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 Geneva. To date, we have raised over $11,500 online. We could not have done this without your support, and we are so grateful to everyone who are using the #chicopwatch hashtag, spreading the word about our Police Encounter Line, participating in Copwatch trainings, donating time and money as well as sharing the link to our fundraiser via social media, email, and word of mouth. Please continue to do so, and we are confident that we will not only be able to send our delegation to the UN but also build the foundation for long-term work around resistance to police violence in Chicago. In addition to our online fundraiser, people are organizing to raise funds through a Dozen Dinners for We Charge Genocide and a Dozen Faith/Spiritual/Religious Communities for We Charge Genocide. Please visit those links for more information on how you can get involved. We are hoping that these events will raise awareness on the work of We Charge Genocide and encourage people to reflect on what they can do to actively participate and to support the young people who are leading this work.

Today, we are featuring the profile of our last member of the delegation to Geneva. Breanna Champion is a 21 year-old organizer who is active in a number of Chicago area grassroots organizations.

I am a lifelong student, organizer, personal is political advocate, and black woman living on the south side of Chicago fighting to change the inequities I see every day. I would describe my activism as self-interested and continually growing as I battle between fighting against the perils I face as a black woman who has worked countless minimum wage jobs to pay for an already expensive college education and the struggles my brothers specifically have to face as black men in this country; us as black people in this world. I want to go to Geneva to present our report to the UN because the actualization of this report is really important to me. It gives a voice to people like myself and my brother who has been physically assaulted by the police, in order to change the terror we have to deal with in this country daily and especially by law enforcement.

I am currently a field organizer for Chicago Votes, core leader of the IIRON student network & Roots of Justice at UIC, and organizer with the Black Youth Project 100.

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Please help Breanna and the rest of We Charge Genocide’s delegation get to Geneva to present their report before the United Nations Committee Against Torture. Donate online here, organize a dinner/party fundraiser, or ask your congregation to take a special collection to send these young people to Geneva, and keep spreading the word!