On June 8, 2016, three members of a We Charge Genocide working group, Real Community Accountability for People’s Safety (RCAPS) met with the Department of Justice. As part of their investigation into police use of deadly force in Chicago, the DOJ wanted to discuss The Counter-CAPS Report: The Community Engagement Arm of the Police State. Community policing is currently an important plank in proposals for criminal justice reform. Through our independent, collaborative and grassroots research, we found that community policing mobilizes a self-selecting group to work with police and insulate them from scrutiny. It’s a way to generate some support for and increase the legitimacy of the police, not a serious solution to problems with state violence.
On the heels of the second annual #DamoDay, it is fitting to share news about the end of We Charge Genocide. We Charge Genocide (WCG), an intergenerational effort to center the voices of the young people most impacted by police […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 28, 2015 CONTACT: Eva Nagao, (312) 505-8327 WHEN: Wednesday, October 28, 2015 at 12:30 PM WHERE: City Hall, 2nd Floor PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS: We Charge Genocide, Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, Black Lives Matter-Chicago, Black […]
Combing through @chicopwatch's first 3,000 tweets to tell the story of the group's organizing and the role social media played in furthering WCG's goals.
We Charge Genocide recognizes that abolishing systems of oppression, including prisons and police, also requires continued investment in strong community institutions -- including strong neighborhood community schools. We rise in solidarity with the community leaders at Dyett and urge you to join us in supporting them however you are able.
Aldermen and Organizers Continue to Push For the Passage of the STOP Act: ACLU’s Agreement with the CPD on Stop and Frisk Fails to Provide Necessary Transparency
Police violence is always state-sanctioned violence, and further strengthening narrow supervision of police action by elites will never address that. This is why any legislative or law-based campaign to address police violence requires not just policy change, but an actual transformation of power relations between communities of color and the police.
Dear Friends, Thank you again for your crucial support of the STOP Act. We are writing to give you an update about the Act and other developments. As you know, we planned to file the Act in City […]
Aldermen Moreno, 1st Ward, Alderman Maldonado, 26th Ward, and Alderman Sawyer, 6th Ward spoke in favor of the new ordinance, which would increase data transparency for policing in Chicago, making it possible to better assess the effectiveness and fairness of Chicago policing generally, and stop and frisk tactics specifically.
Stops and frisks are the police tactics that affect the largest number of Chicagoans. Many of the people stopped have committed no crime. In the summer of 2014, CPD conducted more than 250,000 stops of individuals who were not arrested.
The past year has been one of sustained resistance, hope, creativity, and transformation due to the powerful hard work of many thousands across the country.
It is instructive that the foundation of the Chicago Police happened before Chicago was officially incorporated as a city. This city has, literally, never existed without the cops.
Watching the Watchers: Strategies to Resist Police was held Saturday, January 24th in downtown Chicago. This conference built on Chicago’s long history of organizing against police torture and violence. The purpose was to further popular education and to encourage more […]
On Sunday, February 1st, a Freedom Ride caravan will travel from Chicago to Calumet City to rally, march, and hold a vigil to honor Stephon Watts and support his family. Stephon was a 15-year-old with autism who was killed in his home by the police three years ago.
Recorded LIVE on Saturday, January 24th at 11:00am Central For more details on the conference, click here Our Keynote Speaker is Ejeris Dixon. The title of her talk is “Practicing Liberation.” Ejeris Dixon is an organizer and political strategist with 15 years […]
While we're relieved the law recognizes our constitutional First Amendment right to record the police in public, we also know police can find a reason to arrest someone regardless of a constitutional protection. Police have many other highly discretionary and vague charges available to them and this bill expands their tools to do so.
We Charge Genocide is excited to sponsor Watching the Watchers: Strategies to Resist Police Violence, a conference happening Saturday January 24th in Chicago. A few workshops we are excited about with links to more information about that topic if you want to dig in.
“When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.” -Martin Luther King, Beyond Vietnam 1967 speech Join us Thursday […]
On October 16, 2013, a Reparations Ordinance for Chicago Police Torture Survivors was introduced in Chicago’s City Council. It has already garnered the support of 26 alderpeople and we need to pass it ASAP!! This Tuesday, December 16th, there is an important action in Chicago to raise visibility and also put pressure on Mayor Emmanuel to support this ordinance #RahmRepNow
Summary of WCG trip to Geneva, Switzerland to present at UNCAT proceedings and the impact of the trip, including links to videos and transcripts.
As promoters of copwatching, we recognize that it is absolutely fundamental that civilians be the ones holding the cameras. When police control the cameras, those cameras are at the service of police violence.
After report and testimony from Chicago's We Charge Genocide, UNCAT "particularly concerned" over CPD profiling, harassment and excessive force. - On Friday, 11/28, the United Nations Committee Against Torture (UNCAT) issued Concluding Observations after holding their 53rd Session in Geneva, Switzerland earlier this month, during which the U.S. was under review.
There are two events in Chicago that WCG is supporting and encouraging people to attend.
Geneva, Switzerland 11/14 -- Chicago youth organizers presented a report this week to the United Nations Committee Against Torture (UNCAT) in Geneva, Switzerland. Questions they wrote on police violence in Chicago were asked by the committee to U.S. representatives. During the U.S. response, We Charge Genocide delegates staged a historic protest, standing with their fists in the air for over a half hour
We wanted to hear what the US had to say in response to the questions of the delegation but it turned out they had nothing to say about police brutality, law enforcement or any of the issues we brought up. Instead they talked about the values of the United States and the good policies- but our questions were about "what does it look like when this system is broken and when these policies are broken?" When we we heard the representatives of the US government say tasers aren't lethal, that was the point when we knew we had to stand up.
Today when U.S. representatives responded to the United Nations Committee Against Torture’s questions, the eight We Charge Genocide delegates made eye contact with one another and all knew it was the moment for us to stand.
#UNCAT asks questions about national epidemic of police violence against youth of color, use of tasers, racial in justice, the rights of black people in the US, and call out Damo's name.
[View the story “#WeChargeGenocide: Police Torture Presentation to United Nations ” on Storify]
WCG Walks Out on US Gov’t Representatives at the UN Last night, the We Charge Genocide team walked out on the 23 U.S. government representatives during their time to respond to the concerns we raised. Asha presented our 2-minute statement, […]
Watch the next video from the WCG youth delegation in Geneva!- combining day 2 and day 3 due to technical difficulties in Geneva. Exploring the idea of what it means to be "acceptable," what it means to be heard speaking from personal experience, connecting with the families of Rekia Boyd and Michael Brown, and what happened when WCG was in front of the US government representatives.
Watch the first video from the WCG youth delegation in Geneva!
On October 22, 'We Charge Genocide' released a report on Chicago Police violence, which they will present to the United Nations Committee Against Torture in Geneva, and hosted a silent protest on the national day of action against Police Brutality.
Repost from www.truth-out.org. Amid Shootings, Chicago Police Department Upholds Culture of Impunity Wednesday, 22 October 2014 12:57 By Sarah Macaraeg and Alison Flowers, Truthout | Investigative Report An exclusive Truthout investigation – released today on a day of national protest […]
We Charge Genocide Demands for National Day of Protest Against Police Brutality (inspired by #BlackLivesMatter demands) We call for a decrease in CPD spending and a reinvestment of that budgeted money into the black communities most devastated by poverty in […]
October 22 - National Day of Action Against Police Brutality
9AM - Presentation of Report on CPD Violence, 800 S Halsted
5:30 PM - Press Availability with WCG Organizers, 3151 W Harrison
6:00 PM - Silent Protest Against Police Brutality, 3151 W Harrison
We are thrilled and grateful for the outpouring of support from Chicago and around the nation. We are now able to send two additional youth organizers as part of a delegation of young people that will present our report on police […]
We are thrilled and grateful for the outpouring of support from Chicago and around the nation. We are now able to send two additional youth organizers as part of a delegation of young people that will present our report on police […]
DeSean Pittman was killed by the Chicago police on August 25th, 2014, the same day as Roshad McIntosh. On August 27, during a candlelight vigil honoring this young person’s life, CPD officers came to the gathering and provoked the crowd’s […]
Cop Watch Training for Community Members! We are Chicago residents concerned that the epidemic of police violence continues uninterrupted in our city. Join us in learning the tools for monitoring and documenting police violence against Chicago’s young people.Hosted by We […]
- This November, We Charge Genocide will send six organizers to present a report on Chicago Police violence to the United Nations Committee Against Torture at their 53rd Session in Geneva, Switzerland.
As we enter our second week of fundraising, we are thrilled and grateful for the outpouring of support to send a delegation of young people to present our report on police violence to the United Nations Committee Against Torture in […]
What an incredible first week of fundraising for the We Charge Genocide delegation to Geneva to present our report on police violence before the United Nations! We raised over $10,000 of our $15,000 goal and were able to secure plane […]
We had an exciting day yesterday fundraising to get our delegation of young people to Geneva this November to present a report to the United Nations on police violence targeting youth of color. We raised over $3,300 in one day, and after […]
It’s been an amazing week so far fundraising to send 4-6 young Chicagoans to Geneva, Switzerland this November to present our report on the Chicago Police Department’s human rights violations to the United Nations. We have been exceeding our daily fundraising […]
As we enter day #3 of fundraising to send 4-6 young Chicagoans to Geneva, Switzerland this November to present our report on the Chicago Police Department’s human rights violations to the United Nations, we are grateful to have raised over $3200 […]
You’ve probably heard by now that We Charge Genocide is fundraising to send 4-6 young Chicagoans to Geneva, Switzerland this November to present our report on the Chicago Police Department’s human rights violations to the United Nations. Hopefully, you’ve also […]
We Charge Genocide | wechargegenocide.org | @ChiCopWatch #ChiCopWatch MEDIA ALERT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: wechargegenocide@gmail.com We Charge Genocide To Present Report on Chicago Police to the United Nations Committee Against Torture in Geneva Chicago 9/15 — This November, a new […]
This workshop will introduce participants to the work of Chain Reaction, a participatory research and popular education project with the goal of supporting conversations about alternatives to calling police on young people.
We Charge Genocide’s and Black Youth Project’s Jasson Perez joined Morning Amp hosts Molly Adams and Brian Babylon to talk about police brutality and how to properly document and report instances of police misconduct. We Charge Genocide is hosting a training session and recording and reporting police misconduct […]
If you experience or witness Chicago police harassing young people- report it! Actively observe the cops in your neighborhood and document police misconduct and abuse using our police encounter line.
Bad Encounter Line Report 20121
Open letter to imagine alternatives to incarceration with list of resources below. “Dear friends, family, acquaintances and people with whom I share house party dance floors and supermarket lines, A few weeks ago, an acquaintance of mine attended a police […]
“I was just minding my own business. Every time you see me you want to mess with me. I’m tired of it. It stops today!" I made the mistake of watching the video in which NYPD choke and arrest 43-year-old Staten Island resident Eric Garner until he was dead on the sidewalk. It’s horrific.
People 25 years old and under are getting together to build. Young people in Chicago are the future of this city but you wouldn’t know it by the way we’re treated. Have you experienced harassment or been hurt by the […]
