DePaul students and union members protest in Lincoln Park, gun violence escalates over Father’s Day weekend

And Noname has some book recommendations for you

Jun 23, 2020

Hello everyone,

It’s Grace, Justin and Mikayla here with you to deliver today’s and this weekend’s news. Thank you for taking the time to spend another week with us. Today, we will walk you through Chicago’s Juneteenth celebrations, the tragic weekend violence, DePaul’s student and union protests, and other headlines you should know.

What’s happening in Chicago?

This weekend was filled with a mix of celebration and, unfortunately, violence. Over one hundred people were shot over the weekend and 13 of them have died. Five of those people were teenagers or children, including Mekhi James, who was only three years old, and Jasean Francis, who was 17. Chicago has not had this many shootings in a weekend since 2012.

“It would be an ultimate contradiction to march for justice for George Floyd and not say a word about a 3-year-old who can’t defend himself or speak for himself. Don’t miss the point. We say Black lives matter. Black babies’ lives matter more,” Reverend Ira Acree told CBS.

Gun violence is a complex issue and Chicago has a long history with it. Police Superintendent David Brown, who formerly was the chief of the Dallas Police Department, spoke at a press conference today about this weekend’s violence. Brown seemed to oversimplify the shootings and deaths by blaming the record violence on a lack of home monitoring and “gangs, guns and drugs.”

Mayor Lori Lightfoot tweeted, “There are simply no words to describe such a heinous, unconscionable act of cowardice to shoot at a toddler,” on Saturday.

Friday was Juneteenth, an annual celebration that marks the day that enslaved people in the United States were informed that they had been freed. In 1865, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, Union army generals finally announced the legal end to slavery to enslaved people in Texas.

Chicago celebrated throughout the city. Haute Society held a Mobile Parade down Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and followed it up with a spoken word poetry event. They also held a cookout in Washington Park. Several marches, rallies and bike rides also took place. The Harold Washington Cultural Center celebrated with African drumming and dancing performances, held an art workshop and facilitated several giveaways.

Today, both the Lakefront and 606 Bloomingdale Trail have reopened with new social distancing rules. Both trails will only be open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., and people cannot stop along the trails, as they are only allowed to be used for exercising or commuting.

Much like The Bean and other city attractions that have reopened, “social distancing ambassadors” will be present to ensure that people are following the new rules. The ambassadors will make sure people are not gathering, staying 6 feet apart and wearing masks. Both trails will have limited access points to help reduce crowding. The bike and walking paths on the Lakefront trail will be merged at certain points due to construction.

On Friday, Chicago is set to move into Phase 4 of the Restore Illinois plan. This allows for restaurants and bars to reopen for indoor seating, but prioritizing patio seating is still encouraged. Groups of 10 or fewer can now dine together and tables must be six feet apart. Standing areas, in bars for example, must limit their service to 25 percent capacity.

Museums, movie theaters and zoos will also be eligible to reopen at 25 percent capacity, or a maximum of 50 people. Any group tours will be temporarily suspended. Gyms can reopen at 50 percent capacity with a max of 50 people in group classes. Phase 4, or the “revitalization” phase, comes before Phase 5, the final phase that will only happen if and when there is a vaccine for the coronavirus.

The state could also reverse into a previous stage if there is a sustained rise in cases or increase in hospital admissions for COVID-19. In her press conference today, Lightfoot said that every zip code in Chicago saw new cases of the coronavirus last week. She stressed that everyone should still wear a mask every time they go outside. Dr. Ngozi Ezike, the head of the Illinois Department of Public Health, told the Sun-Times that it will be at least three months to a year until she feels comfortable eating inside.

Tomorrow, the CTA will begin to give out 20,000 “Travel Healthy” kits to their riders. Each kit will contain a reusable cloth mask, a two ounce bottle of hand sanitizer and a guide with tips on how to travel safely. There are several stops where the kits will be available between 8 and 10 a.m., including 95th/Dan Ryan and Clark/Lake on the Red Line. The CTA had experienced an “L” in the past few months with 80 percent loss in ridership, but slowly more people are beginning to take public transportation again.

Illinois reported 462 new known cases today, bringing the state total to 137,224 since the start of the outbreak. There are 6,671 total known deaths, including 26 reported today.

Other Headlines In Chicago

20 Chicago organizations are providing cash assistance to families who were excluded from stimulus checks, by Block Club Chicago’s Mauricio Peña.
The Chicago City Council approved a $20 million fund to help renters, as well as a 7-day grace period for evictions, by Block Club Chicago’s Justin Laurence
The “Chicago is a drag” fest is going digital, by Block Club Chicago’s Siri Chilukuri. The fest will be hosted on June 30 over livestreaming platform Twitch.
iO theater is permanently closing amid financial and workplace trouble, by TimeOut’s Zach Long.
“The Chi” is back for a third season, by Chicago Tribune’s William Lee and Nina Metz.

What’s happening at DePaul?

On Friday, June 19, at 3 pm, protesters gathered at the Fullerton CTA station to demand payment for the Chartwells dining workers that have gone without pay since March.

DePaul students, in conjunction with labor union UNITE HERE Local 1, marched from the CTA station through DePaul’s Lincoln Park campus to Trebes Park, where they gathered for a rally.

DePaul students march in the Juneteenth protest. PC: Grace Del Vecchio

The protest was originally planned for Wednesday, June 17, but union member and Chartwells employee Le’Denise Henderson suggested that it be moved to Friday — Juneteenth.

Henderson is a lead barista at DePaul, where she has worked for ten years. She felt that because 43 percent of Chartwells employees at DePaul are Black, their efforts were symbolic of the Black struggle that has occurred in the United States from 1619 to today.

In her address to the crowd in Trebes Park, she gave a brief history of Juneteenth and expressed the need of solidarity.

Le’Denise Henderson as she addresses the crowd at the rally in Trebes Park. PC: Grace Del Vecchio

“Juneteenth is a day of reflection, a day of renewal, a pride-filled day and a moment in time to appreciate the African-American experience,” said Henderson. “Juneteenth is a day where we commit to each other the needed support as family, friends and co-workers.”

She went on to discuss statistics of the Chartwells workers.

According to the union, currently, 58 percent of DePaul Chartwells workers have reported that they cannot afford to buy groceries and 92 percent have said they have financial obligations they cannot meet since being laid off in March.

Wizdom Lawson, grandson of Chartwells employee Edna Lawson, poses for a picture at the rally. PC: Grace Del Vecchio

Along with students, the Chartwells employees were joined by their families who have been equally impacted by the lack of pay.

One employee, Izabel Avila, said that despite qualifying for unemployment, she has yet to receive any funds. Because of this, she has had to ask the father of her children for financial help during this time.

Students, employees and community members alike have called on DePaul to remember its Vincentian values at this time. Values that are rooted in service to one's community.

At the end of her speech, Henderson made mention of these values.

“I will end with this, we must continue to demand that Chartwells and DePaul live up to the standards of justice engraved on the statue outside of the Stu,” said Henderson.

“What are you doing for justice?”

John Egan statue outside of the DePaul Student Center which Henderson referred to in her speech. PC: Grace Del Vecchio

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

Last Friday, Anonymous — a group which uses hacking as a means to call out misuses of power — published data from over 200 police and FBI offices in America in an act dubbed “BlueLeaks.” Their goal was to expose the ways in which law enforcement personnel have been communicating topics like COVID-19 and police protests. While the data does contain evidence of police using identification marks like tattoos to track down attendees at the protests, it also contains personal info like routing numbers and the faces of suspects. This was done deliberately to expose the identity of the police, Wired’s Andy Greenberg reports.
A discrimination lawsuit has been filed by eight employees of color at the jail where Derek Chauvin is being held for the murder of George Floyd. They say the facility prohibited them from guarding the floor housing Chauvin and replaced them with white guards, reports Ben Kesslen for NBC News.
On Saturday, President Donald Trump held his first rally since the American outbreak of the coronavirus. During the event, Trump denounced Biden as “a helpless puppet of the radical left,” dubbed COVID-19 the “kung flu” and decried the removal of Confederate statues as desecration. The president gave this speech to a crowd well below its expected numbers, reports NPR’s Domenico Montanaro.
Also on Saturday, three were killed and three more were injured just outside of London during a stabbing spree that was declared as an act of terrorism. Of those killed was an American citizen, reports Guy Davies for ABC News.
After 80 years standing guard over the entrance of the Museum of Natural History in New York City, a bronze statue of Theodore Roosevelt is being taken down. The statue depicts the 26th president seated high on a horse. To his right stands a Native American man, and on his left stands a Black man. This depiction has sparked controversy for its perceived power dynamic, with two BIPOC (Black/Indigenous people of color) positioned in an inferior way in relation to the seated white president. The museum clarified that this depiction of the two men next to the president is the reason for the statue’s removal — not the president himself, reports the BBC.
Beijing began a new partial lockdown in response to a second wave of coronavirus cases in the city amid celebrations of a successful fight against the virus. Among those actions taken, flights have been canceled and schools have been closed, reports The New York Times’s Chris Buckley and Keith Bradsher.

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 book is recommended by Noname’s Book Club. Chicago activist and rapper Noname started the book club last year to create a community where people from all over the country and world (there’s a chapter of the book club in London) could come together and work through radical ideas that were new to them.

The May recommended reading was “Assata: An Autobiography,” by Black Panther activist and author Assata Shakur.

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.

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

The NPR podcast “Code Switch” tackles a diverse array of topics centered around racial identities and racism in America.
Vanity Fair released a list of anti-racism movies that are streaming for free right now.
The Oregon-based Basic Rights Education Fund has released an anti-racism toolkit geared towards LGBTQ+ organizations.
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