battery,” including language perceived to be threatening.
Such increased penalties are clearly directed at deterring protest, which recently in Chicago has focused on police violence and lack of accountability. Now, in the midst of a Department of Justice investigation for unaccountable and racist use of force by the Chicago Police Department (“CPD”), City Council members seek to further protect and cocoon police from community critique. Over the last two years, grassroots organizers in Chicago have forced the ouster of CPD Superintendent Garry McCarthy, defeated State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez, and become the first city in the United States to award reparations to survivors of police torture.
Much momentum for these campaigns was built through marches, rallies, and other actions that placed demonstrators in close proximity to police. Police already have an array of discretionary charges that are regularly used against protesters, and several people have been charged with felony aggravated battery for accidentally coming in contact with police officers during actions or arrests. The proposed hate crimes expansion is merely another charge police will levy against protesters, and thus another tool for repressing dissent during this time of heightened scrutiny.
The proposed ordinance must be recognized for what it is—nothing more than an attempt to portray police as victims of the movements calling for their increased accountability and transparency. As a protective measure, it is both disingenuous and unnecessary. It serves only to further insulate the Chicago Police Department at a time it is already under federal investigation and subject to national attention for the nearly complete immunity with which it operates. Quite simply, the proposed hate crimes expansion is a step back for police accountability in Chicago, and as such, it must be rejected.
National Lawyers Guild of Chicago
Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression
Chicago Coalition for the Homeless Law Project
Law Offices of Standish E. Willis
and all of the other honorees for their work in advancing liberation struggles here and abroad. From defending the Attica Brothers all the way to Rasmea Odeh, your decades of hard work for justice both in and out of the courts are an inspiration!
Michael Deutsch has been a lawyer with the People’s Law Office and a Guild member since 1970. From 1991-1996 he was the Legal Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights. Michael’s legal career has been devoted to the representation of political activists and political prisoners. He has represented the rebelling Attica Prisoners, Black Panthers, Black prisoners facing the death penalty, and Puerto Rican Independentistas charged in U.S. courts. He was part of the legal team that challenged the first use of high security “control units” at the Marion federal prison for men and Lexington prison for women. More recently, he has represented Palestinian community leaders in Chicago targeted by the FBI including Muhammad Salah and Rasmea Odeh. Michael Deutsch has written and lectured extensively on prisons, international human rights, and political repression.
