Newsletter FEBRUARY 2022
IN THIS ISSUE: Spotlighting the Reparations Won Curriculum | Help us find a Director of Organizing! | Prompts for Writing & Reflection
The Fight for Torture Justice in Chicago is Black History CTJC's reflections on Black History Month - Originally published online on February 1, 2022
The Chicago Torture Justice Center celebrates Black History Month by uplifting and remembering survivors, communities and families impacted by racist police violence and institutionalized racism. This month, we will share stories of resistance and resilience–grounded in the history and ongoing struggle of reparations for Black survivors. We honor that reparations were only made possible due to Black-led, decades-long organizing. The Center was created as a result of the historic Reparations Ordinance of 2015 to provide services and healing support for survivors. Today, the Center continues to contribute to the movement for reparations, guided by and rooted in politicized healing. It is our belief that healing from racialized trauma is a political act, and that our politics bring healing to our communities. As we celebrate healing, we also acknowledge harm. Torture quietly proliferated through the Chicago Police Department for decades because Black survivors and their families were dismissed and silenced. We honor the courage and strength of survivors who have shared their stories, and are unapologetic in naming harm as we move towards a culture of accountability. We recognize that the Reparations Ordinance in Chicago, while historic, is a small drop in what should be a well of reparative justice for the 400+ years of systemic oppression against Black communities in the United States. We equally honor that every victory in this ongoing movement deserves celebration. As we look back at history, we look toward a future of repair and healing that may one day extend beyond Chicago and beyond our Center. #BlackHistoryMonth #ReparationsNow #ReparationsWon #FreeThemAll
Photos by Sarah-Ji (bottom) and Ez Powers (top) P.O. BOX 647 EVANSTON, IL 60204 CHICAGOTORTUREJUSTICE.ORG
Updates to Our CTJC Team As we look ahead to the future of the Center, we are excited to be evolving as a staff in ways that will allow us to continue to respond to our community. Read on for more on a few new (and returning) faces to the CTJC team: Dr. Nate Gilham (pictured to the left) returned as CTJC's Clinical Director this month. Nate has been part of the clinical work at the Center in one way or another since our doors opened, he returns to the Director role after Valerie Papillon chose to move into a full-time clinician role at CTJC. A native of Chicago and Englewood, Nate has personally witnessed how the community was transformed from a Mecca for Black families seeking opportunity in the north to a community plagued by politically motivated disinvestment. Joining CTJC provides an opportunity to advocate on behalf of communities in Chicago that have experienced the same types of disinvestments, brutalization, and discrimination. His focus is to educate providers and communities on the impact of race-based stress and trauma, and to partner with others to build resilience. We also welcome Jamila Lawrence and Gilary Valenzuela to CTJC! Jamila, a passionate advocate for healthy initiatives, cultural sensitivity, and social change, is driven by progressive action, growth, and life-long learning. She brings a background in Advertising/Marketing, Public Health, and Human Services to her role as the Center's Office Manager. Gilary is grateful to serve the Center as a Communications and Resource Associate. A child of immigrants from the Philippines, Gilary has organized in the Chicago Filipinx/a/o diaspora community around human and labor rights, and Philippine sovereignty. She has also organized alongside northside Chicago tenants on affordable housing campaigns, including the SRO Preservation Ordinance and Bring Chicago Home. As we continue to find new ways to support our community during these challenging times, we feel incredibly fortunate to be growing in ways that will add to the work we can do as a team.
Help us find a Director of Organizing! As we seek to build out our organizing capacity, we are excited to add a Director of Organizing to the CTJC team. This position presents a unique opportunity for a strategic, dynamic, and thoughtful leader to advance our commitment to building power through base building, grassroots leadership development, and issue-based campaigns. The Director of Organizing will supervise the community organizing team and lead campaign strategy for all organizational priorities. Grounded in the Chicago Torture Justice Center’s mission, vision, politicized healing lens, and organizational values, the Director of Organizing position will also work collaboratively with CTJC’s Survivor and Family Advisory Council and staff (including the Clinical team) to develop aligned political strategy, offer technical assistance and leadership development, and evaluate CTJC’s community organizing and campaign work. We are looking for individuals who are visionaries and leaders and have at least a range of 5- 10 years of grassroots community organizing, campaign organizing and/or direct action organizing experience. We are seeking people who have a deep commitment to base building, leadership development & training, political education, building power, and a deep love for (and understanding of) oppressed and marginalized communities. Could this be you or someone you know? Please apply by February 28! Learn more at chicagotorturejustice.org/workwithus.
P.O. BOX 647 EVANSTON, IL 60204 CHICAGOTORTUREJUSTICE.ORG
Spotlight on: The Reparations Won Curriculum "TO REMIND THE CITY OF THE INJUSTICES THAT OCCURRED AND TO ENSURE THAT THEY ARE NOT REPEATED, THE CITY WILL ACKNOWLEDGE AND EDUCATE THE PUBLIC ABOUT THIS DARK CHAPTER IN CHICAGO’S HISTORY." —Reparations for Burge Torture Victims Memorandum of Understanding
The Reparations Ordinance of 2015 included a resolution for 8th and 10th grade Chicago Public School students to learn about the dark history of police torture in Chicago. This month, we are shining a spotlight on the Reparations Won curriculum in an effort to grow understanding around this critical piece of the ordinance. As we said at the start of this newsletter, Chicago torture justice is Black History. Throughout Black History Month, we are highlighting reflections from survivors, organizers, and educators who have spent years developing the curriculum and bringing it to life with students in classrooms across Chicago. In doing so, we hope to encourage and support educators in the city and far beyond to incorporate this important history and these rich learning opportunities into their work with students. This month's curriculum spotlight is a joint effort between Chicago Torture Justice Memorials, the Chicago Teachers Union and Teachers Union Foundation, Chicago Public Schools, the Invisible Institute, and the Chicago Torture Justice Center. We'll be releasing new and updated resources, including a tip sheet for educators and interviews on how the curriculum was developed and its impact. Here are a few highlights from those interviews: "This curriculum deals with very traumatic and difficult topics... And I think that students really appreciate that they're being trusted to handle these very difficult topics in a mature way... I think it gives students an opportunity to experience school as a space where they can learn about difficult history, as well as challenge those things." —Lauren, teacher "This is a part of history. We have an opportunity to steer the course of history, what will be aired, what will be viewed. Our ancestors did not have that opportunity to explain what it was like in their situations." —Mark, survivor "This is about teaching about the torture that occurred and about teaching about the organizing to seek justice on behalf of torture survivors and to try to right these wrongs, and particularly about the reparations movement." —Joey, organizer Do you have reflections on the Reparations Won curriculum you'd like to share with us? Please send them to us at our PO Box below or email info@chicagotorturejustice.org. Keep an eye on our social media throughout the month and visit chicagotorturejustice.org/curriculum to learn more! P.O. BOX 647 EVANSTON, IL 60204 CHICAGOTORTUREJUSTICE.ORG
Writing Prompts for Journaling, Reflecting, and Discussion Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective (BEAM) is a California-based collective of advocates, yoga teachers, artists, therapists, lawyers, religious leaders, teachers, psychologists and activists committed to the emotional/mental health and healing of Black communities. BEAM envisions a world where there are no barriers to Black healing and is working to remove barriers to emotional health care and healing through education, training, advocacy and the creative arts. The Affirmation Journal Prompts below were designed by BEAM to be shared for educational purposes. We hope you will find something in them that resonates with you. Reflect on them one at a time, a few at a time, or all at once. Revisit them at different points throughout your day, your week, or longer. Talk them over with someone you trust. We invite you to use them however feels helpful to you.
In times of uncertainty, anxiety, grief, and loss, it can feel difficult to nurture ourselves and connect to our resilience. We are grateful for resources and tools like these, which are offered as a way to help bring us back to ourselves and what we care about in those moments and always. Learn more at beam.community, and download more of their resources at beam.community/tool-kits-education. P.O. BOX 647 EVANSTON, IL 60204 CHICAGOTORTUREJUSTICE.ORG