Portside

As calls to defund police grow, peacemakers on the frontlines of Chicago’s gun violence epidemic have dramatically reduced homicides and shootings.

By using public money to create local funds, public banks can reverse decades of racist disinvestment to repair Black and Brown communities hardest hit by the COVID-19 recession.

Dr. Linda Murray, former chief medical officer for Cook County Department of Public Health, was a doctor serving public housing residents when one of the deadliest heat waves in U.S. history hit Chicago. 25 years later, she sees the same root causes.

Guardian analysis shows how organizations and officers in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago work against reform.

Police foundations across the country are partnering with corporations to raise money to supplement police budgets by funding programs and purchasing tech and weaponry for law enforcement with little public oversight.

Jon Burge tortured black men for years and his fellow officers covered for him. The cover-ups continued long after he was gone.

Our CPAC ordinance is currently in the public safety committee in Chicago City Council and, if enacted, it will create a democratically-elected Council to oversee the Chicago Police Department.

Conrad Worrill was a writer, educator, founding member of the National Black United Front, former host of WVON program "On Target" and Crusader columnist.

In this time of heightening crisis, we must be brave enough to use our full imaginations — and listen to those who have been dreaming of and fighting for just cities and communities for years.

Illinois cannot act to provide relief for its renters struggling under the coronavirus pandemic because of a 1997 rent control ban pushed by the Right. But this could change if its governor, J. B. Pritzker, used his emergency powers to lift that ban.