In the past few years, there has been a tremendous upsurge in awareness around extrajudicial killings of Black people and other people of color by police. This has been marked by mass protests, mobilizations, and urban rebellions. These protests, and urban rebellions can be attributed to police harassment, violence against and killings of Black people, mass incarceration, among other issues that afflicted and continue to afflict Black people.
On Saturday, October 24, 2015, we have a unique opportunity to take this movement to the next level by directly confronting an organization that is at the forefront of the criminalization and police killings of Black people in this country: the International Association of Chiefs of Police or IACP. The IACP is a 100-plus year old organization that bills itself as a group that helps spearhead breakthrough technologies and philosophies used by police departments across the globe. According to the IACP, one of their main goals is to “encourage adherence of all police officers to high professional standards of performance and conduct.” We say they have failed miserably at this goal when it comes to policing in Black communities.
Join SOUL as we stand with Black Youth Project100 (BYP100), Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, Workers Center for Racial Justice, Ella Baker Center For Human Rights, Organization For Black Struggle (OBS), International Socialist Organization (ISO), Chicago Alliance Against the Racist Political Repression (CAARPR), Black Alliance for Just Immigration, Project South, and more to protest the killing and beating of black people by the hands of police, the racist and exploitative methods used by law enforcement in our communities and criminalization of people of color in this country.
We are meeting at McDonald’s on 35th and Indiana at 12:30 PM and joining the mass of others marching from 31st and Michigan to McCormick Place. If you feel you are unable to make the journey with us, transportation will be provided directly to the conference. If you have a SOUL shirt, please wear it. If you do not have a SOUL shirt, we will have one on site for you (while supplies last).