Chicago’s New Task Force, DePaul’s Reopening Process, Student-Driven Fundraiser

And resources for non-Black people who want to do more

Jun 16, 2020

Hi everyone,

Your new Monday crew — Grace, Justin and Mikayla — are here to stay and keep you all informed. Just as another reminder, for the summer we will only have one newsletter each week. We’re sure you miss our company on Thursdays, just as we miss yours!

This week we look over this weekend’s protests, Chicago’s reopening updates, DePaul’s steps to have students return to campus, resources, national news and more.

What’s happening in Chicago?

After months of pressure from activists and protestors, and the Minneapolis City Council pledging to dismantle its police department, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced a task force committee that will review the Chicago Police Department’s use of force policies.

As of right now, Chicago’s police officers receive at least a yearly training on the force policy. The task force is a collection of more than 20 people — lawyers, students, residents and elected officials — who will virtually meet for the next eight weeks to create new policy recommendations. From there, senior leadership at the police department will decide how to move forward with the recommendations.

This announcement comes the same day as a video reveals a Chicago police telling a CTA supervisor to either drop her complaint or get arrested. Martesa Lee accused an officer of pushing her out of an unmarked crime scene in February. That same officer was the one to arrest her. Alongside reviewing the force policy, the surfacing of these videos shows “the kind of small, typically undocumented occurrences that can erode community trust in the Chicago Police Department,” according to the Chicago Tribune.

On Friday, a demonstration was led by the CareNotCops campaign and march that started at the University of Chicago’s quad. Students and allies staged a sit-in. At 5 p.m., the University of Chicago staff members locked the doors of the building where some of the protestors were, blocking their access to bathrooms and their food deliveries. At 9:15 a.m. on Saturday, 19 hours after the doors were locked, Chief of Police Kenton Rainy went to the protestors and said he would meet with them Monday morning.

As Chicago has transitioned into Phase 3, more parts of the city have begun to reopen, but look a little different this summer. On Friday, the Riverwalk reopened with some restrictions — limited entrances, and updated hours (5 a.m. to 9 p.m.) and vendors must only take reservations. Every day at 10 a.m. the Riverwalk will close for an hour for cleaning.

Today, Millennium Park and Maggie Daley Park are open again. The iconic Cloud Gate sculpture, or The Bean, can only be viewed from afar and the Crowns Fountain’s water won’t be turned on. So close, yet so far from “normal.” There will also be new “social distancing ambassadors” that will help direct crowds through the designated entrance and exit points, as well as make sure people are properly spaced out. On June 22, the Lakefront Trail will open east of Lake Shore Drive. There will be fewer entrance points in order to reduce traffic and it is only allowed for exercise or transit, not other recreational activities. On Wednesday, bars along the trail will be able to serve outside.

Chicago could move into Phase 4 as early as July 1, according to Dr. Allison Arwady, the head of the Chicago Department of Public Health. Phase 4 would include restaurants opening a limited amount of their indoor seating, as well as capacity limits in gyms and museums. This can only happen if the city’s number of hospitalizations and deaths declines. If numbers reverse and end up increasing, Arwady said Chicago could potentially return to the stay-at-home order. For now, Chicago needs at least 20 or fewer new known cases a day to be “low-risk,” which Arwady said the city is far from.

473 new known cases of the novel coronavirus were reported today, bringing the state total since the outbreak to 133,016. There were 19 additional deaths due to COVID-19 and 6,326 deaths since the start of the pandemic.

Finally, Juneteenth, a day to commemorate the emancipation of slaves in the United States, is this Friday, and Chicagoans are preparing to celebrate. Chicago Parent has assembled a list of all-ages events, including car caravans, and Eater Chicago has compiled ways that restaurants, bakeries and bars are honoring Juneteenth across the city. You can learn more about Juneteenth and its history here.

Other Headlines In Chicago

Why the Chicago Police Department may face more difficulties towards change as compared to other cities, by Chicago Tribune’s Dan Hinkel and Annie Sweeney.
CTA creates an online tool to inform customers when buses are too crowded, by Chicago Tribune’s Mary Wisniewski.
Organizers are giving out free groceries this week in Pilsen, by Block Club Chicago’s Mauricio Peña.
Young protesters on the South Side carry messages of hope, by Block Club Chicago’s Colin Boyle.
Aldermen advance a $200,000 settlement to the family of a man who died from the paramedics not treating him, by Chicago Tribune’s John Byrne.

What’s happening at DePaul?

To start, allow us to offer our biggest congratulations to DePaul’s graduating class of 2020. We are so thankful for the wisdom and guidance this class has brought us and we wish you all the best of luck with your future endeavors.

Okay, enough of the sappiness. Last Wednesday, on June 10, DePaul announced via Newsline the different steps being taken by the university in preparation for students to return to campus this fall. Adjustments include increased cleaning regimens, further separation of students in classes, hand sanitizer everywhere and more.

On June 11, students received an email via Newsline outlining the guidelines for Phase 3 reopening at DePaul. As of right now, this doesn’t have a huge impact on students as Summer Session classes are completely online. The guidelines primarily pertain to departments who feel the need to hold meetings in person.

If you don’t want to read the news, here’s the headlines to know.

As of today, LGBTQ+ employees across the nation cannot be fired on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity. The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 — which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex — applies to LGBTQ+ individuals, reports NBC News’s Pete Williams. This decision was the final ruling in a case brought to the Supreme Court by Aimee Stephens — a funeral home employee who was fired in 2013 after coming out as transgender. Stephens passed away on May 12 before the court’s final decision was made.
Last Wednesday, the body of Robert Fuller — a 24-year-old Black male — was found hanging from a tree in Palmdale, California. Though deemed a “likely suicide” by police, a history of racism and racial discrimination in the Palmdale area has led residences to protest, calling for an investigation into his death, Jason Slotkin reports for NPR. This comes less than two weeks after the body of Malcolm Harsch was found hanging in Victorville, about 50 miles east of Palmdale.
The killing of Rayshard Brooks — a 27-year-old black male — by a police officer has been declared “lawful but awful.” Brooks was shot after wrestling two white police officers and resisting arrest after he was approached for falling asleep in a drive-thru line at a restaurant in Atlanta. Though technically lawful by Atlanta’s police regulations, protestors have spoken out, saying the amount of force used on Brooks was unjustified, reports USA Today’s Jorge Ortiz.
For the first time in 75 years, there will be no Illinois state fair. In a statement issued on Friday, Governor J.B. Pritzker announced that the 2020 DuQuoin and Illinois state fairs are canceled due to COVID-19 concerns. States like Iowa and Minnesota have also canceled their state fairs amid the current health crisis. Ben Zigterman covers the story for The News-Gazette.
Despite a wet end to May, a farm progress report issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture on June 1 shows a successful 2020 planting season for Illinois farmers. 50 percent more corn and 55 percent more soybeans were successfully planted this year compared to this time last year. In the spring of 2019, torrential rains created a national agricultural crisis, severely impacting the ability of farmers to get their crops in on time for the growing season. Despite being ahead in the planting season, the late-May heavy rains and the economic impact of COVID-19 has led to another “less-than-ideal” year for farmers. Brenden Moore from the State Journal-Register reports for the Peoria Journal Star.

Your Educational Resource of the Week

Each week we will be using this section to highlight a different educational resource on race. It may come in the form of literature, film, art or anything that Black scholars and activists are centering at this time.

This week’s educational resource is “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” and Other Conversations About Race, by Beverly Daniel Tatum, Ph.D.

Tatum is a psychologist, educator, scholar and race relations expert. She was the ninth president of Spelman College and is known for her work regarding racial identity and discourse in America. Both this text and her 2007 book, Can We Talk about Race? And Other Conversations in an Era of School Resegregation, are widely renowned for their analyses of race in America.

You can find this book online or in-person at a branch of the Chicago Public Library or at Semicolon Bookstore and Gallery, an independent Black-owned bookstore in Chicago. In other words, you don’t need to buy it from Amazon.

A faith-based fundraiser for social justice

Protests are continuing across the country and Chicago, and students finished with finals are finding themselves with even more time to engage in activism. DePaul students like junior Dylan Cohen are finding ways to leverage the power of social media to advocate for social justice.

It started with a joke, then a question: “What can I do to make you donate?”

Cohen had posted on her Instagram story that question, seeing what she could do online to encourage her friends and followers to donate to organizations supporting the Black Lives Matter movement.

“From there, I got a response,” she said. “Someone jokingly said juggling, and I was like, oh, I can’t juggle … but my mom can.”

That joke developed into a fundraiser and livestreamed variety show featuring sketches and, of course, juggling, that netted $2,318 in less than 48 hours.

For Cohen, who immerses herself in performance and comedy — through DISC, DePaul Improv Sketch Comedy, and as a producer at Radio DePaul — getting involved at a deeper level than spreading awareness was just instinct.

“I feel like I had been donating to Black Lives Matter [organizations] and have been signing petition after petition and having difficult conversations. But what I realized I needed was to put all of the education that I was doing on my own time into real-life practice,” Cohen said. “And for me, that means producing and making art.”

Cohen, who has been a producer of shows like Tree House at comedy club iO Chicago, jumped into action. Alongside her friend and Radio DePaul colleague Emily Goldstein, Cohen contacted seniors in the Theatre School, asking for contributions of “grotesquely cringey one-to-two minute monologues, straight dungeon-fire-nonsense, second only to One Direction fan fiction.”

They took Cohen up on her offer, and TTS actors then performed the cold reads on a livestream last Wednesday night.

The fundraiser itself ran deeper than just students performing sketches; the motive, rooted in Cohen and Goldstein’s education and upbringings in Judaism, added a layer of personal meaning to the production.

Cohen and Goldstein both talked about their experiences with Metro Chicago Hillel, a non-profit organization that supports Jewish students at different campuses across Chicago. They explained how they both were in a class through the Jewish Learning Fellowship, a 10-week seminar course on a topic examined “through a Jewish lens,” according to Goldstein.

Following the class, students receive a stipend, and that’s where the idea to develop Chicago Jews for Black Lives Matter stemmed from — donating the funds they received because the “money was needed elsewhere.”

“It was a Facebook post, then three Facebook posts,” Cohen said, “then it became a network of reaching out to different people and [Jewish Learning Fellowship] cohorts.”

Goldstein cited the Jewish concept of tikkun olam as a driving factor for her to get involved.

“Everything about being Jewish tells you that you have to support justice and pursue it with everything you have…the concept of tikkun olam is my job — it’s everyone’s job to repair the world and actively try and make it better,” she said. “And Dylan’s joke that turned into a real thing was the most amazing idea, because it gave everyone the opportunity to practice tikkun olam from their bedrooms.”

Dylan Cohen livestreams in support of the Chicago Jews for Black Lives Matter fundraiser last Wednesday, June 10. Photo by Amy Do.

Religious Observations

The Summer Solstice — the day with the longest daylight hours of the year — has held importance with multiple religions from Wicca to Christianity for millennia. While most solstice events have been canceled due to COVID-19, virtual celebrations will be held at Stonehenge and Glastonbury Tor beginning Saturday night and lasting until Sunday morning.

Mental Health Resources
This document is a resource for Black people experiencing racial trauma. This master list includes specific resources as well as protesting tips and donation links.

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

Where to Access Food in Chicago

This spreadsheet highlights businesses and locations providing food. There are also links to donate to these organizations.
Check out the Greater Chicago Food Depository for food banks or donate.
Here’s a list of places to access food in Chicago today.

Free Resources for Non-Black Allies

An anti-racist reading list from Ibram X. Kendi, the author of How to Be Anti-Racist, and the same list through the Chicago Public Library, so you can check the books out for free.
And a reading list from anti-racist researcher Victoria Alexander, who separates her recommendations based on entry level and topic.
Reading guide of texts about race. All PDFs are free.
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)

Where you can donate