A weekend of protests, a DePaul email error and resources
Hello everyone,
We hope you are all staying safe, healthy and holding up alright. It’s an overwhelming time right now. Check on your friends and family, and make time to take care of yourself, too.
It’s your Monday team — Patsy, Grace and Cam, along with Editor-in-Chief Marissa Nelson. Today, we break from our exclusive COVID-19 roundup to include the protests in Chicago and across the country in response to the killing of George Floyd, a Black man who died after being pinned down by a Minneapolis police officer. We decided to shift today’s newsletter from COVID-19 to give you a rundown on what’s happening in the city and how you can help. Right now, the protests and COVID-19 are two inseparable issues of immediate importance.
We also share updates on the possibility of Chicago opening this week, an appalling DePaul email error and relevant resources.
Today, we begin today with Chicago news.
What’s happening in Chicago?
This weekend, protesters gathered in Chicago’s downtown area and around the city to demand justice for George Floyd. He was a 46-year-old Black man who died on Memorial Day after Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin pinned Floyd down, pressing his knee into Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes while Floyd said he couldn’t breathe. Last Tuesday, Chauvin was fired from the police department, and on Friday, Chauvin was charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter.
Floyd’s killing has led to protests across the country.
The protests began in Chicago on Friday night, and continued throughout the weekend. On Saturday, Black Lives Matter Chicago and other groups organized a socially distant protest at Federal Plaza downtown to focus not only on Floyd’s death, but also on the killings of Breonna Taylor, a Black woman killed by police in her Kentucky home, and Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man shot by white men in Georgia.
This protest included car caravans in which people drove from various locations around the Chicago area to Federal Plaza. Most of the protests downtown were peaceful. However, protesters said they were pepper sprayed and abused by police officers, stores along Michigan Avenue and State Street were looted, a police car was set on fire, and over 1,000 people were arrested throughout the weekend.
Saturday night, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced an indefinite curfew for Chicago (from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m.). The announcement came just over 30 minutes before 9 p.m., with many protesters still downtown. Meanwhile, the city raised bridges over the Chicago River and CTA stations in or near the Loop were shut down. Many highway ramps into the downtown area were also shut down.
The protests continued into the night and throughout Sunday. Governor J.B. Pritzker activated the Illinois National Guard in Chicago Sunday morning. Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown announced that all Chicago police will work 12-hour shifts and days off are canceled until further notice.
In response to the protests, CTA shut down across the city (some service resumed this morning). Meanwhile, Metra suspended all service today and the bikeshare service, Divvy, temporarily closed Sunday at 4 p.m. without noting when it would open again. The closures made it nearly impossible to travel across the city without a car. Even then, entering and exiting Chicago was more difficult with exit ramp road closures the Illinois State Police implemented, including to Congress and Ohio.
This comes amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which has disproportionately affected Black and Latinx residents in Chicago and across the U.S.
Throughout the stay-at-home order, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) implemented a free meal program. However, today the district suspended the program because of the “evolving nature of the activity across the city.”
Meanwhile, community members, neighborhood groups and businesses have stepped up to offer help, organizing clean ups in the South Shore and providing food to help supplement aid during the suspension of the CPS meal program.
On Thursday, Lightfoot announced that Chicago will move into Phase 3 of the COVID-19 reopening plan on Wednesday, June 3, though she is now uncertain if it will, following the protests which may have allowed the virus to spread rapidly, possibly resulting in an uptick of cases.
Once Chicago does move into Phase 3, some businesses can reopen, ranging from office-based jobs and hotels to childcare facilities and in-home daycares. It also would allow restaurants to open outdoor seating.
Within the past 24-hours, Illinois reported 974 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 23 COVID-19-related deaths, bringing the total to 121,234 cases and 5,412 deaths.
This afternoon, the governor declared a disaster proclamation for various counties in Illinois, including Cook.
Other Chicago News:
Protesters are not looters, Kim Foxx says: fringe element trying to ‘hijack’ Black Lives Matter Movement by Block Club Chicago’s Kelly Bauer and Alex V. Hernandez
As Chicago cleans up from fires and theft following protests, shop owners pick up the pieces by Block Club Chicago’s Bob Chiarito
Here’s how you can help South, West side businesses hit hard by looting, vandalism by Block Club Chicago’s Kelly Bauer
Lightfoot says CPD will enforce city curfew beginning at 9 p.m. following “criminal activity” during Saturday’s protest by The Triibe’s Vee L. Harrison
The people take the streets of Chicago after years of police brutality and disinvestment by The Triibe staff
Activists beg people looting Chicago: please don’t destroy our neighborhoods by Block Club Chicago’s Jonathan Ballew, Joe Ward and Bob Chiarito
George Floyd protests In Chicago: The Weekend In Photos by Block Club Chicago
CTA’s abrupt closure leaves people stranded around city by Block Club Chicago’s Jonathan Ballew
South Shore cleanup starts Monday morning: ‘It is imperative we do not decimate our own communities’ by Block Club Chicago’s Maxwell Evans
Chicago protests could be ‘super-spreading’ coronavirus events — even with masks, Lightfoot says by Block Club Chicago’s Kelly Bauer
Critics decry remote learning in Chicago Public Schools as unfair, say it ‘rewards those with privilege’ by the Chicago Tribune’s Hannah Leone
Rentervention helps tenants with their housing issues. With COVID-19, the timing couldn’t be better by the Chicago Tribune’s Darcel Rockett
What’s happening at DePaul?
On May 29, the university issued a statement via email regarding the deaths of George Floyd, Trayvon Martin, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and Eric Garner. But this email came with one very large error: they misnamed Eric Garner.
In the email, the university referred to Garner, who was killed by police in 2014 in New York City, as Eric Ferguson. The mistake was met by outrage from the student body, many of whom took to social media to voice their disgust.
The university issued another email later in the day, after correcting the error.
“We apologize for the error,” said university spokesperson Carol Hughes to The DePaulia. “University Marketing and Communications, which proofread the text, deeply regret their mistake.”
Yesterday, students began circulating a petition that pushes the university to create an option for exemptions on final exams.
The petition was started as a response to the collective trauma that Black students are facing. The petition states:
“DePaul University operates on a quarter system. This means during this pandemic and nationwide attack on racism and police brutality following the murder of George Floyd, Black DePaul students are expected to process our trauma and complete final exams/assignments.”
The goal of the petition was to collect 7,500, which has been met. The goal has since been extended to 10,000 signatures.
Additionally, yesterday student workers at the University Center for Writing-based Learning went on strike because of the center’s connection to the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP). The center runs a Writing Fellows program with the FOP, through this larger degree completion program with the Chicago Police Academy. The strike ended yesterday night because the university met all of their amended demands, according to Patricia Haney, who organized the Change.org page. On Friday, we’ll publish a full story on the strike.
Editor’s Note: Cam Rodriguez works at the Writing Center and went on strike. Though she is a writer for this Monday newsletter, she didn’t write this section, Marissa Nelson did.
If you don’t want to read the news, here’s the headlines to know.
An independent autopsy report released today has found that George Floyd died of asphyxia caused by compression to his neck and back. This comes as last week’s county autopsy declared that asphyxia was not the cause of death. Story from The Hill’s Rebecca Klar.
5,000 National Guard troops have been activated in 15 states and Washington D.C., “with thousands more ready to go,” from Business Insider’s Ryan Pickrell.
President Donald Trump has praised the troops and decried those causing violence, saying in a Tweet that he is planning on labelling those affiliated with “Antifa” as terrorists, by the L.A. Times’s Laura King and Richard Read.
Minneapolis-based Target, along with other big box stores like Walmart, has temporarily shuttered more than 200 stores amid looting. Illinois is included; read more from NPR’s Hannah Hagemann.
Employees at Facebook are staging a virtual walkout today to protest the company’s lack of response to President Trump’s often-inflammatory posts on social media, by The New York Times’ Sheera Frenkel, Mike Isaac and Cecilia Kang.
Economists are expecting a recovery from a COVID-caused recession to take years, from FiveThirtyEight’s Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux and Neal Paine.
China is using the protests across the United States as symbols of “hypocrisy” in its political war against Hong Kong, by CBS News’s Ramy Inocencio.
Meanwhile, there have been no deaths from COVID-19 in a 24-hour period in Spain, something that hasn’t happened since March 3, by Al Jazeera’s Kate Mayberry, Saba Aziz and Ramy Allahoum.
Trump called governors ‘weak,’ urges them to use force against unruly protests by The Washington Post’s Robert Costa, Seung Min Kim and Josh Dawsey
Mental Health Resources:
Here’s 7 virtual mental health resources supporting Black people right now, including Chicago-based community organization Sista Afya’s support groups
Text SHARE to 741741 for free 24/7 crisis counseling by Crisis Text Line
Contact Illinois’ Call4Calm mental health resources. Residents can text TALK for English or HABLAR for Spanish to 552-020 and the state will put them in touch with a counselor
Call 833-626-4244 for the NAMI Chicago Helpline or 833-TURN-123 for the Bright Star Community Outreach to speak to a mental health counselor
If it’s late at night: text HELLO to 741741. Crisis Text Line is a 24-hour hotline that serves anyone, in any type of crisis
Resources for protesters:
Here’s a guide to protest safely during the pandemic
Here’s the ACLU’s Right to Protest guide for Illinois
Can’t protest but want to help? Use this social media toolkit by the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR)
If you think someone you know has been arrested – call the Chicago Community bail fund at 773-309-1198 to locate them (you need to know their birthdate and full legal name)
Need Food?
Check out the Greater Chicago Food Depository for food banks or donate
Here’s a list of places to access food in Chicago today
Where you can donate:
Chicago Community Bond Fund: https://chicagobond.org/donate/
Good Kids Mad City: https://www.facebook.com/GKMC2018/?ref=page_internal
https://twitter.com/GKMC18?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
Black Lives Matter Chicago: https://www.blacklivesmatterchicago.com
Assata’s Daughters: https://www.assatasdaughters.org
Circles and Ciphers: http://www.circlesandciphers.org
Chicago Torture Justice Center: http://chicagotorturejustice.org
E.a.t.: https://www.eatchicago.org
Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression: https://www.caarpr.org
Liberation Library: https://www.liberationlib.com
Market box: https://experimentalstation.org/market-box
Thank you for reading. Until Thursday, please take care of yourself, and check in on your friends and family.
Sincerely,
Grace, Patsy, Cam and Marissa