NEWSLETTER JUNE 2021
Police and State Violence Have Secondary Impacts: Complex and Lasting Trauma by: Aislinn Pulley and Cindy Eigler, CTJC Co-Executive Directors
Excerpt from an article by CTJC's co-directors, printed in the online magazine Truthout on May 6, 2021:
These last weeks, months, years and decades we keep on adding names to the list — Adam Toledo, Daunte Wright, Ma’Khia Bryant, Ronald Johnson, Pierre Loury, Rekia Boyd, Nickolas Lee, Laquan McDonald, Archie Lee Chambers, Maurice Granton, Anthony Alvarez.… The list of victims of police murder seems never-ending. Then there is the list of police torture survivors — Gerald Reed, Stanley Howard, Tony Anderson, Darrell Fair, Sean Tyler, Kilroy Watkins, and on and on and on. Many of us speak these names. We show up at the rallies and actions demanding justice. We work tirelessly to dismantle the long-serving systems and structures that brutalize and kill Black and Brown bodies. We feel the anger and the terror. But, we don’t often acknowledge that behind every name, every video, every individual locked up in the United States, every police stop, immense and complex trauma is left behind. For over 70 percent of Chicago’s residents who are Black and Brown, this police presence comes at a high cost. In addition to the lives lost and constant threat of danger, there is a trail of trauma leading to increased states of hypervigilance, unsafety and helplessness. This lived reality for many Black and Brown individuals overwhelms the nervous system, and forces individuals and communities to develop survival strategies and coping mechanisms that seek to mitigate the reality of living with a perpetual threat to life and well-being. These conditions add to the reasons why communities that are surveilled and occupied by policing are also always the poorest and have disproportionate rates of health disparities related to stress. This ongoing stress is state regulated and maintained. Oppression, as defined by Prentis Hemphill, is how society organizes itself to control and distribute trauma. This definition helps us better understand the political nature of health, wellness and trauma, and underscores the important questions of: Who does it serve when we are unwell? Who necessitates and perpetuates our unwellness and our unhealth, and why? The violence — direct and indirect — of racialized policing is both traumatic and trauma-producing. For many, this means that since the point of birth, the outside world has represented a perpetual environment of violence and harm, with government agents being the largest perpetrators and managers of this violence. Danger — and threat to life — is embodied by police, reinforced by politicians who give cover and legitimacy to policing, and enforced through the courts. This can mean then, for some, safety has never been experienced outside of loved ones, family and immediate community. Violence at the hands of police is trauma-producing. Seeing police officer after police officer completely escape any consequence and be able to kill and harm with impunity is trauma-producing. Seeing a court system that allows officers with patterns and practices of abuse and court-verified torture to testify and have their word valued more than those who lived the harm, which is the current reality specifically relevant to CPD torture survivors, is trauma-producing. Witnessing the ongoing existence of the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), the union representing police officers, which continues to justify police-perpetrated torture and murder, is trauma-producing. In Chicago, FOP leadership alone represents more than at least 142 disciplinary allegations, yet the mayor continues to engage with and pander to the union. Witnessing that pandering is trauma-producing, too. What do we know about systemic trauma, defined by CTJC as repeated, ongoing violation, exploitation, and/or deprivation of groups of people? We know that it overwhelms and breaks down our senses of safety and connection, and leaves us on hyperalert. We know that being in a constant state of hypervigilance can rob us of a feeling of having autonomy or control of our self and our bodies. This tension gets stuck and wreaks havoc — emotional, spiritual, social and physical — if it is not tended to and if we don’t invest attention and resources in mitigating its impact. Increases in blood pressure, sleep disturbances, ability to engage in intimate relationships, and more are just some of the consequences of chronic hypervigilance and persistent and complex trauma. All of these conditions tend to be depoliticized in the dominant narrative — somehow, Black and Brown communities are simply more impacted by “predispositional health factors.” In fact, they are consequences of focused deliberately imposed trauma by the state.
>> Visit bit.ly/ctjctruthout to read the full article.
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Welcoming Naji & LaTanya!
As we mentioned in our May newsletter, we are so excited to welcome both Candido "Naji" Ublies and La Tanya Jenifor-Sublett to our CTJC staff! Naji joins us as our full-time Case Manager, and La Tanya is the Director of our Peer Reentry Program. We asked them both a few questions about themselves, their new roles, and about the work of the Center. We asked La Tanya Jenifor-Sublett a few questions as she gets settled into her new role at CTJC: CTJC: What motivates you? La Tanya Jenifor-Sublett: I am motivated by knowing that I am creating a legacy with an organization that is the first of its kind. I am motivated knowing that I have a platform that allows me to represent and speak for other women who have experienced torture, abuse, and mass incarceration. Our Naji Ublies (left) and La Tanya Jenifor-Sublett (right) stories are told every time I speak, this is an honor not a CTJC: What led you to the work you do, and what draws you burden. to the work of the Center? CTJC: What are your hopes for CTJC? Naji Ublies: Being a part of a troubled community I have first hand knowledge of the issues at hand and I chose to be a LJS: My hopes for CTJC go beyond what we can see now. I part of the solutions and not the problem. Seeing our youth see CTJC going becoming the trailblazers of Politicized and communities underserved made me want to get involved Healing teaching and consulting all over the country and out with restoring it. Chicago Torture Justice Center are doing of the country. I see us providing such individualized something that is radical and that's focusing on the services and programs that others will model their individuals and their families who've been tortured by the program after ours. I see us transforming how healing, police or brutalized. CTJC have given them the platform and therapy, and “Re-entry” is defined. I see us creating support so their voices are heard to confront and bring forth housing for our participants that is generative, transformative, and sustainable. radical ideas to change this broken system. CTJC: What is one piece of advice you would like to share CTJC: What is something about you that might surprise us? with our community, and what is one thing you think everyone LJS: People would probably not believe how much of a home can do to make change? body I am. I love people, I love to be in community with people NU: My one piece of advice to our communities is to get who serve others. However, I am at my best, at home on the involved within the community issues. Know who the couch with a cup of tea. I also love to cook, and I do a little aldermen are and other elected officials who we put in the baking too. position to represent us and then hold them accountable. I truly believe we can make change by starting with CTJC: What is one thing you think everyone can do to make oneself, our family, and then our community. Meaning, to change? get knowledge of the issues you have and start with yourself, family, and community to get those issues heard LJS: I think that everyone can get involved. Tap into that fire that you have inside of you for a particular issue. It could be and change the system to better our communities. homelessness, domestic violence, youth programs, the Arts, incarcerated- then find an organization that will To all of our community still incarcerated, Naji sends formerly connect you to it. There will always be people who write an additional message of encouragement to do checks to support like CTJC and that is great. whatever you can now to get your documentation in We will always needorganizations money to provide However, order, including your birth certificate and something like donating clothes, sendingservices. books to prison identification. We know it's not always possible to have libraries, providing a gift card or welcome home bag these things squared away, and we also know that these someone who is recently released is getting involved.to things are necessary to navigate so many processes of Provide services to organizations if you specialize in a field. coming home. If we can support you in any of this, please Teach people how to write grants. There is so much to doreach out and let us know. just get involved. P.O. BOX 647 EVANSTON, IL 60204 CHICAGOTORTUREJUSTICE.ORG
Our Anniversary Month
This year, we celebrated the 6-year anniversary of the Reparations Ordinance and the 4-year anniversary of the Chicago Torture Justice Center with a series of virtual and in-person events. We are so grateful for all of the ways people joined us this year to honor the historic and ongoing struggle for justice for survivors and families. "I thought for a while God was picking on me. But he wasn't picking on me—he picked me." —Mary L. Johnson
Mothers of the Movement May anniversary Panel
The above photo is of participants in our Mothers of the Movement online event. The panel featured Rosemary Cade, Carolyn Johnson, Mary L. Johnson, Regina Russell, and Armanda Shackelford, who joined co-moderators Alice Kim and Mark Clements in discussion. More mothers and loved ones whose family members have been lost to or incarcerated due to police violence, including Anthanette Marshbanks, Denice Joyce-Bronis, and Esther Hernandez, joined throughout the evening. Other online events included a panel discussion on the importance of journalism in the ongoing work for justice for survivors, a discussion on Politicized Healing and organizing with Prentis Hemphill and Mark-Anthony Clayton-Johnson, and a series of Maker Sessions hosted by Chicago Torture Justice Memorials, which inspired the exercise we want to share with you here. To the right is a poem we received from one of our community members, Jamal, reflecting on the very real pain and trauma of police torture. We know that healing is ongoing and it happens individually and collectively. This piece is a testament to that. Thank you, Jamal, for sharing with us. When it comes to understanding and dismantling systems of harm and trauma, we know words are powerful and necessary! We invite you to read on for a writing exercise that was part of our May anniversary Maker Sessions. We hope you will take what you need from it, whether that be inspiration to create your own piece independently or as part of a group, or just taking in the words of the poetry being offered. If you feel moved to write and want to share a piece with us, please send it to the address below. Or maybe you want to write something you keep for yourself!
PTSD [Police Torture Syndrome Disorder] by Jamal
Nightmares of police torture, Prolong suffering and pain, Can't sleep most nights, It's driving me insane... Punch, kick and beat 'em, Suffocate 'em with plastic bags, Terrorize detainees with weapons Confess... we'll kill ya black ass... Electrical shock their testicals, Sadistic tactics learned in Vietnam, Handcuff 'em to hot-radiators, Violently slap their face numb... Undisclosed exculpatory evidence, Hidden in secret basement files, Torture victims rot away in prison Pigs are dirty, evil and foul...
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They torture Rodney King, They torture Eric Garner, They torture George Floyd, The entire world was watching... Psychological damage of torture, White supremist systematic abuse, Guilty until proven innocence, Right to remain silent - no use!!! Involuntary coerce confessions, Miranda violations never end, More power to the people, Time to protest at the U.N.
This exercise was led by Bill Ayers and Alice Kim in a workshop that was part of CTJM's Maker Sessions for our May Anniversary. From Alice Kim: Several readers each read a stanza of the poem, Imagine the Angels of Bread by Martín Espada, aloud for us. Bill and I shared some thoughts about the social injustices the poem addresses, the visual imagery evoked by the poem, and the repetition of Espada's opening line, "This is the year...." Then we did a freewrite with the prompt "This is the year...." Participants were charged with writing our own lines expressing the transformations we want to see in our neighborhoods, communities, the U.S. and the world each beginning with the line "This is the year...." By sharing our lines we collectively created our poem "This Is The Year We Saw Coming."
On your own or with a group:
1. Read "Imagine the Angels of Bread" on this page. What do you visualize when you read it? How does the repeated phrase "This is the year" impact your reading? What issues does the poem address? 2. Read "This Is The Year We Saw Coming" on the next page. What stands out to you here? How does it connect with the original piece? What issues is the poem addressing? How do different voices work together here? 3. Freewrite your own response, with inspiration from Espada's poem, the group's collective poem, or both.
Imagine the Angels of Bread by Martín Espada This is the year that squatters evict landlords, gazing like admirals from the rail of the roofdeck or levitating hands in praise of steam in the shower; this is the year that shawled refugees deport judges, who stare at the floor and their swollen feet as files are stamped with their destination; this is the year that police revolvers, stove-hot, blister the fingers of raging cops, and nightsticks splinter in their palms; this is the year that darkskinned men lynched a century ago return to sip coffee quietly with the apologizing descendants of their executioners.
This is the year that those who swim the border's undertow and shiver in boxcars are greeted with trumpets and drums at the first railroad crossing on the other side; this is the year that the hands pulling tomatoes from the vine uproot the deed to the earth that sprouts the vine, the hands canning tomatoes are named in the will hat owns the bedlam of the cannery; this is the year that the eyes stinging from the poison that purifies toilets awaken at last to the sight of a rooster-loud hillside, pilgrimage of immigrant birth; this is the year that cockroaches become extinct, that no doctor finds a roach embedded in the ear of an infant; this is the year that the food stamps of adolescent mothers are auctioned like gold doubloons, and no coin is given to buy machetes for the next bouquet of severed heads in coffee plantation country. If the abolition of slave-manacles began as a vision of hands without manacles, then this is the year; if the shutdown of extermination camps began as imagination of a land without barbed wire or the crematorium, then this is the year; if every rebellion begins with the idea that conquerors on horseback are not many-legged gods, that they too drown if plunged in the river, then this is the year. So may every humiliated mouth, teeth like desecrated headstones, fill with the angels of bread.
This Is The Year We Saw Coming by Maker Session Participants This is the year that the shrinking imagination dies. This is the year that Queens and Princesses fear not their Papa’s trips to the store pained by the clear messages of “breaking news” and the looming breaking of families that is so pervasively possible. This is the year that enough humans refuse to resign themselves to not being able to give and receive what we need (and want) from each other. This is the year that we feel the space left behind by those who have fallen to the pandemics of virus and racism. This is the year that we take ownership of the pain and the power, the grief and the hope they have bequeathed us. This is the year that the world embodies the nurturance of motherhood. This This This This This
is is is is is
the the the the the
year year year year year
when when when when when
memorials are of long lives well lived. newscasts are not doomcasts. Palestine is free and we can all wake up sure of another day. the art of liberation is valued beyond the liberal arts. learning is valued beyond education.
This is the year that we get what we need. This is the year when we organize for official prosecution for ongoing violation of universal group rights. This is the year children sway on swings copless, fearless, and alive. This is the year young people parade their hopes and dreams out of the shadows and unafraid. This is the year we collectively grieve without rushing to feed the capitalist vulture and hold one another with care and compassion for the graves of piling loss and greed. This is the year we shut down cages and borders detention centers and prisons. This is the year where we rest And that's okay There's only so much we can do We keep living every day That's enough We work, we sleep, we breathe There's days that going beyond that feels like Too much No, I can't today My chemical imbalance won't let me My soul is too heavy I'm trying to survive That's enough Sometimes anything else is Too much And that's okay. This This This This
is is is is
the the the the
year year year year
we break those prison bars. the streets become our streets. hope doesn’t die. we love as we’re meant to love: unfettered, unafraid, unapologetic.
This This This This This
is is is is is
the the the the the
year year year year year
that that that that that
we win the fight. the truth is told. we find each other. we saw coming. we say hello to the survivors.
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Your reflections, your thoughts, your brilliance:
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