NEWSLETTER MAY 2021
Celebrating our anniversary month
“Everything worthwhile is done with other people.” — Mariame Kaba As May approaches we find ourselves facing the continued brutality and violence perpetrated on Black and Brown children, families, and communities still struggling to survive pandemics—of policing, of COVID—that have stolen so much. These days, weeks, and months have shown us how police violence continues to create grief and trauma in our communities. While we grieve, rage, resist, and protest, we also make space to collectively and with our whole bodies honor and feel the satisfaction of what we have won, built and envisioned. These death-making systems and structures cannot suppress our light! As we mark the 6-year anniversary of the passage of the historic Reparations Ordinance led by survivors and Chicago Torture Justice Memorials and the 4-year anniversary of the opening of the first-ever center created to address the harms of police torture and violence—the Chicago Torture Justice Center—we know what it looks like to imagine and demand accountability with survivors and families. We know what it feels like to grow into our vision together. Throughout May, we invite our community to feel the unstoppable force you (we) are and honor the satisfaction of it. We invite you to allow yourself joy and pleasure and all the feelings of warmth that are so easily taken away because we are never taught how to cherish them. We ask you to take that into our continued struggle to end all forms of police violence. Satisfaction does not mean we ignore injustice. It is an act of self-preservation, an act of celebration for all you encompass, for all that you have poured into yourself and into the world already. And, there is so much more work to be done. After 6 years, the City is still dragging its feet on making any kind of public commitment to building the Memorial. Funding for the Center is up in the air year to year, even as increased demand and the pandemic mean we need to move to a new building we hadn’t budgeted for. Satisfaction is also an act of collective care. It is drawing deep fulfillment in the journey, in the process, in the struggle — that “our work together should be good medicine.” The way we get there is just as important as where we are going. See the next page for more about all we have planned for this year's celebration!
Our team is growing!
We are so grateful to welcome both La Tanya Jenifor-Sublett and Naji Ublies to our CTJC staff! Naji joins us as a fulltime Case Manager and will work closely with our team of Learning Fellows. La Tanya, who has been part of our community for several years, will lead us in developing and launching our new Peer Reentry Program as the Director. We are excited for the wisdom, experience, vision, and perspective both Naji and La Tanya bring to their work. We'll be introducing each of them in more detail soon but for now, we want to send them both a very warm welcome! P.O. BOX 647 EVANSTON, IL 60204 CHICAGOTORTUREJUSTICE.ORG