10.05.23

SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY

The South Side Weekly is an independent non-profit newspaper by and for the South Side of Chicago. We provide high-quality, critical arts and public interest coverage, and equip and develop journalists, artists, photographers, and mediamakers of all backgrounds.

Volume 10, Issue 26

Editor-in-Chief Jacqueline Serrato

Managing Editor Adam Przybyl

Senior Editors

Martha Bayne

Christopher Good

Olivia Stovicek

Sam Stecklow

Alma Campos

Jim Daley

Politics Editor J. Patrick Patterson

Labor Editor Jocelyn Martínez-Rosales

Immigration Editor Wendy Wei

Community Builder Chima Ikoro

Public Meetings Editor Scott Pemberton

Contributing Editors Jocelyn Vega

Francisco Ramírez Pinedo

Visuals Editor Kayla Bickham

Deputy Visuals Editor Shane Tolentino

Staff Illustrators Mell Montezuma

Shane Tolentino

IN CHICAGO

Free COVID tests by mail

You can once again order four free rapid COVID tests per household via covidtests. gov. Those interested will need to enter their name and address into the website, and the tests will be delivered by the USPS for free. This is the second time the Joe Biden administration has invested in delivering free COVID tests to any U.S. household that requests them; the first rollout happened in January 2022. This recent effort is being funded by $600 million and taking place to prepare for a likely increase in cases during the fall and winter.

Four new tests doesn’t mean you should throw out your old ones, even if the packaging says it’s expired. Many tests have had their expiration periods extended by the FDA; look up your particular test to find the new expiration date at fda.gov.

Keep in mind also that these will be antigen tests, which are more likely to give a false negative than molecular PCR tests (meaning, show a negative result when someone actually has COVID). One meta-study of antigen tests found that they accurately detected COVID in between 55-73% of cases. In other words, if you have COVID and use an antigen test, the study suggests there is around a one in three chance that you’ll get a (false) negative result. Because of that, the FDA recommends two antigen tests if you’re symptomatic or three if asymptomatic to rule out COVID, spaced forty-eight hours apart. In case of an exposure to COVID, the CDC recommends wearing an N95 mask around others for ten days, even if testing negative, and staying home if possible.

Work permits for migrants

Director of

Fact Checking: Savannah Hugueley

Fact Checkers: Christopher Good

Kate Linderman

Bridget Killian

Lauren Shepherd

Layout Editor Tony Zralka

Program Manager Malik Jackson

Executive Director Damani Bolden

Office Manager Mary Leonard

Advertising Manager Susan Malone

Webmaster Pat Sier

The Weekly publishes online weekly and in print every other Thursday. We seek contributions from all over the city.

Send submissions, story ideas, comments, or questions to editor@southsideweekly.com or mail to:

South Side Weekly

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For general inquiries, please call: (773) 643-8533

IN THIS ISSUE

families reflect on the end of money bond

The Weekly spoke to people in bond court before and after the Pretrial Fairness Act went into effect.

micah clark moody ................................ 4

company building asylum seekers camps ran troubled detention facilities in u s. & canada

The company, GardaWorld Services, was also hired to fly migrants out of Florida for Governor Ron DeSantis’s administration.

jim daley 6

tent camp debate highlights uneven burdens in migrant response

The one thing everyone seems to agree on is that the federal government isn’t doing enough. wendy wei and jim daley 8 el debate sobre los campamentos presenta desafíos en la respuesta migratoria en chicago

En lo que todos parecen estar de acuerdo es en que el gobierno federal no está haciendo lo suficiente. wendy wei y jim daley traducido por alma campos 11

chicago’s other chance: remembering lurrkgod

The Department of Homeland Security under President Biden announced work permits for Venezuelan asylum seekers via the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program for a period of eighteen months. The status is not a guaranteed pathway to legalization nor citizenship, but lawfully protects migrants from deportation during that time. The TPS extension only applies to eligible asylum seekers who arrived before July 31, 2023, thereby excluding thousands of migrants that have been bused from Texas to Chicago since. Immigrant advocacy organizations like the Resurrection Project are calling for the inclusion of more recent arrivals and asylum seekers of other nationalities. Meanwhile, some non-profit organizations are gearing up to provide referrals and free legal aid to TPS applicants. The National Immigrant Justice Center based in Chicago is offering consultations at (312) 660-1370.

Student loan payments resume

Student loan payments resumed October 1 after a three-and-a-half year pause. However, vulnerable borrowers worried about not making payments have a safety net: the twelve-month student loan “on-ramp.” Until September 30, 2024, “...if you miss payments, this ‘on-ramp’ will temporarily remove the threat of default or having your credit harmed,” announced President Biden during a June 30 press conference. The on-ramp option will be automatic, so borrowers do not need to sign up. While student loans won’t fall into delinquency and missed payment will not be reported to credit bureaus, interest will still accumulate (increasing the amount owed) and missed payments will still be due after the twelve-month onramp ends. Additional options can be found at: studentaid.gov/announcementsevents/covid-19

Daley

An homage to the late Chicago artist and Weekly contributor, Roderick Chancellor Sawyer. luz magdaleno flores and natasha estevez ................................... 13

tacos to traditions: la chaparrita’s spirited salute to la santa muerte Attendees of the annual celebration shared what la Santa Muerte means to them.

leslie hurtado ...................................... 16

snelling confirmed as cpd superintendent City Council voted unanimously to approve the nomination.

jim daley and max blaisdell 17 public meetings report

A recap of select open meetings at the local, county, and state level.

scott pemberton and documenters 20 the exchange

The Weekly’s poetry corner offers our thoughts in exchange for yours.

chima ikoro 21 calendar Bulletin and events.

zoe pharo ............................................... 23

Cover photo by Jim

Families Reflect on the End of Money Bond

money bond

BY MICAH CLARK MOODY

On Monday, September 11, Kameron sat in the gallery of bond court, waiting for his brother to be called before Judge Barbara Dawkins. When it was his turn, Kameron stood up to show the judge his brother had family support.

Standing in bond court, Kameron, who lives in Kenwood, understood what was at stake for his brother. In 2020, a bond court judge ordered Kameron, then a defendant, to await trial in the Cook County Jail. Kameron was in jail for more than two years before being found not guilty. He was in jail when it was the largest source of COVID-19 in the country. He was in jail as his family barbecued food and children ran around while the adults played cards.

And he was innocent.

In court, Judge Dawkins set a $10,000 bond, and Kameron paid $1,000 for his brother’s freedom. “I just did twentyfive months,” he said, looking out the courthouse window onto Cook County Jail. “I’m not letting my brother stay in there.”

A week later, on September 18, Illinois became the first state to completely abolish money bond. People charged with crimes will be released if a judge determines they aren’t a flight risk or danger to the community. Money bond won’t be a condition of their release.

The reform came about as part of the passage of the Pretrial Fairness Act (PFA)—the result of sustained grassroots organizing by the Coalition to End Money Bond, which was formed in 2016 and included Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation (SOUL) and the Chicago Community Bond Fund in January 2021. Following a legal challenge, the PFA was upheld by the Illinois Supreme Court in

July and took effect on September 18.

The week before the PFA took effect, the Weekly observed seventy-two cases in Cook County bond court for which judges ordered a total of $2,111,000 in money bail. This was a fraction of the total cases and total money bond that week. Families described how jail, paying money bond, and the possibility of release are impacting their family.

“While people see this as a change, this is actually the way it should be,” said Tanya Watkins, the executive director of SOUL. In Illinois, “people will be able to keep their jobs, stay in their homes, and maintain custody of their children while they await their trial.”

Under the PFA, not all defendants will be released. Those deemed a flight risk or danger to the community can still be held

in Cook County Jail before and during their trials. Others may be released but be subject to electronic monitoring with strict limitations to their ability to leave their homes. Defendants who were jailed pretrial prior to the PFA going into effect will have a hearing to determine if they will be released.

Families who spoke to the Weekly at bond court the week before the PFA’s abolition of cash bond took effect understand why the reform is so important—and where Illinois’s pretrial system still falls short.

On September 14th, Latasha, a South Sider who was at bond court to support her husband, danced in the lobby of the Leighton Criminal Courthouse after hearing Judge

Dawkins release her husband without any money bond. “I was ready to empty my savings, take out a loan, I was so scared,” she said. “Ain’t no way I [was going] to let him sit [in jail].”

As Latasha waited in court, she thought about everything she’s trying to build with her husband, who she’d married just three months ago. The couple is trying to start a family, she said.

Latasha was overjoyed that her husband was released, but said she had mixed feelings about the PFA. She supports the presumption of innocence, insisting, “If they didn't do the crime, they shouldn't have to pay anything.” But she also supports jailing people pretrial when they commit a “harmful crime,” especially gender-based violence and beatings.

Madeleine Behr, the policy director of the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Assault, said the old system of money bond didn’t make survivors of genderbased violence safe. “People could get out of jail simply because they had the money to pay, whether or not they were a danger to a survivor or the public,” Behr said. ”The victim advocacy community broadly supported [the Pretrial Fairness Act]. And we helped to draft portions of this law to better protect survivors.”

In bond court, the defendants are primarily Black and Latinx. In 2021, Block Club Chicago reported that Black motorists were seven times more likely to be pulled over than white drivers. A March 2022 report by the Inspector General found that in Chicago, Black people were 1.5 times more likely to be stopped than Chicagoans overall, and after a stop, their car is more likely to be searched. WBEZ reported this week that in Chicago in 2022,

The Weekly spoke to people in bond court before and after the Pretrial Fairness Act abolished

PFA Press Conference State Sen Robert Peters speaking.

PHOTO BY MICAH CLARK MOODY

Black drivers were pulled over four times as often as white drivers.

The majority of arrests the Weekly observed in bond court were initiated by police pulling over a car or creating an investigatory stop. After starting an interaction for something small—like making “wide eyed” eye-contact with police or not signaling before a right-hand turn— police searched the person and accused them of possessing a criminalized substance or a gun without complete licensing.

Darius, a South Sider, has sat in the “bullpen” holding cell crowded together with others waiting for court. He has paid money to buy his loved one’s freedom after an arrest. “It’s like a modern day plantation,” he said.

“The practice of putting a price tag on a fellow human’s freedom is a practice that, we teach our young people, was ended long ago,” said Cook County Public Defender Sharone R. Mitchell Jr. at a press conference at the Leighton Courthouse on September 18. “Today marks the first time where we can deliver that message with honesty.”

Just outside the courtroom doors, Jennifer stood with her toddler son, who took uncertain steps up and down the hallway. Jennifer was in court to support her brother, who she said struggles with mental health and recently stopped taking his medication, starting “a bad spiral” before police arrested him.

Jennifer said that money bond is hard on families because it puts the responsibility to free a person on their loved ones. “Some people have family that can be supportive, that can get them out,” she said. But some families simply cannot pay, and some people have no family, she added. “So they’re just stuck in jail.”

From his time inside Cook County Jail, Kameron said, “You got people with substance use issues who can’t get the help they need. Putting them in jail ain’t going to help no one.” He added that jailing people who are addicted only worsens their struggles “People shouldn’t be chained up,” Kameron explains. “Because you chained up, you feel like a criminal but they just have this addiction, you know, this vice.”

Even with a supportive family with the money to buy release, it can take time

to pull together thousands of dollars for a money bond. Basheer, who is currently incarcerated pretrial in Cook County Jail, said that years ago his family had to come up with a $7,500 money bond to get his nephew out. It took six weeks, but Basheer came up with $1,000 and his sister came up with $6,500. “His mom was stressed out,” Basheer said.

“Families that paid yesterday, families that paid weeks ago, they were dragged through this system unnecessarily,”

old. Diamond said she supports the PFA because people are in jail “for little things” just because they can’t pay the bond.

Diamond sat next to her friend, who said her godbrother “is in jail right now because he can’t pay! He has a $3,000 bond, and he can’t bond out, for something small.” She said she’s been trying to raise the money, but with bills, her toddler, and difficulty getting a loan, she couldn’t afford the bond.

Being unable to buy a loved one's

defender said the teenager’s family only had $500, but Judge Dawkins, noting he was charged with a violent felony, still set an unaffordable money bond.

After the bond hearing, the eighteenyear-old’s mother sat outside the courtroom with tears streaming down her face. She sobbed, “That's my baby, what am I gonna do?” After two minutes, her shaking eased, her breaths deepened, and her shoulders steadied. She walked out of the courthouse without her son.

While Kameron was in the County Jail, people were talking about the PFA. “I learned about the PFA when I was in there, in the nonviolent cases, they’re gonna be free. The ones excited is the ones with no victim on their case because they getting out. The people with a victim on their case, a violent case, it’s not going to help them.”

Kameron explained that, “I got a cousin, he in there, but he don’t have no bond. His case involves some violence. There are people in there who have the violent allegations, and they don’t have no bond at all.” Before and after the PFA, the Sheriff will jail people, like Kameron’s cousin, with “no bond” orders pretrial.

Inside, Kameron was inspired by the people around him to learn, study, and advocate for himself. He met someone who saw something in Kameron who taught him “to do the research and get stuff from the law library, get the information to social workers.” He insisted, “People got to stand up for their rights, stand up for themselves.”

Darius and Denzel came to bond court to support their brother Kevon. He was staying home on the South Side with his four month old daughter full time, so Darius and Denzel hoped for release so he can continue to raise his baby girl.

Watkins told the Weekly. “Now, you look to a future where families won’t have to suffer like that.”

Outside the courtroom doors, Diamond rocked her baby girl who’s about to turn two months

freedom can be devastating.

In one case, Judge Dawkins set an eighteen-year-old’s bond at “$125,000 D,” which means ten percent, or $12,500, was required to buy his release. The prosecutor did not request detention and the public

The prosecutors filed a “discretionary no bail petition” on Kevon’s case, asking the Judge to order the Sheriffs to put him in jail. Arguing for their petition, the prosecutor highlighted Kevon was found guilty of escape from electronic monitoring in 2018. Judge Dawkins granted the prosecutor’s request, jailing Kevon, and insisting “the court would have to be a fool to put this defendant on electronic monitoring, he’s already convicted of escape from electronic monitoring.”

“The practice of putting a price tag on a fellow human’s freedom is a practice that, we teach our young people, was ended long ago. Today marks the first time where we can deliver that message with honesty.”

—Cook County Public Defender Sharone R. Mitchell Jr.

Line of families waiting in security before bond court.

PHOTO BY MICAH CLARK MOODY

Walking on the lakefront the next day, Darius thought back to his brother’s escape conviction. Years ago, “He broke the house arrest to go to a funeral” after the Sheriff denied his request to attend because the person who died, his life-long friend, was labeled a gang member. So Kevon broke house arrest, attended the funeral, and turned himself into the sheriff. “They didn’t mention that part.”

“I think people have better say than paper,” Darius reflected. When denying release, Judge Dawkins primarily considered Kevon’s convictions on paper. Darius reflected a more accurate understanding of a person’s safety and role in their community requires asking, “what is he striving to do now?”

In addition to abolishing money bond, the PFA creates additional opportunities to argue for pretrial release. “What I admire about the PFA is that it's a continuous petition to not just see why you should hold [someone pretrial],” Basheer said. “It’s why you can’t find a reason for them to be out and released.”

Now Basheer is waiting to see how

Company Building Asylum Seekers Camps Ran Troubled Detention Facilities in U.S. &

this law is implemented and if evidence will be asserted or lead to release.

Today, there is no money bond in Illinois. Loved ones will go home. And, even after the PFA, many people will remain in jail. Kameron’s cousin is still in jail. Darius’ brother Kevon is still away from his baby son and will miss his daughter’s eleventh birthday.

“This is just the beginning and we still have so much work to do before an entire justice system can be called fair,” said Watkins, of SOUL. “But I hope that one day people will look back and wonder how we ever allowed the money bond system to cause so much harm for so long. And people will remember that it was Illinois who stood up and said no more.” ¬

Micah Clark Moody works at Civil Rights Corps where she investigates pretrial jailing systems across the country, particularly in Los Angeles. She is also a researcher who has worked as a court watcher in Cook County Bond Court. This is her first article for the Weekly.

BY JIM DALEY

GardaWorld Federal Services, the company the City has hired to build and staff tent camps for asylum seekers, is a multinational security firm that has been contracted to run immigrant detention facilities in the U.S. and Canada. At one Canadian facility managed by the company, migrants went on hunger strike to protest conditions there, and one person at that facility later died.

In May, the Tampa Bay Times reported that GardaWorld was one of three companies hired by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s administration to ship asylum seekers to politically “blue” states such as Massachusetts and California.

A statement GardaWorld released after this story was published online said, “GardaWorld Federal Services’ contract with the Florida Division of Emergency Management remains inactivated, and GWFS was in no way involved with transportation of vulnerable populations in the state.” DeSantis’s relocation program was halted last year after migrants who said they were tricked into being flown to Martha’s Vineyard filed a federal lawsuit.

In Chicago, GardaWorld has provided armored car services to the CTA for cash pickups and staffed unarmed security

guards to patrol L platforms and trains. A 2020 three-part series by the Tampa Bay Times reported that the company’s armored car division lost track of millions of dollars, took safety shortcuts that may have led to crashes, and was found to have “systematic breakdowns” in safety by the Department of Transportation.

GardaWorld’s $29 million contract to run Chicago’s tent camps is by far the largest the company has had with the City. The services in the contract include the setup of huge, heated tents with cots and footlockers for asylum seekers; providing showers, portable toilets, and laundry services; serving three meals a day; and waste removal. The company will also staff the facilities. According to the contract, GardaWorld “maintains a cadre of experienced security officers” who are drawn from the military (“Emphasis on combat, combat support and leadership positions”), law enforcement (“Emphasis on uniformed positions”), and security (“Extensive background in crisis or disaster-related security”).

A job description for a GardaWorld shelter base camp manager posted to the website SimplyHired listed no certifications or licensing requirements for the post,

Canada

The company, GardaWorld Services, was also hired to fly migrants out of Florida for Governor Ron DeSantis’s administration.

PHOTO BY MICAH CLARK MOODY

which had a salary range of $50,000 to $150,000.

GardaWorld referred the Weekly’s questions to the mayor’s office. In a statement, a spokesperson for the mayor wrote:

“The first of Mayor Johnson’s priorities is to replace the police stations with shelters forming a base camp. Garda World was selected to build and operate the shelters housing new arrivals based on expediency because of the statewide master contract with the State of Illinois through the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) and the Illinois Department of Human Services. The state’s contract falls under the disaster proclamation for the asylum seeker mission.

“Using this contract enables the City to stand up the base camps expeditiously, and more quickly move new arrivals from Chicago Police Department district stations as the weather begins to change,” the statement continued. “As with all Cityrun shelters, there will be a system in place for individuals to file grievances should any issues arise.”

Johnson has consistently maintained a desire to stop housing people seeking asylum at police districts, a policy begun under his predecessor that has led to arrests and alleged mistreatment in some districts. As of Wednesday morning, there were 1,496 asylum seekers staying at police districts, 556 at O’Hare airport, and 19 at Midway airport.

“The volunteers have been frustrated with the level of access that we have been able to have to the existing shelters and are really concerned . . . if this is the direction the City is going,” said Annie Gomberg, the lead organizer for the 15th District Police Station Response Team (PSRT), a group of volunteers who provide food and services to asylum seekers staying there. She said most volunteers do not consider the camps to be a sustainable solution to housing asylum seekers, even temporarily, and called the tent-camp plan a “misallocation of resources.”

Gomberg also raised issues about GardaWorld being awarded the contract. “The places this company has worked in— prisons and refugee camps and military situations—don’t really seem to be longterm housing solutions for unhoused populations,” she said. “And yet they’re being tasked with taking care of a really

vulnerable population.”

According to a report by Davi Sherman, a fellow at the American Friends Service Committee’s research center Investigate, GardaWorld oversaw the detention of immigrants held in centers in Vancouver, Quebec and Fort Bliss, Texas. In 2021, detainees went on hunger strike three times to protest “dire” conditions at the Vancouver facility. In January 2022, an immigrant died after being found in “medical distress” at a Canadian detention center operated by GardaWorld, the report said.

“Despite GardaWorld positioning itself as an aid provider that is experienced in operating long-term migrant sheltering, our findings make it clear that the company is in the business of profiting off of the detention and suffering of newcomers,” Sherman said in an email to the Weekly.

“Across all of its business operations, time and again, GardaWorld has carried out serious human rights abuses. This is a company whose business practices are antithetical to Chicago’s ‘Welcoming City’ principles, and it should not be tasked with sheltering and caring for migrants.”

At Fort Bliss, GardaWorld staffed an emergency intake site beginning in March 2021 for unaccompanied children detained at the southern border, according to the AFSC report. An investigation by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General found “operational challenges” that “[raised] concerns related to children’s safe and timely release” at the site.

According to the Inspector General’s

investigation, the “rushed opening” of that facility left children waiting weeks for updates from case managers, which caused “many children to experience distress, anxiety, and in some cases, panic attacks.”

Staff also reported alleged acts of retaliation against whistleblowers that “may have created an environment in which staff . . . felt they were discouraged from raising issues about case management and child safety.”

Erika Villegas, lead volunteer of the 8th District PSRT, said she is “personally concerned” that the City has said families will stay at the tent camps for two to four weeks, when families have been staying at police districts for months at a time.

“We need to know what the plan is before people are stuck for six-plus months in tents,” Villegas said. “We also need a better understanding of what medical [services] will look like at the camp, and all employees, or the majority of them, need to speak Spanish.” According to the contract with the City, GardaWorld hires bilingual staff “[w]herever possible.”

Villegas said that companies hired to secure and house immigrants have been problematic in the past. Most “are inhumane [and] don’t treat them with dignity and respect,” she said. “And they are more similar to a detention center” than a shelter.

Earlier this year, Denver’s mayor backed out of a contract with GardaWorld to run tent camps for asylum seekers after the AFSC and Denver City Council members raised concerns about the company’s transparency and human

rights record. At a Denver City Council committee meeting in June, a spokesperson for the company also confirmed that GardaWorld had partnered with Palantir, a surveillance company that designs tech to apprehend and deport immigrants.

“The company is very dishonest about their track record of doing this type of humanitarian work,” said Jennifer Piper, the interfaith organizing director for AFSC’s Denver immigrant rights program. She said AFSC found “a lack of transparency and human rights abuses across all of their business operations.”

According to Piper, GardaWorld made statements to Denver public officials that indicated they were already sheltering people in Chicago, El Paso, and New York City. “And it turned out that they were not sheltering migrants in any of those cities,” she said.

Denver ultimately opted to partner with nonprofits and community members to house asylum seekers instead. (Last month, Axios reported that Denver has used federal funds to bus migrants to Chicago.) The Tribune reported last month that Mayor Johnson’s deputy mayor of immigrant, migrant and refugee rights, Beatriz Ponce de León, raised concerns about Denver’s rejection of the company’s contract in a June email.

Alderperson Andre Vasquez, the chair of the City Council’s Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights, has called for the City to acquire and rehabilitate existing buildings to create temporary shelters that could be repurposed in the future and benefit communities in the long run, instead of using temporary tents. In an interview with the Weekly, Vasquez reiterated that call.

“I fundamentally have a problem with giving the same folks who are being paid to detain migrants . . . funds to build these base camps,” Vasquez added. “I’ve got concerns about the base camps in general, [and] even larger concerns about who the money may be going to when I believe it could be better spent focusing on buildings and acquisition.” ¬

Jim Daley is an investigative journalist and senior editor at the Weekly.

Asylum seekers' tents outside of the 12th District station on September 18, 2023.

PHOTO BY JIM DALEY

IMMIGRATION

Tent Camp Debate Highlights Uneven Burdens in Migrant Response

The one thing everyone seems to agree on is that the federal government isn’t doing enough.

BY WENDY WEI AND JIM DALEY

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s plan to temporarily house asylum seekers in tent camps drew wide criticism last week, even as a surge in new arrivals nearly overwhelmed already crowded police stations. By the end of the week, progressive alderpersons had also trained their ire on Governor J.B. Pritzker after he expressed concerns about the plan.

On Friday morning, members of the public and alderpersons blasted the tent camp plan in a raucous hearing of the City Council Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights. That afternoon, about fifty people protested the plan in Daley Plaza. The one consensus in the plaza, City Hall, and the governor’s mansion was that President Biden and the federal government need to do much more to support asylum seekers.

Nine buses from Texas carrying about 500 asylum seekers arrived in Chicago on Friday, exacerbating an already dire situation. Earlier that day, the Office of Emergency Management and Communications alerted mutual aid volunteers that as of noon, there was no available space and asked if any police districts would be able to provide any. Over the weekend, fifteen more buses were expected.

Since last August, more than 15,000 asylum seekers have arrived in Chicago. As of last week, more than 9,000 were staying in the city’s shelter system, which the Johnson administration has rapidly expanded since taking office in May. Another 1,600 were sleeping in police stations, which have served as makeshift housing for those awaiting placement in shelters.

Retiring police stations as housing for migrants is the city’s number one priority, said Deputy Mayor for Immigrant,

Migrant and Refugee Rights Beatriz Ponce de León at Friday’s meeting, and setting up base camps is one solution.

At the start of the committee meeting, Vasquez said he was “saddened by the possibility” that the Johnson administration would move forward with “building military-grade tent base camps” in Chicago.

“The elected representative in me, on the other hand, recognizes that in order for us to be successful, we as a municipal government have to come together to move our city forward.”

Much of the concern around the tent camps stems from the fact the city’s $29 million contract to set up and run them is with GardaWorld Federal Services), a multinational private security company. The public and alderpersons have expressed concern over GardaWorld’s involvement in migrant detention in Canada and its contract with Gov. Ron DeSantis to fly migrants out of Florida, as well as the process of local procurement.

“There’s a reason not to rush government contracts,” said Ald. Scott Waguespack on Friday, referencing allegations that GardaWorld committed fraud on a federal contract in Georgia.

“That’s a red flag.”

After the news broke on September 20 that the tent camp contract was with GardaWorld, multiple independent political organizations, including the 25th Ward IPO, 33rd Ward Working Families, and 40th Ward Workers United separately released statements last week blasting the decision and calling for the contract to be canceled, as did the Edgewater Mutual Aid Network and Rogers Park Food Not Bombs.

33rd Ward Working Families’ statement commended Johnson for working

with limited resources to uphold Chicago’s commitment to being a Welcoming City. “Nobody wants to see asylum seekers on the floors of police stations,” it read. “But the potential that these structures prove inadequate and leave people to the mercy of private police and soldiers is no less troubling. If the administration earnestly believes these are the best available options, we call for radical transparency.”

The statement lists questions about the timeline to transition migrants from tents to “dignified housing,” the plan to prevent abuse of migrants by GardaWorld, what other options the city has, and what FEMA and the Biden administration can do to help. Several alderpersons echoed those questions at the committee meeting and requested more transparency.

Ald. Rodríguez Sánchez said she is “in constant conversation” with 33rd Ward Working Families, of which she was a rankand-file member before it was instrumental in electing her to the City Council in 2019. The organization “did what they thought they needed to do in order to uphold the values that we have decided to stand on as it pertains to humanity. I think they did it very respectfully and they did it in a way that asks a lot of questions rather than pointing fingers.”

Rodríguez Sánchez said she’s committed to visiting the tent camps and periodically sleeping in them to make sure the conditions are up to standards. “We’re not hiring somebody and abandoning it,” she said. She added that her ward office has worked with mutual aid volunteers to ensure the temporary shelter at Brands Park in Avondale had regular needs assessments and that those needs are being met.

“I think standardizing that kind of protocol, including the mutual aid groups,

including the CBOs [community-based organizations], is going to give us the best results,” she said. “We’re going to make sure that the grassroots movement and the other people in our communities that want to be able to be supportive and show solidarity can do that.”

Representatives from two volunteerled organizations said at Friday’s meeting that volunteers haven’t gotten any financial support from the city. In a presentation, a representative from the mutual-aid Police Station Response Team estimated volunteers have spent about $2.4 million on food and water for migrants and nearly $1 million on supplies. They’ve also supplied about $2.9 million in free labor, according to the estimate.

“The way the mayor’s office is using the term ‘mutual aid’ seems like marketing,” Mari, a volunteer with the Edgewater Mutual Aid Network, told the Weekly “Mutual aid is working in solidarity with people. It’s knowing that people are the experts in their own lives….Mutual aid is not in alignment with helping take on city jobs. The whole relationship between the city and volunteers is exploitative, and the people who suffer the most are the asylum seekers.”

Erika Villegas, lead volunteer at the 8th (Chicago Lawn) District police station, told the Weekly she is “personally concerned” about how long asylum seekers will be in the tent camps because families have been staying at police districts for months. “We need to know what the plan is before people are stuck for six-plus months in tents,” she said.

At Friday’s meeting, officials directly addressed concerns about the camps.

Pacione-Zayas said the tents have “solid, insulated, prefabricated walls” and HVAC systems with backup generators that can maintain temperatures of at least 70 degrees in cold weather.

“I’ve heard that people are concerned that this is a militarized camp, that it will be run with armed guards,” Ponce de León said at the meeting. “That is not how this will be operated.” The camps will be subject to the same policies the Department of Family and Support Services (DFSS) has for brick-and-mortar shelters, and asylum seekers will be “free to come and go,” she said.

Ponce de León emphasized that the camps are just one solution and that the City is still “doubling down on opening up brick and mortar spaces,” including continuing to look at city-owned properties since those are the most cost-effective option, and that they will aim to use some of the new shelter capacity to serve the “broader community of unhoused Chicagoans.”

Another concern is who will staff the camps. When Johnson announced the tent camp plan on September 7, it was not immediately clear who would be building or staffing the camps. Favorite Healthcare Staffing, which the previous administration hired to staff brick-and-mortar shelters, brought in out-of-state contractors.

“As much money as we are spending, how much are we really recycling in our community?” Ald. Jeanette Taylor (20th Ward) asked.

Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd Ward) echoed Taylor’s concern, stating frankly, “This is a business and we want to be part of this new business.” She asked what specific services GardaWorld will be sub-contracting to local entities.

Pacione-Zayas said that GardaWorld will provide sleeping and eating quarters and laundry facilities, and will subcontract local providers for wraparound services after the first thirty days of camp setup. The exact locations for the camps have not yet been determined, she said, acknowledging that the city is behind on this process.

Pacione-Zayas told the Weekly that the administration is encouraging GardaWorld to hire staff for the tent camps locally. To further support the local economy, Ponce de León announced during Friday’s meeting the release of two new RFPs that will replace existing contracts and prioritize hiring local businesses, one for food service

providers to shelters and the second for community-based shelter operators.

Racial disparity in resource allocation is another reason why some are against the camps. Some public speakers disagreed with the large investments in migrant housing, such as Zoe Lee. “This is the main concern: finding all this money to house [the migrants],” Lee told alderpersons. “The fact that you guys take it and screw the Blacks and go directly to ‘we have to help the migrants’ when we still need it.”

Throughout the meeting, public commentators and presenters advocating

coordinator at Organized Communities Against Deportations (OCAD), told the Weekly that because the plan is a temporary solution, they're concerned about the longterm plan. “The crisis is not the recently arrived migrants, but the overall lack of affordable housing in the city of Chicago,” Gutierrez said. “We also don’t think that will be the best usage of these millions of dollars…that could otherwise be used in other ways to actually create permanent affordable housing.”

On Thursday, the mayor’s deputy chief of staff, Cristana Pacione-Zayas, affirmed

“I think there’s all kinds of options,” Pacione-Zayas said. “It’s just a matter of availability; it’s a matter of resources. It’s a matter of, also, will. There’s so many different routes you can go. I think for us, what’s most important is expediency with getting folks off of police station floors and airport floors.”

Pritzker said on Thursday that the state has spent $328 million to help Chicago manage the influx of asylum seekers. On Friday, his office announced another $30 million grant to the city for migrant support. The sole shelter the state is helping open in Chicago, in a shuttered CVS in Little Village, has taken months to set up, despite being approved in May—a point Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th Ward) brought up on Twitter Thursday and drove home in an impassioned speech at Friday’s committee meeting.

On Monday, Jordan Abudayyeh, the governor’s deputy chief of staff for communications, said in an email the governor’s office is “working in close collaboration with the mayor’s office” to get the Little Village CVS opened. “We have multiple meetings a week with the mayor’s team and have a productive relationship with his team working on this crisis,” Abudayyeh said.

were interrupted with boos, especially when investments were brought up, causing Vasquez to ask for order multiple times.

Last year, Illinois received $53.5 million from the federal American Rescue Plan Act to run the Illinois Housing Development Authority’s Asylum Seeker Emergency Assistance Program in which eligible migrants can receive up to six months of rental assistance. The Chicago Department of Housing made an additional $4 million available for emergency rental assistance funds for migrants.

In August, the Illinois Answers Project reported that the city had spent just fifteen percent of the $52 million budgeted for local homeless programs.

“You’re going to start a race war,” warned Taylor, “Because you’re choosing who you care for.”

Antonio Gutierrez, a strategic

GardaWorld contract. The administration will include feedback from “stakeholder groups such as mutual aid volunteers and community-based organizations,” PacioneZayas told the Weekly. “That’s going to be an exercise that we’re going to undertake over the next few weeks.” There will also be a system for filing grievances, she said.

Gov. Pritzker was asked about the tent camps at a press conference that day. “I have concerns about it, and we continue to have conversations about it,” Pritzker said. “With a lack of existing buildings to put people in, I know the city has looked at this as one of its options. But I don’t think this is the only option.”

The comments drew sharp criticism from mayoral allies and organizers alike who said the state hasn’t done enough to support Chicago or opened any shelters in the city since Johnson took office.

Ponce de León said at the committee meeting the city is asking the state to identify shelter locations elsewhere in Illinois with “culturally congruent communities” that can provide wraparound support. The state hasn’t yet agreed to do so, but in August, it made $42.5 million available to other municipalities to apply for funding to support the migrant response. Ponce de León said that the state has received applications from several municipalities.

Ald. Rossana Rodríguez (33rd Ward) told the Weekly on Saturday that City Council’s Latino Caucus met with the governor’s office two weeks ago, but no one from that office mentioned opening shelters in Chicago. “I can’t tell you why,” she said. “We should be working collaboratively and make sure we have open channels of communication to deal with this.”

She added that the state was “very proactive” when the first buses started coming in. “There was a lot of work we were able to do [with] the state” last year, she said. Now, “the most important thing is to make sure people are sheltered, and the state hasn’t been materially helping with

PHOTO BY WENDY WEI

that.”

Pacione-Zayas told the Weekly that the timeline for getting people into shelters and permanent housing is “a moving target,” particularly if the pace of bus arrivals continues to rise. “We just have to constantly monitor it and deploy,” she said. “Do we double down on places where we have our longest-staying folks and deploy our additional resources there so we can move them quicker? Do we double down on the folks that have more complex configurations, like the ones that have a lot more people, [and] therefore can have conditions that are obviously not ideal, and more challenges? It just kind of depends.”

The Illinois Coalition of Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR), which has advocated for immigrants since 1986, has been providing case management for asylum seekers in Chicago for the past year. In a statement provided to the Weekly, Veronica Castro, ICIRR’s deputy director, said involvement at all levels is key.

“From our experience, we know that federal, state, and local governments all play a critical role and have a responsibility in addressing the ongoing, humanitarian crisis that asylum seekers, community organizations, and mutual aid groups continue to face day to day,” Castro said. “We remain committed to ensuring that new arrivals are welcomed with dignity and respect, as well as organizing to win longterm solutions that can be accessed by any Chicagoan in need of support."

Shortly after 4pm Friday, about fifty people gathered in Daley Plaza to protest the tent camp plan. Speakers linked the issue of housing asylum seekers to that of unhoused Chicagoans as well as the economic sanctions the U.S. government has imposed on Venezuela since 2018.

“This is not only a financial crisis, it also has to do with the unhoused people in Chicago,” said the first speaker, who was not identified by name. “It’s the same struggle.”

David Orlikoff, a member of the 14th (Shakespeare) Police District Council who has been assisting volunteer mutualaid efforts there, said that as long as the sanctions aren’t lifted, Venezuelans will continue to seek asylum here. “I haven't heard enough discussion in our Democratic

city about how our federal Democratic Party is causing these very harms that we’re experiencing,” Orlikoff said. “Yes, we need their support in finding more housing and resources, but we also need Joe Biden to end the US sanctions against Venezuela.”

He added that it’s “racist” that the federal government has resettled Ukrainian refugees but not Venezuelan asylum seekers, “when federal foreign policy is directly causing both crises.”

A mutual-aid volunteer who attended the protest but declined to give her name told the Weekly that the city should seek input from asylum seekers about possible solutions. “When people are not included in the decisions that [impact] their everyday lives, everything turns out disastrously,” she said.

On Sunday, some asylum seekers at the 14th District expressed skepticism about the tent camp plan. “None of us want to go to the carpa [large tent],” one woman said.

The Johnson administration and its allies have pushed for help from the state and federal governments for months. In August, Congresspersons Jonathan Jackson (IL-1) and Delia Ramirez (IL-4) joined alders to quietly tour the 3rd (Grand Crossing) Police District and a shelter at former Wadsworth Elementary School in Woodlawn ahead of what sources described as a behind-the-scenes push for more federal assistance. To date, the feds have

provided about $41 million to Chicago for migrant aid.

Pacione-Zayas said that the total Chicago has spent on managing the migrant influx since August 2022 could be between $319 and $362 million.

In September, Johnson and Ponce de León met with federal officials in Washington, D.C., to “better coordinate” their efforts. After the visit, Biden announced he would extend temporary legal status to Venezuelan refugees who arrived before July 31, 2023, which will allow some 470,000 asylum seekers to find work. It’s unclear what will be made available to those who have arrived since then.

The threat of a federal government shutdown, which would have impacted officials’ ability to process migrants’ work permits, was averted late Friday night when Congress passed a stopgap spending bill that will keep the government open through at least mid-November. But with a minority of far-right Republicans wielding outsized power in the House, the threat of gridlock—and its repercussions for migrant aid—remains.

Congresswoman Delia Ramirez (D4) said that as asylum seekers are able to get work permits, the need for emergency shelter should decline. But she added that the federal spending stopgap gives Democrats an opportunity to negotiate for funding for cities like Chicago to provide

emergency shelter support.

“I also think this is going to require, even more so, executive leadership” from President Biden, Ramirez said. Biden “now has the opportunity” to expand work permits by executive action outside of the appropriations process to make them available to asylum seekers who have arrived since July 31.

Gutierrez, of OCAD, said the federal government should also be allocating more resources to get asylum seekers permanent housing. “The overall expectation [is] that states are going to have to do it on their own, or cities are going to have to do it on their own, and I think that’s completely irresponsible of the federal government,” they said.

At the committee meeting, Ponce de León laid out some concrete requests that the city will make of the federal government, including more flexible funding streams. Currently, “the federal government requires us to utilize these funds for only covering the costs of somebody staying in a shelter for forty-five days,” she said.

The city will also request a federal mass waiver for applications for work authorization requests made possible under the new temporary protected status, which can cost upwards of $500 each. “When you are able to work, you are able to then lessen your dependency on public dollars and at this point, we need people to have the legal ability to work,” Ponce de León said.

Joyner, a Venezuelan asylum seeker who has been staying at the 14th District police station since August 12, said he only wants the chance to work.

“In truth, we hope…that they help us with this issue of having papers as soon as possible, to be able to apply for a job, a permanent job, and to be able to cope with one’s own things,” Joyner said. “To pay with [our own] income to not be a burden on the state either, but on oneself—that is, to fulfill the goals for which I came [here], to move forward and be a better person.” ¬

Wendy is the immigration section editor at Weekly and covers interracial solidarity between communities of color.

Jim Daley is an investigative journalist and senior editor at the Weekly.

Protesters at Daley Plaza on Friday, September 29.

PHOTO BY WENDY WEI

El debate sobre los campamentos resalta desafíos en la respuesta migratoria en Chicago

El plan del alcalde Brandon Johnson de alojar temporalmente a los solicitantes de asilo en campamentos provocó críticas la semana pasada, incluso cuando el número de recién llegados estuvo a punto de agotar las ya de por sí congestionadas comisarías de policía. Al final de la semana, los concejales progresistas también dirigieron su indignación al gobernador J.B. Pritzker, después de que éste expresara su preocupación por el plan.

El viernes por la mañana, miembros del público y concejales criticaron el plan de los campamentos en una agitada audiencia del Comité de Derechos de los Inmigrantes y Refugiados del Concejo Municipal. Esa tarde, unas cincuenta personas protestaron contra el plan en la Plaza Daley. El único consenso entre todos es que el Presidente Biden y el gobierno federal tienen que hacer mucho más para apoyar a los solicitantes de asilo.

En Chicago llegaron el viernes nueve autobuses procedentes de Texas con unos 500 solicitantes de asilo, lo que aceleró una situación ya difícil. Ese mismo día, la Oficina de Gestión de Emergencias y Comunicaciones alertó a los voluntarios de ayuda mutua de que, a partir del mediodía, no había espacio disponible y preguntó si algún distrito de policía tenía espacio. Durante el fin de semana se esperaba la llegada de quince autobuses más.

Desde el pasado agosto, han llegado a Chicago más de 15,000 solicitantes de asilo. La semana pasada, más de 9,000 migrantes estaban alojados en el sistema de refugios de la Municipalidad, que la administración Johnson ha ampliado rápidamente desde que asumió el cargo en mayo. Otros 1,600 dormían en comisarías de policía, que han servido como refugios improvisados para los que esperan ser ubicados en refugios.

Detener el uso de las comisarías de policía como alojamiento para migrantes es la prioridad número uno de la

Municipalidad, dijo la alcaldesa adjunta de Derechos de los Inmigrantes, Migrantes y Refugiados, Beatriz Ponce de León, en la reunión del viernes, y la creación de campamentos es una solución.

Gran parte de la preocupación sobre los campamentos se debe al hecho de que el contrato municipal de $29 millones para instalarlos y gestionarlos es con GardaWorld Federal Services, una empresa multinacional de seguridad privada. El público y los concejales han expresado su preocupación por el papel de GardaWorld en la detención de migrantes en Canadá y un contrato con el gobernador Ron DeSantis para trasladar a los migrantes fuera de Florida, así como el proceso de contratación municipal.

“Es por algo que no hay que apresurar los contratos”, dijo el concejal Scott Waguespack el viernes, en referencia a las acusaciones de que GardaWorld cometió fraude en un contrato federal en Georgia. “Eso es una señal de alarma”.

La declaración del grupo de 33rd Ward Working Families felicitó a Johnson por trabajar con recursos limitados para mantener el compromiso de Chicago como una ciudad acogedora. “Nadie quiere ver a los solicitantes de asilo en los pisos de las estaciones de policía”, decía. “Pero la posibilidad de que estas estructuras resulten inadecuadas y dejen a la gente a la caridad de policías y soldados privados no es menos preocupante. Si la administración cree sinceramente que estas son las mejores opciones disponibles, pedimos transparencia radical”.

La concejala Rodríguez Sánchez dijo que se comprometía a visitar los campamentos de campaña y a veces dormir en ellos para asegurarse de que las condiciones cumplan las normas. “No vamos a contratar a alguien y abandonar el caso”, dijo. Añadió que en su oficina de distrito ha trabajado con voluntarios de ayuda mutua para garantizar que el alojamiento temporal en el Parque Brands en Avondale, en el lado

norte, tenga evaluaciones de las necesidades y que esas necesidades se están cumpliendo.

“Creo que estandarizar este tipo de protocolos, involucrando a los grupos de ayuda mutua y a las organizaciones comunitarias, nos dará los mejores resultados”, afirmó. “Vamos a asegurarnos de que el movimiento de la comunidad y otras personas de nuestras comunidades que quieran demostrar su apoyo y solidaridad puedan hacerlo”.

Representantes de dos organizaciones de voluntarios dijeron en la reunión del viernes que no han recibido ninguna ayuda económica de la Municipalidad. En una presentación, un representante de ayuda mutua del Equipo de Respuesta en la Comisaría de Policía estimó que los voluntarios han gastado unos $2.4 millones en alimentos y agua para los migrantes y casi un millón de dólares en suministros. También han aportado unos $2.9 millones en mano de obra gratuita, según la estimación.

“La forma en que la alcaldía utiliza el término 'ayuda mutua' parece marketing”, le dijo Mari, voluntaria de la Red de Ayuda Mutua de Edgewater, al Weekly. “Tener ayuda mutua es trabajar en solidaridad con la gente. Es saber que la gente es experta de sus propias condiciones... La ayuda mutua no significa asumir trabajos municipales. Toda la relación entre la Municipalidad y los voluntarios es explotadora, y los que más sufren son los solicitantes de asilo.”

Erika Villegas, líder de los voluntarios en la comisaría del distrito 8, le dijo al Weekly que está “personalmente preocupada” por el tiempo que los solicitantes de asilo permanecerán en los campamentos de campaña, ya que las familias llevan meses alojadas en los distritos policiales. “Necesitamos saber cuál es el plan antes de que la gente se quede estancada por más de seis meses en los campamentos.”

En la reunión del viernes, los

POR WENDY WEI Y JIM DALEY TRADUCIDO POR ALMA CAMPOS

En lo que todos parecen estar de acuerdo es que el gobierno federal no está haciendo lo suficiente.

Un manifestante en la protesta en la Plaza Daley el viernes, 29 de septiembre. FOTO POR WENDY WEI

funcionarios abordaron directamente las preocupaciones sobre los campamentos. Pacione-Zayas dijo que los campamentos tienen “paredes sólidas, insuladas y prefabricadas” y sistemas de calefacción, ventilación y aire acondicionado con generadores de reserva que pueden mantener temperaturas de al menos 70 grados en climas fríos.

“He oído que a la gente le preocupa que éste sea un campamento militarizado, que vaya a estar dirigido por guardias armados”, dijo Ponce de León en la reunión. “No es así como se operará”. Los campamentos estarán sujetos a las mismas políticas que aplica el Departamento de Familia y Servicios de Apoyo (DFSS) a los albergues, y los solicitantes de asilo serán “libres de ir y venir”, explicó.

Ponce de León enfatizó que los campamentos son apenas una solución y que la Municipalidad aún está “multiplicando sus esfuerzos para abrir espacios [de refugio]”, incluyendo ver propiedades de la Municipalidad ya que son la opción más económica, y que intentarán usar parte de los nuevos espacios para servir a la “comunidad de habitantes de Chicago sin vivienda”.

Otra preocupación es cómo dotarán de personal a los campamentos. Cuando Johnson anunció el plan el 7 de septiembre, no quedó claro quién construiría o gestionaría los campamentos. La agencia Favorite Healthcare Staffing, que la administración anterior contrató para dotar de personal a los refugios, recurrió a contratistas fuera del estado.

“Por mucho dinero que gastemos, ¿cuánto estamos reciclando realmente en nuestra comunidad?”, preguntó la concejala Jeanette Taylor del Distrito 20.

El concejal Pat Dowell del Distrito 3 expresó preocupación así como Taylor, diciendo francamente: “Esto es un negocio y queremos ser parte de este nuevo negocio.” Ella preguntó cuáles son los servicios específicos para los cuales GardaWorld necesitará subcontratar a entidades locales.

Pacione-Zayas dijo que GardaWorld proporcionará dormitorios, comedores y lavandería, y contratará a proveedores locales para los servicios de apoyo después de los primeros treinta días de la instalación del campamento. La ubicación exacta de los campamentos aún no se ha determinado, dijo, reconociendo que la Municipalidad está atrasada en este proceso.

Pacione-Zayas le dijo al Weekly que la administración está alentando a

GardaWorld a que contrate personal local para los campamentos. Para apoyar aún más la economía local, Ponce de León anunció durante la reunión del viernes la publicación de dos nuevas propuestas que sustituirán los contratos existentes y le darán prioridad a negocios locales, uno para los servicios de suministro de alimentos y el segundo para los operadores de refugios comunitarios.

La disparidad racial en los recursos es otra de las razones por las que algunos están en contra de los campamentos. Algunos residentes en la junta del viernes se mostraron en desacuerdo con las grandes inversiones para alojar a los migrantes, como Zoe Lee. “Esta es la principal preocupación: encontrar todo este dinero para alojar [a los migrantes]”, declaró a los concejales. “El hecho de que ustedes lo acepten y que se jodan los negros, porque dicen que 'tenemos que ayudar a los migrantes' cuando nosotros aún lo necesitamos”.

A lo largo de la reunión, los comentaristas públicos y los presentadores que abogaban por un mayor apoyo de la Municipalidad para los migrantes fueron interrumpidos con abucheos, especialmente cuando se mencionaron las inversiones, lo que provocó que el concejal Andre Vásquez pidiera el orden varias veces.

El año pasado, Illinois recibió $53.5 millones de la ley federal American Rescue Plan Act para poner en marcha el Programa de Asistencia de Emergencia a Solicitantes de Asilo de la Autoridad de Desarrollo de la Vivienda de Illinois, en el que los migrantes que cumplen los requisitos pueden recibir hasta seis meses de ayuda para la renta. El Departamento de Vivienda de Chicago destinó otros $4 millones a fondos de ayuda de emergencia para la renta para los migrantes.

En agosto, Illinois Answers Project reportó que la Municipalidad había gastado apenas el quince por ciento de los $52 millones presupuestados para programas locales para los residentes desamparados.

“Van a provocar una guerra racial”, advirtió Taylor, “porque están eligiendo de quiénes cuidar”.

Antonio Gutiérrez, coordinador estratégico de la organización Comunidades Organizadas Contra las Deportaciones (OCAD, por sus siglas en inglés), declaró al Weekly que debido a que el plan es una solución temporal, les preocupa el plan a largo plazo.

“La crisis no son los migrantes recién llegados, sino la falta general de vivienda asequible en la Ciudad de Chicago”, dijo Gutiérrez. "Tampoco creemos que sea el mejor uso de estos millones de dólares... que podrían utilizarse de otra manera para crear realmente vivienda asequible permanentes”.

El jueves, la jefa de personal adjunta del alcalde, Cristana Pacione-Zayas, afirmó que la Municipalidad está avanzando con el contrato de GardaWorld. La administración tendrá en cuenta la opinión de “los grupos interesados, como los voluntarios de ayuda mutua y las organizaciones comunitarias”, le dijo Pacione-Zayas al Weekly. “Ese va a ser un esfuerzo que vamos a emprender en las próximas semanas”. También habrá un sistema para la presentación de quejas, dijo.

Al gobernador Pritzker se le preguntó sobre los campamentos en una conferencia de prensa ese mismo día. “Me preocupa, y seguimos manteniendo conversaciones al respecto”, dijo Pritzker. “Con la falta de edificios existentes para poner a la gente, sé que la Municipalidad ha visto esto como una de sus opciones. Pero no creo que sea la única opción”.

Los comentarios provocaron duras

críticas tanto de los aliados del alcalde como de los organizadores, que afirmaron que el estado no ha hecho lo suficiente para apoyar a Chicago ni ha abierto ningún refugio en la ciudad desde que Johnson asumió el cargo.

Pritzker dijo el jueves que el estado ha gastado $328 millones para ayudar a Chicago a gestionar el flujo de solicitantes de asilo. El viernes, su oficina anunció otra subvención de $30 millones a la Municipalidad para ayudar a los inmigrantes.

El único refugio que el estado está ayudando a abrir en Chicago es una tienda CVS cerrada en La Villita, que ha tardado meses en establecerse, a pesar de haber sido aprobado en mayo, un punto que el concejal Carlos Ramírez-Rosa del Distrito 35 mencionó en Twitter el jueves y puntualizó en la reunión del comité en un apasionado discurso.

El lunes, Jordan Abudayyeh, la jefa de personal adjunta de comunicaciones del gobernador, dijo en un correo electrónico que el gobernador está “trabajando en estrecha colaboración con la oficina del alcalde” para abrir el CVS en La Villita.

Pacione-Zayas dijo que el total que Chicago ha gastado en la gestión de la llegada de migrantes desde agosto de 2022 podría estar entre $319 y $362 millones.

La congresista Delia Ramírez (D4) afirmó, “También creo que esto va a requerir, aún más, liderazgo ejecutivo” por parte del Presidente Biden, dijo Ramírez. Biden “tiene ahora la oportunidad” de ampliar los permisos de trabajo mediante una acción ejecutiva al margen del proceso de apropiaciones para ponerlos a disposición de los solicitantes de asilo que llegaron antes del 31 de julio.

David Orlikoff, miembro del Consejo del Distrito Policial 14, que ha estado ayudando allí a los voluntarios de ayuda mutua, dijo que mientras no se levanten las sanciones, los venezolanos seguirán buscando asilo aquí. “No he escuchado suficiente discusión en nuestra ciudad demócrata sobre cómo nuestro Partido Demócrata federal está causando estos mismos daños que estamos experimentando”, dijo Orlikoff. “Sí, necesitamos su apoyo para encontrar más viviendas y recursos, pero también necesitamos que Joe Biden ponga fin a las sanciones estadounidenses contra Venezuela”. ¬

Chicago’s Other Chance: Remembering Lurrkgod

An homage to the late Chicago artist and Weekly contributor, Roderick Chancellor Sawyer.

BY LUZ MAGDALENO FLORES AND NATASHA ESTEVEZ

A few weeks ago, we learned that Roderick Sawyer, a former writer and visual arts editor for the South Side Weekly, had passed away.

At the Weekly, Rod wrote or produced more than a dozen stories in which he interviewed and profiled artists and documented their art in cafes, healing spaces, and on the outside of buildings. Rod also worked with numerous writers as an editor and helped shape their coverage of emerging artists, putting a spotlight on an important art form.

He was a warm, thoughtful, caring person and will be missed.

Below you will find tributes and homages to Rod from people who were close to him, as well as photos of Rod and his work as a graffiti artist and photographer.

Luz Magdaleno Flores

On September 10, 2023, Roderick “Chance” Sawyer passed away suddenly at the age of twenty-eight. The Hyde Park native was a photographer, visual artist, curator, graffiti educator and archivist in Chicago’s Black and brown barrios. His father, Roderick Sawyer (no relation to former 6th Ward alderperson Roderick Sawyer), remembers the first time that an eight-year-old Chance tagged “Chance was here” in their family home. “I asked him why he did that and he responded, ‘I want people to know I was here!,’” Sawyer said.

Chance made a profound impact on the streets of Chicago. To the Chicago graffiti community, he was “Lurrkgod” known for lurking the streets with a camera

in tow on a mission to capture graffiti—“an art dedicated to spray-painting, letters, and oftentimes a lack of permission,” as Rod once put it—throughout the city. He would often shadow other graffiti artists and document their <i>procesos</i>, which he would then share on his social media account @lurrkgod and include in self-published zines and artworks dating

back to 2013. You can also spot his own tags throughout the city, by the name of “JPEG” or “Gafas” depending on which neighborhood you are in.

In a 2017 interview with Chicago Creatives, he shared that his photography journey started in high school, when he began exploring neighborhoods outside his Hyde Park stomping grounds. “I would

take photographs to capture the essence of the places I had been and the moments I’d experienced in them,” he shared. Around the same time, he began contributing to South Side Weekly and served as the Visuals Editor through 2019. He wrote about the processes of graffiti, initiatives that empower children, spaces that feel like sanctuaries, and the historical texts found at the Blackstone Library, where he had also worked.

Roderick explored the importance of language and storytelling through his art practices. For the past few years, he had been creating photo collages that overlapped 35mm or 120 film captures of moments with friends over paper samples of his own graffiti art. He combined these with paper material such as receipts and handwritten notes, often in Spanish, to bring his audience into his world of thought and travel.

Themes of self-reflection and love, along with to-do lists and reminders to himself and others, decorate his work. For example, “One of my favorite parts of graffiti? El espacio. Lo importante aint que pintaste pero it’s about where you’re at. You color the space but al mismo tiempo the space te pinta la memoria.” and “Sometimes I feel a greater amount of Love/the need to love more for those I perceive may be lacking it. The question is (are) can I speak their love language and will it interrupt my own love tank?” written on the pages of his zine, 2019 Gang Activities Vol. 2

Roderick would often trek on his bike to Zine Mercado, a zine market organized by his longtime friend Oscar Arriola, and would happily trade a zine that he would pull out from his bag. As JPEG, he also

Rod in his studio.

PHOTO BY LUZ MAGDALENO FLORES

had a zine wall (1419 E. 61st Pl.) where he would paint a new “ZINE” mural each year. This sacred alley spot is home to a community altar that loved ones are invited to activate in his memory.

He also had a secret spot, through a cut and along train tracks, where he painted thirteen murals starting in 2015. He had just finished his latest piece during his “Sunday Spray” session a week before his passing.

As an ode to JPEG, this year’s Meeting of Styles—a grassroots yearly convening of over 120 artists from around the world who come together to paint murals that stay up for a year in the Southeast Side— included an array of graff pieces that pay homage to him. One of the murals, made on a viaduct on 93rd and Chicago Avenue, reads: “Thank you for the dedication to documentation Lurrk God JPEG Love From the Boys.” The love was also felt and can be seen via the bypass on Commercial and Chicago Avenue, where four portraits of JPEG were painted by graffiti artists NEEN, SERK, and SALOMON.

“Rod had a passion for documenting other people’s art, making it his own. He was a very open and genuine person who only had positivity to give back. He made it his mission to capture the process of the artists all the way to the end product in a vibrant and sincere style. He inspired many to get out, explore, and appreciate what the city has to offer. He will be dearly missed by the entire community,” shared SERK.

This year's Meeting of Styles was

organized by DTEL, who remembers meeting a young JPEG. “I met him at the Hyde Park and 53rd St. alley wall behind the gas station which is no longer there— it’s where Target was built in the summer of 2013—before he even had a camera with his notebooks and hung out with everyone.”

I was very lucky to have met Roderick during our early twenties, when he was working on his degree in Visual and Critical Studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. I fell in love with his commitment to capturing community through photographs and will always remember his smile when asked for a baile or a beso. His spirit emulated love and I am forever impacted by the way in which he showed care and commitment to uplifting the beauty all around us.

He was a studio artist with the Fulton Art Collective, where he curated the exhibitions “Portraits” and “Journey/ Explore,” and had also completed a Chicago Artist Coalition residency in 2022. This summer, we got to co-curate a photo exhibit, “Tethered en el Barrio,” where we were both challenged to put the camera down and take turns capturing each other and others in Chicago’s POC bondage community. The resulting show was hosted in a DIY gallery in Back of the Yards.

During an opening speech, he shared: “Sometimes things happen and you don’t know for how long, and sometimes things happen and there is a time limit, and you got to make the best of that time. I have been telling people that as a photographer

there are some events that I photograph, and then I look at the pictures later and I am like, ‘yo, this photo is dope, but I didn’t know it at the moment’ … I am grateful that we have had this time … the whole point of this is community. It’s a space we are creating. Seeing the process, experiencing the process, that is what this is all about— community.”

Photography was always at the core of his practice. He led “The Mirror Project,” an ongoing photo series that explores the use of mirrors and portraiture. He challenged us to romanticize ourselves and see our bodies as sculptures. In some of his notes from this summer, he linked the inspiration of this project to Tumblr’s sex positivity movement and the culture of taking selfportraits that depict the person we wish to be.

You can follow the tag #themirrorproject on Instagram or visit www.flickr.com/people/rodosaw/ to see his work.

Roderick had recently reminded me of the importance of rest. He was preparing for a new school year with his graffiti class as an instructor of the Teen Arts Council at Arts + Public Life, a position he held since 2022. He had just moved out of his studio, had finished exhibiting art for the “Hip Hop 50: A Voyage Through Time” art show in Pilsen’s HAZ Room, had attended Kenwood Academy’s ten-year high school reunion, and was making an effort to make time to chill and read a book or enjoy a film. May the reminders and messages he left behind be elevated and remembered forever. JPEG x vida

The Sawyers are holding a public memorial in late October. More information forthcoming.

Natasha Estevez

Many a time, with words like these, the ethos of a eulogy exists not only to praise those who have passed on from this life, but to share their greatness with the community—remnants of the cadence they left, seeded in the storybook of the earth to find its way to many minds.

But this South Side artist has been so actively present in the Chicago community that this written testament is instead a collective voice, made up of the many circles that Rod was a part of.

Collage made by Rod.

Collage made by Rod.

Roderick Chancellor Sawyer (known as Rod to family and friends) was a son, brother, friend and lover, an artist, scholar, historian, and documentarian. Rod’s storytelling triumphed across many mediums, that which the community remembers and honors today: graffiti, preservation of memories through film and collage, video, zines, and the many dialogues of explorations across social platforms that, if read earnestly, could birth many studies of what Rod left us with.

Born and raised in Chicago, a South Sider based in Hyde Park, he was a man of the people, welcoming all who were drawn to the city and all that belonged. You could never say he walked with a specific group. He was worldly and exhibited that through his curiosity in spaces, cultures, mediums, and ideas. His inner rhythm reflected his outer movements. We now witness it through the multiple documentations, testimonies, and artistic creations he produced.

Rod experienced people, environments, and notions with absolute openmindedness, open arms, and respect. In return, he gained an audience, students of his fabrications. Many have come forward to share the experience of Rod: observers of the Sunday Sprays, admirers of the Mirror Project, friends of Apt 908, sympathizers of his use of photography to romanticize the self, the tethered from all the barrios, the other rope practitioners and the many more spaces he held for conversation and exploration.

Excerpts

from Rod’s Community:

“The marks you left in this world with your creativity and energy are ubiquitous and will remind us how much of a passionate and loving person you are.”

- Sumin Kim, artist and close friend

“He was in After School Matters (ASM) as one of my students years back. He was such a sweet kid and an even sweeter man. He will be missed for sure.”

- Jourdon Gullet, ASM instructor and mentor

“Thank you for every zine, graff, documentation, photo as study of history, photo as care for intimacy in the mundane or the sensual. For including me throughout your practice. Your work was a deep breath. To see you was a laugh. To be in your orbit

was to feel love. To run into you was a smile. To laugh with you—at memes, new Midwestern drill, poly theory—was to learn, to gasp, to cackle with delight.”

- Maira Khwaja, writer and organizer, friend.

“When I think about the City of Chicago, I think about the people foremost. Rod is and will always be the epitome of a true Chicagoan. He was an artist through and through, and he will be missed by many.”

- Julietta Magaña Pérez, movement artist, friend.

“I choose to remember him cheesing. I choose to remember him biking across the city in search of a new photo to take. I choose to remember him practicing Spanish, dancing and showing up for the people he loved. It is an honor to love and be loved by Rod.”

- Kee Stein, poet, friend

“Rod continues to focus on the moment. Tying back into the energies of a piece of work, the viewer can vibe with it, and although it is community-based it’s ‘about using your own style...kinda like what

hip hop is about, perfecting your style.’ Sawyer is fascinated by the time and effort and meanings of these pieces as they are temporary, so capturing them before they’re destroyed is another way of him saying ‘I was here, and I witnessed these creations … whether they be ephemeral or not, they’re now forever.’”

- Claire Smith, writer, friend and schoolmate

“Rod. Someone who has a presence bigger than the present. A teacher for me without knowing, a mentor for many, and a leader by example for always immersing fully to life.”

- Janny Jang, consultant, friend.

“Rodicient! Rod the magnificent: what I called Rod every time I saw him because of the gravitas he carried. Such quiet strength. Unparalleled care. A man who constantly radiated love, familiarity, and savior faire. We would talk for hours about life: its meaning, how it changes, and where it takes us. I always had a laugh and smile in your presence. The warmth we shared over the years will last for a lifetime and more.”

- Landon Williams, artist, close friend

“Rod, you left us with so much substance, tangibly and intellectually, that we, the collective, will continue to study these elements for years and years to come.”

- Natasha Estevez, poet-copywriter, close friend

“Rod was a nurturer. He had a grace to him that everybody was important and you saw that in how he documented people in his work, you are worth a conversation. He taught us to be present. When he was in front of you, he made you feel like a focus. I’m going to truly miss his attention to you, his care, and acknowledgement. Rod used the pros and cons of what he experienced in his life to help other people. He was a true artist.”

- Armani Howard, artist, close friend and colleague

Dedicating Multiple Odes to Roderick Chancellor Sawyer, we will always remember you. ¬

To contribute or read more stories shared in honor of Rod, visit the Mad Seasoned blog on Substack. Stories are hosted there by Natasha Estevez.

PHOTO BY LUZ MAGDALENO FLORES

Tacos to Traditions: La Chaparrita’s Spirited Salute to La Santa Muerte

Attendees of the annual celebration shared what la Santa Muerte means to them.

BY LESLIE HURTADO

At the heart of La Chaparrita Grocery, where generations have found cherished traditions packaged as goods, from De la Rosa mazapan candy to religious candles, a commanding female presence stands tall—la Santa Muerte, a skeleton-like folk saint often regarded as the goddess of death in Mexican culture.

Building on this legacy, La Chaparrita’s la Santa Muerte celebration invites all for a unifying experience. The store’s parking lot becomes a lively backdrop for festivities dedicated to her honor and the beloved taqueria.

Towering at the entrance of the grocery’s popular taqueria, joined with a family of small saints, la Santa Muerte watches over as taquero César Castillo masterfully prepares tacos de lengua (beef tongue) and other crowd favorites like sesos (brain), al pastor (pork), tripa (intestines) and spicy longaniza (sausage) on a sizzling round comal. Just a few steps away, Angelina Méndez, the owner, welcomes each customer with a warmth that for many feels like home.

“[Customers] return to a part of Mexico,” Méndez said. “They see our things and go, ‘Oh, look, do you remember this?’ But when they taste the tacos, they say, ‘You brought a flavor of tacos I haven’t eaten in 15 years.’ So, this is a little piece of Mexico. People find it here in Chicago at La Chaparrita."

Since 2001, La Chaparrita at the intersection of 25th and Whipple Street in Little Village has been more than just a taqueria. Méndez, building on her mother Emma Pérez Díaz’s legacy, infused the place with her three-decade-long faith in la Santa Muerte and recipes from Mexico City. She made a promise to the saint: if the business flourished, she’d build an altar.

Today, amidst the aroma of tacos, that altar stands, offering a space for devotees to express their faith, especially those who can’t do so at home.

“My original vow was that every first of November, I would have food at La Chaparrita, and every person who entered that day would leave with a plate of food,” Méndez said. “To me, offering food and inviting people to eat signifies giving abundance to you.”

For people who worship la Santa Muerte, November 1 is often celebrated as its saint’s day.

In a testament to the deep bond between the store and its community, La Chaparrita has made it a tradition to honor la Santa Muerte every year. On Sunday, they hosted their annual event, catering to their dedicated patrons.

Over the years, the event has experienced significant growth. While the store boasts a loyal customer base and serves a community of steadfast devotees

to the religion, the owners emphasize that individuals from all religions and cultures are welcome.

Regarded as a saint symbolizing both death and protection among her followers, la Santa Muerte is believed to offer protection, healing and miracles. While her roots are in Mexico, her presence has touched souls throughout Latin America and the U.S.

Rocio Rueda, who resides in DuPage, said her journey with la Santa Muerte began more than a decade ago and her connection with La Chaparrita came after watching Netflix’s “Taco Chronicles” that featured the taco joint.

Her faith took root after an experience when she prayed for her lost goddaughter’s safe return and believes la Santa Muerte answered her plea.

Devotees like Rueda frequently offer gifts to la Santa Muerte, hoping for a favor in return, much like a spiritual agreement. Despite initial fears and a Catholic

upbringing, she now relies on la Santa Muerte for protection and abundance.

“I grew up as a Catholic teacher,” Rueda said. “I grew up in the choir. I asked [la Santa Muerte], ‘If you are real and if you do exist, show me that you exist.’ And she gave me back my goddaughter.”

Reflecting on the event, Rueda shared how she discovered a strong sense of belonging within the event’s community. “All these people here—I love it,” Rueda said. “I thought I was the only one. I’m one in a hundred. And I see there’s many of them. They brought their children. They brought the elderly. They brought their spouses. They are second generation.”

At the recent celebration, some families gathered near an ornate yellow altar adorned with flowers and candles to honor la Santa Muerte. As nighttime fell, the sounds of mariachi and banda music resonated through the streets. Méndez served her popular home dishes from large pots, including mole verde, nopal with mushrooms and pork in morita salsa.

Draped in a golden robe, holding a scythe and wearing a gleaming crown, la Santa Muerte took center stage. Arely Vázquez, who dressed the saint, traveled from New York to help Méndez, her longtime friend, at the event. Two decades ago, Vázquez made a pact with la Santa Muerte after surviving a life-threatening health issue. She now passionately shares the saint’s prayers with others.

“Celebrations are a way of giving thanks to [la Santa Muerte] for everything she provides us with, primarily health, work and for helping us overcome the adversities that life presents us,” Vázquez said. “That is what’s important. And for this reason, we always show our gratitude in this way, by celebrating in her honor.”

Faces beamed with joy, and laughter

PHOTO BY JORDAN ESPARZA

filled the air as hundreds of attendees exchanged warm embraces and shared stories of mourning, dreams, and personal experiences. All were united by the collective healing brought about by their protector, la Santa Muerte.

“I [created the party] due to faith, out of gratitude and love for her, but I am very happy doing her party,” Méndez said. “I am very happy seeing people eat and enjoy [the party] and that people leave happy.”

Méndez recognizes the misconceptions surrounding la Santa Muerte and aims to enlighten visitors about her true significance. By showcasing her in the store, she encourages discussions, corrects myths and emphasizes la Santa Muerte’s spiritual value.

“[La Santa Muerte] is not evil,” Méndez said. “We all have faith in different saints. She is not vengeful. Many people think that if you ask her for something and don’t fulfill your promise to her, she will punish you with the death of a loved one. But that’s not the case. Because death does not make decisions when taking in souls, since she was not the creator. The only being that can [decide] to collect souls is God.”

La Santa Muerte has evolved over time, blending with elements from Roman Catholicism and Afro-Cuban Santería. Various theories surround her origin, from being a continuation of the Aztec death goddess Mictecacihuatl to emerging from Spanish colonial influences. The Mexican government and the Catholic church have opposed the religion’s history, leading nonfollowers to associate her with evil.

But for many followers, she represents a symbol of hope and guidance. La Santa Muerte devotees often view death as a means to live freely without fear.

Julie Duran, who recited the rosary at the event, said her journey with la Santa Muerte began when her mom introduced her to the saint, and despite being intimidated by the skeletal figure, she found her positive influence compelling.

“I think [la Santa Muerte] clears my mind,” Duran said. “I think it’s just like any other saint that Mexicans believe in. And I think it’s just because you believe so much in her, it just helps you open up.”

Duran emphasized that It’s crucial to seek knowledge on la Santa Muerte and not judge based on myths.

“A lot of us Mexicans are either Catholic or Christian,” Duran said. “But I also know priests that can’t openly say that

they believe in her. But, it’s there. It’s death. People expressed their devotion to la Santa Muerte in various ways. While many traditionally bring flowers, food and beer as tokens of admiration, including statues of saints like la Santa Muerte, others traveled from distant places to show their faith.

Coming all the way from Wisconsin, Ricardo Mena made it his mission to honor la Santa Muerte for all the blessings she has given him, like allowing him to keep his job.

“I light her candle and offer her flowers every day,” Mena said. “I don’t promise her things I can’t fulfill. I simply ask her to help me.”

Méndez, who has Mena as a loyal customer, noted that many customers seek la Santa Muerte’s assistance during difficult times or to achieve their goals.

“There are many people who have asked [la Santa Muerte] to help a sick family member, for their papers or for a legal issue they’ve had,” Méndez said. “Well, with their faith, they have succeeded in those requests. Most who believe in her don’t believe in doing illegal things to feel protected.”

Méndez’s vision for the future extends beyond the event and into the hands of her three grandchildren, who will one day run the shop. She believes Little Village is being revitalized and in the face of changing times, La Chaparrita will remain a beloved part of the community that is thriving and growing.

“I tell [my grandchildren] that they have to learn everything because they are going to be the managers of La Chaparrita,” Méndez said. “But, with a new renovation, not [changing] the taste of the tacos, but yes, [changing the shop] to something modern because this neighborhood is going to change.”

Next year’s event will continue to offer the same experience, with an ofrenda and rosary prayer in the first half of the evening, followed by live music later in the night, along with food provided by La Chaparrita. And for those who were unable to attend Sunday’s event, there’s an option to leave offerings during store hours. ¬

Leslie Hurtado is a contributing reporter for Cicero Independiente. Her work was previously featured in the Weekly, where she covered the 2021 Cook County jail demolition and Chicago's guaranteed income programs last year.

Snelling Confirmed as CPD Superintendent

Snelling

BY JIM DALEY AND MAX BLAISDELL

The City Council unanimously confirmed Larry Snelling as the sixty-fourth superintendent of the Chicago police department in a special meeting on Wednesday. He is the first superintendent in the department’s history who was nominated by the Community Commission on Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA). The CCPSA was created in 2021 by the Empowering Communities for Public Safety (ECPS) Ordinance, which also established twenty-two Police District Councils.

During the public comment period, CCPSA commissioner Rev. Beth Brown said, “This is a big day for Chicago.” She noted five commissioners were in attendance in support of Snelling’s nomination. “It was our pleasure to be able to bring names forward for nomination, and we’re so thrilled by the mayor’s choice,” Brown said.

Arne Duncan, the former CEO of CPS and founder of Chicago CRED, a gun violence prevention nonprofit, also spoke to endorse Snelling’s nomination. “We live in polarizing political times, and yet I’m very hopeful,” because of the burgeoning combination of

grassroots anti–violence organizations, philanthropic support for public safety, and civilian oversight, he said. Snelling “will hold us all accountable.”

Snelling, a thirty-one-year veteran from Englewood who most recently was CPD’s chief of counterterrorism, takes the helm of a department that is subject to more civilian accountability than ever before. The CCPSA and Police District Councils have some oversight powers and broad authority to engage with police brass on behalf of the communities they serve.

The nomination process required the CCPSA to shortlist three candidates for the mayor to select from. Along with Snelling, the CCPSA nominated Angel Novales, the CPD’s chief of constitutional policing and reform, and Shon Barnes, the police chief of Madison, WI.

Johnson picked Snelling, who addressed community members at a forum in Pilsen on September 7 and spoke to alderpersons at a meeting of the City Council’s Committee on Police and Fire on September 22.

Anthony Driver, the president of the CCPSA, said the civilian-led nomination process is “historic” for

Chicago. “Typically, the mayor makes a decision, the City Council rubber stamps it, and that’s it,” Driver told the Weekly earlier this month. “This time, the public got a chance to weigh in on the front end, and they’ll get a chance to weigh in four more times after [Snelling is] selected. And we’ll be here to make sure that he continues to be accessible to the public.”

Former superintendent David Brown, who led the department from 2020 to 2023, resisted the CCPSA’s attempts at oversight, and commissioners accused him of slow-walking his response to their ECPS-mandated efforts at goalsetting. Under Snelling, the department and its civilian minders may enjoy better relations; he has been praised by CCPSA president Anthony Driver as “the right person for the job.”

Multiple civilian oversight bodies have come and gone over the course of Snelling’s thirty-one years with the department. Until 2007, the CPD’s Office of Professional Standards (OPS) investigated complaints against officers. It was replaced with the Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA), which was in turn replaced by COPA in 2017.

COPA investigates complaints and makes recommendations based on its findings to the Chicago Police Board, which makes the final ruling on discipline for officers found to have engaged in misconduct. But last month, an independent arbitrator ruled that in the most serious misconduct cases, where officers face more than a year’s suspension, they can go around the Police Board and deal with the arbitrator only.

Both Johnson and Police Board president Ghian Foreman criticized the ruling. And last week, forty-one of the city’s sixty-six Police District Council members wrote an open letter urging the City Council to reject any changes to the police union contract that would allow officers to circumvent the board. On Tuesday, the Police Board voted to reject the arbitrator’s ruling.

Snelling has not said whether he supports allowing officers to go around COPA and the Police Board to have an independent arbitrator hear their misconduct cases. Over the course of

his own career, he has been subject to a number of investigations that predated both COPA and IPRA. In most of them, the complaints against him were not sustained by investigators.

Last month, the Weekly reported that in 1997 Snelling was implicated with three other officers in a corruption scheme where they threatened to plant drugs on a man if he refused to bring them a gun. Snelling, who was also formally accused of “threaten(ing) to plant drugs on the complainant if [he] did not get him a gun,” denied the allegations, and investigators found the complaint was not sustained. Snelling garnered several other complaints during his career; two were sustained.

In the 2000s, as a sergeant working at the Police Training Academy where he taught use-of-force techniques, Snelling testified as an expert witness in more than a dozen civil and criminal cases involving alleged police brutality. In one, Snelling defended the actions of Glenn Evans, an officer with a long history of excessive force complaints, when he was accused of inappropriately using a “pain compliance” technique on a mentally ill woman. Both the Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA) and then-superintendent

Eddie Johnson thought Evans’ use of that technique was wrong under the circumstances and recommended Evans face serious disciplinary consequences.

The police department remains under a consent decree that was imposed in 2019 after a federal judge found CPD had violated the Constitution by engaging “in a pattern of using excessive force, including deadly force, in a manner that disproportionately harms Chicago’s African American and Latino residents.” Since the City entered into the consent decree, the CPD has fully complied with only five percent of its reform mandates. Whether Snelling will be able to speed the department’s compliance up remains to be seen.

In Friday’s committee meeting, Ald. Samantha Nugent (39th Ward) asked Snelling what areas of the consent decree he believed should be prioritized. Selling replied that “the two most important things” are officer training and community engagement. “I know a lot of people think that the consent decree is slow rolling, but there are different levels of compliance,” he added. “So there are a lot of things that are in the works right now that have just not met full compliance, but they are

being done.”

The department also is suffering from a widespread morale problem; Snelling has said addressing it will be one of his top priorities. In last week’s committee hearing, he acknowledged that there are “a lot of things” the police department can do better, “but we have to support” police officers.

In response to a police district council member who’d asked him to imagine a world without police at the September 7 meeting, Snelling told the committee Friday that he would “like to be a part of that world. But in order to imagine a world without police,” he’d have to also imagine a world without violent crimes.

Snelling’s remarks sounded “like a blockage of imagination,” Erin Vogel, the district council member, told the Weekly on Tuesday. “If we can actually address the root causes [of violence], we can see that we don’t need the police,” she said. “I’m not saying that we don’t have forms to care for one another and for safety, but branching out of what public safety is to reframe it off of the police. The police aren’t the end all be all to keeping us safe.”

The same grassroots organizers who brought about the ECPS Ordinance are also attempting to change how Chicago is policed, and for once, they have a mayor who is apt to listen. During his campaign for mayor, Johnson threw his support behind Treatment Not Trauma, an ordinance that would send healthcare professionals and social workers instead of police to people experiencing mental health crises.

Former mayor Lori Lightfoot blocked City Council hearings on Treatment Not Trauma. Johnson is pushing to make it a reality with his council allies. At last week’s committee hearing, At last week’s committee hearing, Snelling said, “I’m all for the co-responder model,” which would pair healthcare workers with police to respond to mental health crises. “Anytime that we can have someone free up our officers from jobs that are of a non criminal nature, I’m all for it.”

Snelling and Johnson may find themselves at odds over another of the mayor’s promises: doing away with ShotSpotter, a controversial audio

Larry Snelling takes the oath of office from City Clerk Ana Valencia.

PHOTO BY JIM DALEY

surveillance technology that purports to detect and locate gunshots. Activists have called for the City to end its contract with ShotSpotter for years, saying it doesn’t accurately detect gunshots and leads to over-policing of Black and Latinx communities. Johnson said he’d end the ShotSpotter contract during his campaign.

Snelling has publicly defended ShotSpotter in the past. Residents at the September 7 forum repeatedly asked him whether he would urge the mayor to keep the contract, and each time he declined to answer, saying that it’s Johnson’s decision.

During Wednesday’s meeting, multiple alderpersons praised outgoing interim superintendent Fred Waller, lauded the CCPSA’s nomination process, and said they’re hopeful about Snelling’s leadership. Ald. Daniel La Spata (1st Ward), said Snelling’s selection is “proving out” that civilian oversight of the police department works. “Mr. Mayor, before you made this selection, our Community Commission made this selection, and I want to thank them,” La Spata said.

“We have seen in the last term what it looked like when public safety was not working,” said Ald. Andre Vasquez (40th Ward). “We had fights to get public oversight going.” He commended Alds. Osterman (48th), Leslie Hairston (5th), Ramirez-Rosa (35th), and former Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6th) for spearheading legislation that led to ECPS. “It was a fight that led to what I believe is a really great system” for appointing the superintendent, Vasquez said. He added that a world without police should be “our North Star” when thinking about how to approach public safety.

“I hope that people follow this lead of having these community councils along with the police, because nobody is saying we don’t need policing,” said Ald. Jeanette Taylor (20th Ward). “We’re saying what we want is accountability when they don’t do what they supposed to do.”

The Council voted 48–0 to confirm Snelling; Alds. Derrick Curtis (18th Ward) and Gil Villegas (36th) were not present.

Snelling addressed the City Council in a speech that stressed the importance of working together to affect change. “One thing I wanna say about the [CCPSA] and the example they set: I guarantee the people on that commission didn’t agree on everything,” Snelling said. “But it shows you when people sit in a room, they can come to a consensus. Things can get done. They should serve as an example of what we can do across this entire city.”

He added that while he believes officers should be held accountable for misconduct, they must be judged “fairly.”

At a press conference after the meeting, he said that “officers who make mistakes will be held accountable,” but reiterated that the penalty has to be fair.

“If we have officers amongst our ranks, who are not here faithfully, and we know they’re doing more harm than good, then yes, we want to remove that officer,” Snelling said. “The reason we want to remove that officer is because the majority of our officers go out there every single day and put their lives on the line. We don’t want to protect an officer who does not have the best interests of the city

Before he was elected to the City Council in 2023, Ald. Desmon Yancy (5th Ward) was a community organizer who co–founded the Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability (GAPA), one of the groups that won passage of the ECPS Ordinance. On Wednesday, he told the Weekly that seeing the confirmation of the first superintendent to be appointed as a result of that effort is “proof that democracy works.”

“It was a tough process over six years of bringing this ordinance to bear, and it was to do this exact thing: to make sure that the community was involved in shaping our public safety system,” Yancy said. “And I think it showed up well today.”

Vogel said she loves that Chicago has a new process for selecting the superintendent. “I’m an abolitionist and I believe in transparency and, in the meantime, harm reduction…. I think that this has been an incredible process and I’m looking forward to it growing. And I think that Chicago can really, with CCPSA and [police] district counselors,

I think we can really pave the way for a nationwide conversation about what transparency and accountability really looks like within police departments.”

Commissioner Brown said during her public comment that she shares that goal.“As a pastor, I’m trying to create a world where we don’t have armed people who serve and protect,” she said, but added that police “serve a very important purpose.”

Vogel said Snelling is “not a bad person” and spoke highly of his interactions with the community in Englewood when he was a lieutenant. But she added that abolishing police and prisons goes beyond a single person in leadership.

“It’s not the individual that needs to be abolished,” Vogel said. “It’s the whole damn system.” ¬

Jim Daley is an investigative journalist and senior editor at the Weekly

Max Blaisdell is a fellow with the Invisible Institute and a staff writer for the Hyde Park Herald

Superintendent Snelling addresses the media at a press conference following his confirmation hearing as Mayor Brandon Johnson looks on.

PHOTO BY JIM DALEY

Public Meetings Report

ILLUSTRATION BY HOLLEY APPOLD/SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY

A recap of select open meetings at the local, county, and state level.

BY SCOTT PEMBERTON AND DOCUMENTERS

September 11

A squabble over the confirmation of a new city comptroller and approvals of seven ordinances, $25 million to settle claims against the City, and requests for charities to solicit funds on city streets occurred during a meeting of the Chicago City Council Committee on Finance. Chasse Rehwinkel, Mayor Brandon Johnson’s choice for comptroller, was confirmed after three Committee members expressed concern over Rehwinkel’s political beliefs and whether his background qualified him. The comptroller heads the Department of Finance and manages city revenue and debt. Council Member Raymond Lopez, Jr., (15th Ward) voiced concerns over Rehwinkel’s past support of candidates who advocated defunding the police. Members Daniel La Spata (1st Ward) and Jeanette Taylor (20th Ward) responded that a comptroller’s personal politics should not trump their qualifications. Rehwinkel has also served as director of banking for the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. Rehwinkel’s appointment was unanimously approved by the City Council on September 14.

September 12

At its meeting, the City Council Committee on Zoning, Landmarks and Building Standards approved more than twenty-six ordinances or amendments to ordinances, including: requirements for electric vehicle charging stations, expansion of the Blackhawks Fifth Third Arena, large-sign permits at twenty-six locations for twelve different organizations or businesses, landmark fee waivers, karaoke entertainment at restaurants to revitalize business, daycare services, outdoor vehicle storage, signage at two elementary schools, and construction of a seven-story, ninety-eight-unit residential building. The purpose of the electric vehicle ordinance amendment is to ensure that at least twenty percent of parking spaces for new residential construction be EV-ready. A Committee member referenced a 2020 Council resolution recognizing climate change as a crisis and then emphasized the need to build an EV-friendly infrastructure. More than an hour of EV-related discussion followed. Committee members covered a variety of topics and questions, such as how to make sure EV readiness is adequately distributed, how the chargers combat climate change since electricity is generated through fossil fuels, and how the City can monetize charging stations.

A decision to approve plans to house and provide wraparound services by adapting an Englewood school for unhoused individuals or those at risk of homelessness was deferred by the Chicago Community Development Commission at its meeting. The project calls for the former Earle Elementary School to be converted to thirty one-bedroom and twenty two-bedroom units of affordable housing. Funding for the first two phases would come from $4.2 million in tax increment financing (TIF). The project is also slated to include a computer lab and fitness room. Commissioners held off on approval because no local organizations are involved and concerns over the amount of experience the developer has

with these specific kinds of projects. Potential remedies could include ownership shared with appropriate local organizations.

September 19

At its meeting, the Chicago Housing Authority Board of Commissioners approved a $3-million loan to Forward Communities Development, LLC, for the rehabilitation of nineteen vacant condos built as market-rate units on the former site of Rockwell Gardens housing in East Garfield Park. The renovated units are to be used for low-tomoderate homebuyers. The CHA plans to partner with the Chicago Housing Trust (CHT), a City-run nonprofit that supports affordable homeownership. Tracey Scott, the CHA’s CEO, reported that more than 500 families are to receive housing in seven new developments and that $2,000 scholarships are being awarded to 187 CHA residents for post-secondary education. Eligible are high school seniors, current students in two or four-year institutions, and other adult applicants. Scott also announced that the first LevelUp Program participants have graduated. LevelUp helps individuals to “increase financial stability” and “move forward . . . toward economic independence and well-being.”

September 21

At its meeting, the Chicago Plan Commission approved last-minute changes that would add forty-one units to a $230-million housing development on the Near West Side in the Fulton Market Innovation District (FMID). The change puts the number of affordable units at 123, or thirty percent of 406 total units. Those figures meet the standards of the City’s Affordable Requirements Ordinance (ARO) revised in 2021 to “address rapid development and gentrification to prevent displacement of low-income residents.” To meet the standard, forty-one units were added after urgent discussions between the developers and Council Member Walter Burnett, Jr., (27th Ward). Burnett criticized the City for previously not honoring its commitment to support the ARO standards for developments in the FMID: “To me, it’s disingenuous.” The twenty-three member Commission is responsible for reviewing proposals for developments in connection with manufacturing districts, protection of Chicago’s lakefront, and tax increment financing (TIF) districts.

A dramatic plea for justice, the exit of a controversial interim police superintendent, and activity statistics punctuated a meeting of the Chicago Police Board. In his final Police Board presentation as interim superintendent, Fred Waller reported that 250 individuals had graduated from the Police Academy in August (about a third women and just over eighty percent identifying as people of color) and the department had hired five hundred employees so far this year. Andrea Kersten, chief administrator of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA), then reported that in August her office received 412 complaints and notifications, 102 of which fell under COPA jurisdiction. Complaints about improper searches and seizures again constituted the greatest number. During public commentary, Lolita Hendrix pointedly asked the Board: “When does a Black woman’s death matter?” Her niece, Treasure Hendrix, was found dead just over two years ago in a van owned by a police officer, who resigned a week after Hendrix’s death. She and others at the meeting are not satisfied with CPD’s explanation or investigation. Kersten told Hendrix the case no longer falls under COPA’s jurisdiction. Outgoing CPD Superintendent Waller said that he was not familiar with the case but would look into it.

September 22

During its meeting, the Chicago City Council Committee on Police and Fire recommended that the Council confirm Larry Snelling as the sixty-fourth Chicago Police Department superintendent. Committee members quizzed Snelling on a range of issues, including a spike in armed robberies (up twenty-four percent this year, according to CPD), Mexican Independence Day crowd and traffic conflicts, a lack of police officers on the streets, use of technology, immigration, and the future direction of the department. Solutions to crime would include surveillance technology and more positive opportunities for young people. Snelling’s appointment was later confirmed unanimously by the City Council during a special meeting on September 27, as reported by the Weekly

This information was collected and curated by the Weekly in large part using reporting from City Bureau’s Documenters at documenters.org.

Our thoughts in exchange for yours.

The Exchange is the Weekly’s poetry corner, where a poem or piece of writing is presented with a prompt. Readers are welcome to respond to the prompt with original poems, and pieces may be featured in the next issue of the Weekly.

A Scary Story

by chima “naira” ikoro

It was a cold and windy night like never before. Legend has it, the cold was so bitter even the south side niggas wore real coats.

I found myself on a long journey toward 95th train car howling with emptiness sway, rattle, shake, boom and there it was... the man who catcalled me on the platform.

He say

“When I tried to approach, why you ain’t reply? You know you’re the only cat I coulda been calling on this redline!

You know I got a millimeter for every one of your lives, and ain’t nothing spookier than curving a dog you ain’t know had a 9.”

I once heard of a girl who rejected a man on the train, and he sliced her face up like a jack-o-lantern.

I wonder if all the good guys who never stepped in put a candle in her head to keep the bugs away How chivalrous.

What happens if I fold? Let’s start drafting the story we’ll tell our kids

“Yea :) met your dad after he stalked me out of a Walgreens

2 blocks away from my house!

I swore I saw sparks fly between us

but that was just my taser.”

Someone come pick me up, the guys at this party are cappin’ like the maddest hatter. They keep testing every girl til they pull the lucky one like a card trick. I rather be a 5 of Clubs rather be an Ace of Spades rather not be a Queen because at the end of the night, I don’t need any jokers following behind me.

My favorite halloween party game is having other men tell me i’m exaggerating my fear, that’s terrifying. I wonder how many women you’ve seen begging for help with their eyes and ignored because you think you know how the roller coaster drop isn’t that scary while you’re safe on the ground that’s terrifying

The only thing scarier than a mad hatter with a nine is a bystander watching him take every. single. life.

But my train car was empty, so I bent my hoop earring into a shank, I wasn’t going this time sis. I had that villain hocused poked in other words I stabbed that dog in his sh*t.

Chima Ikoro is the Weekly’s Community Builder.

THIS WEEK'S PROMPT: “CONJURE A SPOOKY STORY BASED ON A STRANGE PERSONAL EXPERIENCE, WHETHER IT WAS A GOOD OR BAD ENCOUNTER.”

This could be a poem, journal entry, or a stream-of-consciousness piece. Submissions could be new or formerly written pieces. Submissions can be sent to bit.ly/ssw-exchange or via email to chima.ikoro@southsideweekly.com

BULLETIN

3rd Annual Scholarship Weekend Comedy Show

The Woodlawn, 1200 E. 79th St. Sunday, October 8, 5pm–8pm. Tickets are $40. bit.ly/ScholarshipWeekendComedy

The John W. Buckner Youth Initiative Gala Comedy Show is hosted by Illinois State Rep. Kam Buckner (D-26th) and features comedian Just Nesh and DJ Pat XKL. The show is a fundraiser for the initiative’s Our Hands Our Worth Scholarship Weekend. The evening will also include food and drinks. (Zoe Pharo)

EDUCATION

STEAM & Dream Chicago Youth Summit

llinois Institute of Technology, Hermann Hall, 3241 S. Federal St. Saturday, October 7, 11am–3pm. Free. bit.ly/SteamandDreamSummit

The Summit equips youth ages twelve to seventeen with the tools to pursue their dreams in technology with a focus on mental health and wellbeing. Youth will be able to engage with interactive activities—such as learning about the future of artificial intelligence, esports, and lab rotations—meet special guest and former Chicago Bears player Matte Forte and enjoy the sounds of a live DJ. Doors open at 9:15am. (Zoe Pharo)

Drum Talk Book Fair

The DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center, 740 E. 56th Pl. Saturday, October 7, 12pm–5pm. Free. bit.ly/drumtalkbookfair

The DuSable is hosting its third annual Drum Talk Book Fair, a book and literary fair featuring authors, books and a spoken word open mic at 12pm and 2pm. Or, attend the Professional Writer’s Workshop from 1pm to 2pm. (Zoe Pharo)

Kobo Fest

Harris Park, 6200 S. Drexel Ave. Saturday, October 7, 3pm–8pm. Tickets are $10 to $15. bit.ly/KoboFest

The first-ever Kobo Fest by Africa

International House will feature a taste of Liberia in Chicago with dishes such as jollof rice, cassava leaf, palava sauce. In addition to food tastings, there will be traditional music, colorful attire and storytelling that evokes Monrovia. (Zoe Pharo)

Black Lit Tour

Pick up and drop-off at the DuSable Black

History Museum and Education Center, 740 E. 56th Pl. Saturday, October 7, 5pm–7pm. Tickets are $45, with a 20% discount for members and seniors.

bit.ly/BlackLitTour

Chicago historian Shermann “Dilla” Thomas is holding a Black Lit Tour that will tour the areas that inspired Black literary icons such as Lorraine Hansberry, Richard Wright, Gwendolyn Brooks and many others.

(Zoe Pharo)

Reuse-a-Palooza at The Plant

The Plant, 1400 W. 46th St. Sunday, October 15, 12pm–4pm. Free. bit.ly/ReuseAPalooza

The Plant is hosting its semiannual Reusea-Palooza again with opportunities to repair clothing and household items, to safely dispose of tricky-to-recycle items

and there will be a tour of The Plant at 2pm. Then, keep discussing environmental resolutions and actions at Whiner’s Taproom, open until 8pm.

(Zoe Pharo)

Events. Chairs and blankets provided, or bring your own. Doors open at 5:30pm.

(Zoe Pharo)

A Tribute to Hip Hop

The Promontory, 5311 S. Lake Park Ave. West. Saturday, October 7, 4pm–8pm. Tickets start at $55. bit.ly/3RII8uT

October 22, 11:30am. Tickets are $25 for the general public and $22.50 for members. bit.ly/PilsenMuralsWalkingTour

Bronzeville’s

Fall Festival of the Family

Absolutely Anything Essential, 3521 S. King Dr. Saturday, October 28, 2pm–5pm. General admission is free, a ticket including potpourri making is $20. bit.ly/BronzevilleFallFest

The third annual “Educate or Die” themed, not-so-scary harvest season celebration will provide free hair cuts and coats for youth courtesy of This is Life, NFP, live entertainment, a kid-zone and activities for adults, giveaways, local vendors, community resources and programs and a costume contest for kids up to age fourteen. The theme honors the late Phillip Jackson, a former Chicago Housing Authority boss who founded the educational nonprofit the Black Star Project. Sponsored by BMD Sports and Education Project. RSVP required.

(Zoe Pharo)

ARTS

FAME Fridays with Stone Soup Shakespeare: Pericles

FAME Center, 1319 S. State St. Friday, October 6, 7pm–8:30pm. Free. bit.ly/FAMEFridaysPericles

Shakespeare in the Park is returning for a second year in a row with collaborators Stone Soup Shakespeare. With puppets and pirates, the ninety-minute free production of “Pericles” follows Pericles as he travels from island to island in search of love, happiness and home. Just when all seems lost, the play travels forward in time to follow his daughter’s adventures in the islands of his youth. The plot invites audiences to “face

Diasporal Rhythms’ Intimate Spaces

Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, 915 E. 60th St. Saturday, October 7–Sunday, October 8, 9:30am–1:30pm. Tickets are $75. bit.ly/DiasporalRhythmsTours

Nonprofit Diasporal Rhythms, which has the mission of collecting and preserving art from the African Diaspora, is hosting its 15th Annual Collectors’ Intimate Spaces Home Tour. This year, the tour offers two South Side routes: Bronzeville and South Shore, each of which consists of three homes featuring unique collections from twenty-four artists who have previously been honored by Diasporal Rhythms. Ticket holders may choose to do the tour via trolley or via car on their own, but must first check in at the Logan Center. (Zoe Pharo)

Arts Lawn Grand Opening

The Arts Lawn, 337 E. Garfield Blvd. Saturday, October 7, 3pm–8pm. Free. bit.ly/ArtsLawnOpening

Arts + Public Life, an initiative of UChicago Arts at the University of Chicago, will announce the grand opening of The Arts Lawn, nearly an acre of green space to Garfield Boulevard and the Washington Park neighborhood. This new outdoor venue features a performance pavilion, native garden, rain garden, great lawn and a vending. The inaugural ceremony will include remarks from leadership from the University of Chicago and the City of Chicago, performances by Kuumba Lynx and a South Side Marching Band. The day will also feature family activities and a photo booth by Glitter Buts, and the evening will conclude with an outside screening of a short film by

The Imani Pearls Community Development Foundation is partnering with The Promontory for “Iconic Beats: A Tribute to Hip Hop.” DJ Wyldchyld and DJ Jay Illa will take attendees on a journey through fifty years of hip-hop while guests sip on signature drinks and shop at select vendors. This golden anniversary celebration features a special guest performance by two-time Grammy Award-winner Rhymefest, co-writer of Best Rap Song with Kanye West “Jesus Walks” and “Glory” with Common. (Zoe Pharo)

Chicago Artopia Concert with Marija Temo and Karensa DeMars

Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture, 6500 S. Pulaski Rd. Sunday, October 8, 4pm–5pm. Free.

bit.ly/ChicagoArtopiaConcert

Chicago Artopia, The Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture and the Chicago Public Library are teaming up for a performance by Flamenco guitarist Marija Temo and dancer Karensa Demars in West Lawn. (Zoe Pharo)

Chicago Southside Blues Coalition “Blues and Brews” Night

The Lodge, 5108 S. Prairie St. Friday, October 20, 7:30pm–10:30pm. Donation of $10 to $20 required, all funds go to the organization’s children's programs. bit.ly/Bluebrew

The Chicago Southside Blues Coalitions presents “Blues and Brews” night in Bronzeville with live Blues music. Join to listen to music, interviews, dance and eat.

(Zoe Pharo)

Poet and multidisciplinary artist Luis Tubens will be hosting a walking tour of Pilsen’s murals, including the public art on railroad viaducts, buildings and doors, which shows an evolution of the community’s Mexican identity, heritage and activism, in the tradition of Mayan and Aztec practices. Tubens is a former arts educator at the National Museum of Mexican Art. The tour is created in partnership with the Chicago History Museum and Pilsen Public Art Tours. Tour runs one and half to two hours.

(Zoe Pharo)

Black Harvest Film Festival

Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State St. Friday, November 3–Thursday, November 16, 7:01pm–6:01pm. Festival passes are $30 for members and $60 for the general public. bit.ly/BlackHarvestFilmFest

The 29th Annual Black Harvest Film Festival will showcase films that “celebrate, explore, and share the Black, African American, and African Diaspora experience.” This year’s festival highlights “Revolutionary Visions,” the history, politics and art honoring the legacy of revolutionary struggle across the diaspora, and the intersectionality of Black experiences worldwide. This year’s festival is being curated by Jada-Amina and Nick Leffel, in honor of film critic and Black Harvest Film Festival co-founder and consultant Sergio Mims, who passed away last fall, this year the Gene Siskel Film Center is also establishing the Sergio Mims Fund for Black Excellence in Filmmaking. Festival lineup coming in early October.

(Zoe Pharo)