NEWSLETTER April, 2018
VOICES FROM THE INSIDE
If you have words, stories and arts you want to share from behind the prison walls, please write to us at: Chicago Torture Justice Center, 641 W. 63rd St. Chicago, IL 60621.
UPDATES ON MEMORIAL PROCESS Please join our sister organization, Chicago Torture Justice Memorials (CTJM), on April 28th! It will be an opportunity to discuss ideas, location and visions for a memorial to survivors and families of Chicago Police Torture. CTJM will share out what they've learned so far and show slides of memorials around the world and local Chicago artists they hope to commission for the memorial. Over the years Chicago Torture Justice Memorials (CTJM) has discussed the importance of a memorial in honor of the history and struggle of survivors of police torture and their families. Since the passage of the Reparations Ordinance in 2015, CTJM has been researching the best processes to create the memorial. After much discussion and discernment in the summer of 2017, they gathered to share images of memorials from around the world, they talked about memorials here in Chicago and eventually decided to commission a small group of artists — all Chicagoans— to develop plans for a memorial. This means CTJM will pay artists to develop plans on paper and/or small models of the memorial. From there they would use a community process to select a final artwork to create the memorial.
In addition to the important work of selecting a group of potential artists CTJM has been discussing and researching options of where to locate the memorial. They met with former and current officials from the park district to learn about the limits and issues of having a memorial on city owned land versus buying land (and maintaining) to house the memorial. Simultaneously, they have been interviewing survivors and family members about locations and visions for a memorial. To do this CTJM drafted questions about what a memorial could look like, where it should be, and what it should do for people visiting it (such as, tell a history, honor survivors, be a place of reflection or action). They used the questions to interview some of you and also sent the questions to survivors still in prison. The interviews were listened to, read, and analyzed for shared answers and themes that represent the hopes the community has for the memorial. CTJM will present this information at the meeting on April 28. They will also share it with artists that they will commission for the project. They knew that artists would need to hear directly from you to create the best proposal possible. Continued on Page 2