Justice Neville, ECPS, Commentary, Dixmoor ...
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Greetings!
Please join COAL for a special in-person Coalition Power Breakfast featuring the Honorable P. Scott Neville, Jr., Justice, Illinois Supreme Court, on Saturday, October 8, 2022.
Additionally, please read on: we've included a timely COAL Commentary, information on the Empowering Communities for Public Safety (ECPS) newly created police district council seats (to be elected in Feb. '23), a recap of the losing vote on lessening the onerous burden of Speeding Cameras on Black and Brown communities, Migrants v Dixmoor, and more.
See you on October 8th.
Respectfully,
COAL Board of Directors
"The time to work seriously and collectively, to improve the state of our Community, is upon us..."
Let Us be intentional in all aspects of the Work that must be Done
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Honorable
P. Scott Neville
Illinois Supreme Court Justice
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NEXT COALITION POWER BREAKFAST
(In-Person)
Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022
8:30am - 11:00am
A Conversation with Justice Neville
8237 S. Princeton, Chicago
Breakfast Buffet $12
Please RSVP at publicpolicy@coalchicago.com
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ECPS
For the September 17th Breakfast, COAL hosted a presentation on the Empowering Communities for Public Safety (ECPS) Ordinance, presented by Anthony Driver, Jr., Interim Commissioner @ Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA), along with LeCreshia Birts, Coordinator @ Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability (GAPA) and Michael Harrington, Principal Consultant @ Harrington Communications.
This ordinance facilitates police oversight and accountability with the creation of 1) District Councils in each of Chicago's 22 police districts, where three elected residents will work to ensure public safety at the local level; and 2) a city-wide Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability that will participate in deciding CPD policy, establish public safety goals, and play a central role in selecting police leadership.
Please see the presentation slides, list of districts and which wards each covers, the signatures required to get on the ballot, along with additional information.
COAL strongly encourages its membership and greater community of interest to keep informed and, if interested, to run for district council seats, towards both 1) realizing the benefits of real police oversight and accountability, and 2) to prevent others, who are not interested in real reform, from co-opting or stymying this process.
Candidate Support:
LaCreshia Birts, GAPA
773.630.4273
Dod McColgan, CAARPR
857-237-2092
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Judging Your Alderman?
… our elected officials must not only tell us what they’ve done, but also what they’ve done relative to demands we’ve made of them, demands we’ve determined are in the priority interests of black people. Let's call these demands that are important to us, Legislative and Investment Imperatives.
One such legislative imperative regarded Speeding Cameras and the regressive cost burden on black and brown communities. The demand was:
1) the threshold needs to be returned to 10 miles; the Ald. Beale Amendment will do this, 2) eliminate the doubling of fines paid late and replace with a much-reduced simple late fee, 3) eliminate speeding cameras altogether, due to the proven regressive nature of the program and due to Chicago being the only city in Illinois with speeding cameras.
Despite the well-documented disproportionate and unfair impact the Mayor’s decrease of the speeding camera threshold (with no material increase in safety) is having on the Black community, this is how aldermen voted on an amendment to address this burden - Yea = adopt amendment to return threshold to 10 miles over; Nay = continue to abuse Black and Brown communities:
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You can assess for yourself, your respective alderman’s concern for eliminating this unfair and costly burden on the Black community, by his/her vote. (click on above image.) |
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The Time to Act is NOW
We have more than our share of issues that are challenging/confronting the African American community as we approach Fall and winter.
A water crisis in our south suburbs, political leaders retiring in large numbers, young people who missed school because of covid and now are challenged to make up and catch up to the expected functional level, a recent report on the dangers and damage to the bodies of those born to parents who use cannabis during pregnancy, the continuing problems related to housing and employment discrimination in government and Chicago-area companies.
What are we going to do? When will our elected officials step up and take corrective actions, when will business and government leaders be held responsible and when will our religious and community groups march out and stand up with the communities still being excluded and damaged?
Where are our voices in the media?
The time to correct the multiple problems that can be handled by newly elected and engaged officials is now. REGISTER to VOTE, then VOTE. The time to act is NOW.
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Action: COAL is working with a number of committed organizations, the Coalition Voter Project, to work towards getting the community registered, educated civically, engaged and informed on the issues and mobilized to vote in large numbers come the November General and going forward.
- Watch this space for more information -
We can do this!
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Help Us Understand...
From the Mayor on migrants:
As of today, the City of Chicago, together with the State of Illinois, Cook County Government and nonprofit partners, has now welcomed 1177 asylum-seekers who arrived on buses from the Texas border. They include individuals, families, children, and infants seeking refuge.We have a duty to provide shelter, food, and medical care for each individual and family... Read full statement
This is a good thing, however,
Meanwhile in Dixmoor:
Work continues on two more main breaks in Dixmoor, the south suburban village that's been plagued with water woes for nearly a year.
And while crews have been working tirelessly to fix the broken mains, the question still remains: how are they going to fix it for good? As soon as they fix one spot, another one bursts.
Help us understand...
If the Mayor, County Board President and Governor can quickly respond to the migrant crisis, what about the crisis of clean water in Dixmoor? With billions in Covid Relief and Infrastructure funds flowing into the state, installing new water mains in Dixmoor should be a well funded top priority. The health of tax paying families in Dixmoor must be a priority concern, just as much (if not more) as the health of migrants bused up from Texas.
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Hi everyone,
please read the article below about cognitive impairment risks with COVID. Does the CDC think risking cognitive impairment in children, teachers and staff from COVID in public schools is "mild" and therefore acceptable? Would Mayors, Departments of Public Health and Public School Boards do more to keep schools safe from COVID if they were aware of this risk? What will teachers unions do with this knowledge?
Sincerely,
Joy Bunton
People's Response Network
CORE Associate member
Brain fog isn’t like a hangover or depression. It’s a disorder of executive function that makes basic cognitive tasks absurdly hard.
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About COAL
COAL is an umbrella organization founded by 13 of Chicago's historic African American mens clubs. COAL's overarching mission is to identify, examine, illuminate and find resolution to issues impacting the greater community. We strive to use our collective experience, expertise and resources to improve the quality of opportunity, quality of preparedness and the quality of outcomes (expressed as 'quality of life') for our Community.
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Founding Member Organizations
100 Black Men Of Chicago ■ Chicago Assembly ■ Chicago Connection ■ Druids Club ■ Frogs Club ■ Lunch Bunch ■ New Committee ■ Original 40 Club Of Chicago ■ Rat Pack ■ Royal Coterie Of Snakes ■ Saints ■ Sigma Pi Phi Beta-Boule ■ UIC Male Forum (now Chicago Good Health Group)
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What We Believe
The Coalition of African American Leaders believes that it is important to examine the critical issues confronting the African American community where injustice, inequality and the absence of access and opportunity continue to prevail, thereby negatively impacting us as a people.
COAL is an assemblage that advocates and organizes for appropriate and responsible public policy change, system behavior change and equality of opportunity. We aim to achieve for all of our people the fullness of the life experience without any form of racism or exclusion as a deterrent.
We believe we must prepare ourselves for the opportunity of this full participation, thereby achieving the necessary education and training to participate.
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Contact: Clarence Wood, Chairman 312.404.8269 - Craig K. Wimberly, President 773.350.9315
Email: publicpolicy@coalchicago.com
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COAL is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization incorporated in Illinois, USA.
Donations are tax-deductible to the full extent allowed by U.S. law.
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