“Defund the police” has become a demand across the nation including Chicago. The per capita police spending in Chicago has nearly tripled since 1964 with the city’s police expenditure averaging $4 million per day. In October, the Chicago Teachers Union, alongside the SEIU Local- 73, went on a 14-day strike over a contract dispute with the city and its lack of funding for nurses and social workers in schools. Despite Lightfoot’s initial unwillingness and her claims that the city did not have the funding to meet the union’s demand, Lightfoot and the union eventually reached a tentative 5-year plan to phase in a nurse and social worker in every school.
Even with the mayor’s budgetary concerns, the Chicago School Board renewed a $33 million contract with the Chicago Police Department for the next school year with a vote of 4-3. Angered and disappointed with the outcome of the vote, CPS students organized a rally titled “Revoke The Vote” on June 28th with the intention of expressing their disdain with the board’s willingness to spend money on police in schools instead of mental health and social services for students.
The action, led by Alycia Kamil & Blck Rising, began with about 50 students waiting outside the Harold Washington ‘L’ Stop where police vehicles began to swarm and surround the students. Eye-witness accounts and videos show the police targeting black youth in the crowd and arresting them even as some of them were simply walking off the train.
Diego Garcia, 18 and a recent graduate of Noble Mansueto High School, started to record the arrests as they unfolded. While recording, Garcia’s phone was knocked out of his hands by Officer David Sodetz, badge number 13693, as seen in the video. According to Garcia, the arrested youth were driven away by police and it is still unknown whether the youth were released and/or charged.
Video Courtesy of Diego Garcia
The event continued as students and youth marched down State & Jackson where the students eventually rallied and blocked the intersection of Pearson & Michigan Avenue for about 5 hours.
For students like Garcia, the usage of police in place of social workers and counselors in schools with Black & Brown students representing the majority of the school’s student body was an everyday experience.
“I have realized that mental health is not a priority to many schools in the city. The city is not only depriving our schools of funds, but they are also investing our money in the wrong things, like $33 million dollars to have the Chicago Police Department (CPD) in our schools.” — Diego Garcia
There have been other actions and protests over the past month organized by students and the community with the demand that CPS cancel its $33 million contract with CPD; The CTU has also officially called on the Board to cancel its contract with the CPD and reallocate that money towards social services for students.
The youth-led action ended with high spirits and a sense of power as Black women led a chant in honor of Assata Shakur. They quoted her, “It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win. We must love each other and support each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains.”
Ongoing efforts continue to be organized with the demand that CPS cancels its contract with CPD and removes police from its schools.