Pack the Courtroom Wednesday, November 29
It’s Right to Stand Up to Police Running Amok
Trial Set to Begin for Members of the Chicago Revolution Club
November 27, 2017 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
From the Revolution Club
On Wednesday, November 29, at 9 am, members of the Chicago Revolution Club will be in courtroom 303 at 555 W. Harrison. This is the day trial is set to begin for three members of the club arrested last summer. The charge is “interfering with a police officer,” the most serious class of misdemeanor which carries a penalty of up to a year in jail.
The case set for trial stems from arrests on July 21 when the Revolution Club dared to defy the Chicago Police Department 7th District’s unofficial martial law in a South Side neighborhood where the police had been running roughshod over people, particularly people who had stood with the Revolution Club, put on the club T-shirt and taken up the club’s call to “blow the whistle on police brutality.”
Two of these three club members were arrested again in August for simply witnessing the police harass two men outside the Revolution Club’s Organizing Center. Due to this, they face a second charge of “interfering with a police officer.” In the second case, the police were so angry that club members dared to come out of their office to witness them harassing people that they turned their ire on the club and arrested club members when they refused to leave. There is a status hearing for this case in the same courtroom at the same time.
This prosecution and now this trial is a clear case of the police suppressing political speech they don’t like, especially speech that calls out the police intimidation, harassment and brutality against those on the bottom of this society. On the day of the arrest, Revolution Club members had been standing on the sidewalk during the hours that police had told community people they could not be out on the sidewalk, 7 am-3 pm—an informal martial law. When the first club member was arrested in mid-morning, the police swooped in with 11 cars, using the pretext that she had taped a hand-written sign to a pole calling on people to stand with the community.
The two other club members were arrested close to noon just as the rally was set to begin. This time, more than a dozen police cars roared up. The rally had been well advertised in the community. Former Black Panther and revolutionary communist Joe Veale was scheduled to speak at the rally, but the rally could not take place due to the pre-emptive arrests.
How do we know this is a clear case of attacking the content of the message from the Revolution Club in violation of their First Amendment rights and the rights of the people to hear this message? Simple. Because the commander of the 7th District has repeatedly told us this to our face. At a press conference to protest these arrests, he told Carl Dix, “All right, look, I am not going to let you intimidate me in this. You have to move yourself from in front of the station. We made lawful arrests today.” When Carl Dix challenged this, the commander said, “In my opinion as a district commander, yes, these arrests were lawful, legal and within the law. This is not a police brutality situation at all. The 7th District works hard at fostering relationships within the community. And I think what you are doing right now is totally antithesis to what’s going on in the streets.”
And when the 7th District commander was challenged the next day by an attorney saying that he could not simply suppress speech he didn’t like, the commander responded, “So I will do it legally then! I will enforce every law I can find against this group.”
The revolutionaries are being singled out to punish them and to send a message to the people that this (and worse) is what will happen to you if you dare to join up with the revolution and stand up to the police and the system they enforce. This arrest became a big social question in the community and beyond. A video of the revolutionaries being arrested, taken by a member of the community, was viewed by 92,000 on Facebook live.
Two other club members were also arrested on July 2 and were charged with violating a sound ordinance. Their charges have been dismissed.
The fact that the state is pursuing these charges is very serious and an outrage. The Revolution Club calls on all people of conscience to oppose this attack and to support the rights of the people in the neighborhood to peacefully assemble and the rights of the Revolution Club members to stand up to an informal martial law and conduct a rally and speak-out against these police running amok on the South Side neighborhood without facing arrest. One woman suffered a cracked rib from her arrest and two of the three went to the hospital after release. Send letters, emails, and call the State’s Attorney demanding that these charges be dropped (Kim Fox Cook, County State’s Attorney, 69 W. Washington, Suite 3200, Chicago IL 60602, 312-603-1880, email statesattorney@cookcountyil.gov). Send copies to the Revolution Club at revclub.chi@gmail.com and call us at 312-804-9121. Donate here (http://bit.ly/Maya-VoiD-Fund) to help pay legal fees. And for those in Chicago, pack courtroom 303 at 555 W. Harrison at 9 am this Wednesday, November 29.
Revolution Club Organizing Center
(312) 804-9121
Revclub.chi@gmail.com
facebook.com/revclubchi/
1857 E. 71st Street (near Jeffries in South Shore), Chicago, Illinois 60649
Get a free email subscription to revcom.us:
Volunteers Needed... for revcom.us and Revolution
If you like this article, subscribe, donate to and sustain Revolution newspaper.