Today 3PM (CST): Shut Down #HomanSquare – @Chicago_Police Black Site

This post is a bit slapdash, and for that I apologize ahead of time, but: Real life needs must. Still, this issue and these actions in Chicago need a signal boost, so…here it is. 

Some background from Spencer Ackerman and Vic Suter on Deomcracy Now! This is the transcript.

Spencer Ackerman’s Homan Square ouevre at the Guardian is here.

Marcy Wheeler, writing for Salon.com:’ “I was in a black site”: Chicago’s policing nightmare — and assault on people of color; as Rahm Emanuel fights for his political life, let’s talk about the detention and abuse of black people in Chicago’

(If you can’t access her internal link to TarheelDem’s post about his grisly experiences at Homan Square, as it turned out to be, this is his Daily Kos version a friend provided me.)

From the the #Gitmo2Chicago (albeit backwards, given Zuley went from torturing Chicago arrestees to Gitmo) on Facebook page (#ShutDownHomanSquare morphing into a cyber support page already).

https://www.facebook.com/events/760600954047143

Follow on: https://twitter.com/ChicagoRising

https://twitter.com/hashtag/gitmo2chicago?src=hash

5 responses to “Today 3PM (CST): Shut Down #HomanSquare – @Chicago_Police Black Site

  1. In the USchwitz Barackoons from coast to ccoast, The BOOT Goes on …
    http://www.sott.net/article/293288-7-LAPD-officers-witness-their-guns-shooting-a-homeless-man-in-Los-Angeles
    “There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of life. All competing pleasures will be destroyed. But always — do not forget this, Winston — always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — forever.” – Orwell

  2. yes, i’d watched the video/s several times, and i swear they cuffed him after he was dead. somehow, that seems to have become a protocol. the twittersphere predictably went nuts, and there were protests that same night a few blocks from his assassination.

    i googled for coverage, and some of the comments below the articles made me see once again that racism in this nation has only had a thin veneer keeping it from full-blown ugly. one such, and it was mild in comparison, said in all caps: “see; this time you can’t blame US!!!” (given that the cop, or one of the shooter cops, was black.)

    this used to be billy bratton’s territory as well, remember.

  3. hello
    http://www.defendingdissent.org/now/news/chicago-families-of-chicagoans-killed-by-police-plan-city-hall-takeover/
    “Today at 4 p.m., families of Chicagoans killed by police will demand a meeting with Mayor Rahm Emanuel to push for police violence accountability before the mayoral runoff election. They say they will takeover the 5th floor of City Hall.”

    Demands:
    An immediate meeting between Mayor Emanuel and families of those killed by Chicago police,
    An investigation of unpaid suspensions of all officers involved in Chicago police shootings, including recommended indictments to states attorney office,
    A detailed plan to improve relationships between police and African American communities
    Creation a civilian police accountability council and elimination of the Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA)
    A commitment from the may to provide oversight and transparency at the Homan Square police facility
    Immediate passage of the Reparations Ordinance for survivors of Chicago police torture, and revocation of John Burge’s pension

  4. thanks, marym. i’m not getting this one, though: “An investigation of unpaid suspensions of all officers involved in Chicago police shootings, including recommended indictments to states attorney office” , although the failure is likely mine.

    as far as a civilian police accountability council, what seems needed is the power to subpoena witnesses, total access to police disciplinary and related files, and some mechanism to hire and fire cops, not just make recommendations. you might like to read bruce dixon’s piece mocking obama’s ferguson commission as worse than useless; he even offers a long list of things obama could do if he really meant to change the status quo, and not just tweak/’reform’ the current system.

    http://www.blackagendareport.com/node/14704

    but: the movement lives, good on chicago activists. will rahm be out of town on an emergency? ;)

  5. from the Guardian: “Resignation of Nicholas Roti, a veteran police officer who operated over the controversial police warehouse, comes as attorneys announce civil rights lawsuit”

    http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/mar/19/senior-chicago-police-commander-resigns-homan-square

    “Eleven people, seven of them black and Hispanic Chicagoans, have thus far told the Guardian that they have been held at Homan Square. Their detentions most often concerned drug suspicions. On several occasions, while in custody, police interrogators attempted to get detained men and women to either inform on others or deliver guns to the police, sometimes using the prospect of freedom as an enticement. The Chicago police say there is nothing untoward about Homan Square.

    According to Chicago city data, Roti’s annual salary was $176,532. A local website cited Roti in 2014 as the 16th highest-paid public official in Chicago. The superintendent of police, cited as the highest paid Chicago public servant, is listed as making $260,000 annually. Mayor Rahm Emanuel makes $216, 210.

    The Chicago police have yet to respond to a request for further information.”

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