Chicago, November 25: Black Friday Boycott for community control of police

On October 5, 2016 the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression issued a call to Boycott Black Friday on the Magnificent Mile. This was in response to the hard-hearted refusal by Mayor Emanuel, the Chicago City Council and the powers that be in this city, to acknowledge and implement the people’s demand for an all elected Civilian Police Accountability Council (CPAC)*. We have called for a Boycott of the Magnificent Mile on Black Friday because if we can have no justice then the corporate power brokers, and corrupt politicians, will no longer be allowed to profit from our misery and oppression.

We are fully aware that calling for a Boycott of the Magnificent Mile on the day after Thanksgiving is a bold move. It is bold because, in calling for and executing this Boycott Black Friday movement, we are confronting the corporate bosses of Chicago, and this nation, who have their hands on all the levers of power. This has been made even more profoundly true with the election of Donald Trump.

It has now been 365 days since the covered up murder of Laquan McDonald was revealed to the people of Chicago and the world. It has been 365 days and still we are shouting “Sixteen Shots and a Cover Up” and still no justice, and no concession whatsoever, to our demands for community control of the police.

Let us be absolutely clear that Boycott Black Friday must be a Day of Defiance, a Day of Deeds, where we do what we mean and mean what we do. It must be the beginning of Days of Defiance where we say to the white racist, power structure of this city, and nation “You cannot murder us, trample on our humanity, leave us emotionally traumatized and imprisoned in miserable social conditions and then expect our obedience. You can no longer have our obedience and we will defy you until we are free”

WE DEMAND JUSTICE FOR LAQUAN MCDONALD, REKIA BOYD, FLINT FARMER, BETTIE JONES, RONNIEMAN JOHNSON, JOSHUA BEAL AND ALL THOSE UNJUSTLY MURDERED. WE DEMAND JUSTICE FOR GEORGE ANDERSON, JAIME HAUAD, AND ALL THE TORTURE VICTIMS, BOTH THOSE WHO HAVE DIED AND THOSE WHO HAVE SURVIVED

*The ordinance creating CPAC is before the City Council #02016-5707