Category Archives: Policing

What Educational Values and Beliefs Underpin a Decision to have Armed School Resource Officers?

Posted on October 2020 by Ameena Payne

This article was previously published in Smile Politely,  On December 17, 2019, the Urbana Board of Education (BOE) signed an intergovernmental agreement to approve funding of two full-time armed police officers (called School Resource Officers, or SROs)—one at the middle … Continue reading →

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Police Unions: Solidarity and Accountability

Posted on September 2020 by Belden Fields

The Police and Solidarity There are two major differences between police officers and other workers in both the private and public sector. The first is a truncated sense of solidarity, the second a lack of accountability. Unionized workers in both … Continue reading →

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Chalk It Up to Protecting Property Over People

Posted on September 2020 by Lance Pittman

In July Michael Long, owner of the Rogue Barber Co. in downtown Champaign, implemented a discriminatory “membership only” policy. The issue came to public attention on July 23, when a female Champaign resident shared screenshots on social media of a … Continue reading →

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How Are Violent Police Held Accountable in Champaign County?

Posted on July 2020 by Belden Fields

On April 10, Urbana Police officers threw an African American woman, Aleyah Lewis, to the ground and punched her while she was down. She had protested the arrest of a friend. Caught on video, this led many people in the … Continue reading →

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Public Speaks Out About Use of Force by Urbana Police–Council Reviews Police Investigation

Posted on May 2020 by Jane McClintock

  On April 10, Urbana police responded to a call on East Colorado Avenue about an armed man and possible shot fired. Police arrived, frisked an uninvolved youth, and then focused on a man and woman they suspected were involved. … Continue reading →

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Comment from ACLU to Urbana City Council Regarding Aleyah Lewis’ Arrest

Posted on April 2020 by Carol Spindel

Champaign County ACLU appreciates the city of Urbana’s commitment to community-centered policing and to maintaining a well-trained professional police force that is held to the highest standards. We are concerned about the lack of professionalism during the April 10 arrest … Continue reading →

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No Accident: White Cop Shoots Another Black Man in Champaign

Posted on June 2017 by Brian Dolinar

The shooting of unarmed Black men by white police in the United States is a story that keeps repeating over and over. The recent case of a local 22-year-old African American man shot in the shoulder by Champaign police officer … Continue reading →

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Fighting Mass Incarceration Under Trump: New Strategies, New Alliance

Posted on February 2017 by James Kilgore

By James Kilgore Yusef Shakur is a Detroit community organizer who spent several years in Michigan state prisons. “The prison-industrial complex has found the right person to feed it,” he said in response to the election results. “Trump is of … Continue reading →

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Myths of Unity

Posted on September 2016 by Ricardo Pierre-Louis

An increasingly polarized climate has resulted in this beautiful revolution we call Black Lives Matter we are experiencing today. As both an observer and victim of this increasingly militarized society I’m proud to see us finally unite. However, I’m afraid. … Continue reading →

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The Myron Scruggs Case and the Champaign Police Department

Posted on May 2016 by Belden Fields

by Belden Fields An  Ugly Image From the Past In the late 1960s, I joined the newly created chapter of the Champaign County ACLU and became the chair of its investigations committee. I received a call from a woman member … Continue reading →

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Youth Poetry

Posted on April 2016 by Public i

MY CURLY HAIR by Amina Alamin My curly hair can do anything it can be in big braids and in little braids and curled in to ringlets and many more things. Some people don’t like my hair and some people … Continue reading →

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Courtwatch Victory

Posted on March 2016 by Courtwatchers

By Courtwatchers Courtwatchers is a group of citizens who volunteer to attend criminal proceedings by request of the defendant,a family member or a concerned party. We are there as witnesses to criminal justice in Champaign County, to figure out how … Continue reading →

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The Racial Justice Task Force Bursts Onto the Scene

Posted on March 2016 by Evelyn Reynolds

The Champaign County Racial Justice Task Force met for the first time on Thursday, February 11 at the Brookens Administrative Center.  The task force consists of 21 members, just one person shy of the number of Champaign County Board members.  … Continue reading →

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Supporting the Voices Inside: The Freedom Archives

Posted on January 2016 by Nathaniel Moore

“When the prison doors are opened the real dragon will fly out.” -Ho Chi Minh The movements to end mass incarceration were re-invigorated in early September as a settlement in the class action lawsuit Ashker v. Governor of California was … Continue reading →

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Children With Incarcerated Parents Played Key Role in Phone Justice Victory!

Posted on November 2015 by Brian Dolinar

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted recently to cap the rates of phone calls from prisons and jails after years of profiteering by telecommunications companies that have made millions off of those incarcerated and their families. In her comments before … Continue reading →

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This Black Life Matters

Posted on September 2015 by Teresa Barnes

Michael Brown was killed a year ago. They used to say, “It’s been a long, hot summer” but it’s been another long, hot, horror-filled year in the US; every single day another Michael Brown. This is someone I know. In … Continue reading →

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Police Lying

Posted on September 2015 by Belden Fields

Do Police Lie? The answer is that some police officers do indeed lie. The major conditions under which police lie are three: to frame a suspect, to protect themselves or fellow officers from detection or punishment of misdeed, and to … Continue reading →

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First Class Justice vs. “the Cattle Call”

Posted on September 2015 by Public i

By a Courtwatcher Courtwatch is a group of citizens who volunteer to attend criminal proceedings by request of the defendant or a family member of a jailed defendant. We are there as witnesses to criminal justice in Champaign County, to … Continue reading →

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Work Day: Lament for Darius Graves

Posted on September 2015 by Public i

The below poem was written by Ryan Collins for the project Lament for the Dead (http://www.lamentforthedead.org/), an online community poetry project which marks the death of every person killed by police this summer, and every police officer who loses life … Continue reading →

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What Happened New Year’s Night? Black Youth Shot Twice In Back By University Police

Posted on July 2015 by Brian Dolinar

On New Year’s night, a Black Lives Matter protest broke out in Savoy after two University of Illinois police officers fired bullets into a carload of African American youth, wounding two people, with one of them shot twice in the … Continue reading →

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