Category Archives: Policing

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 →

Posted in African Americans, Community Forum, Human Rights, IMC, National, News, Policing, Politics, Prisoners, UC-IMC, Voices of Color | Comments Off on Children With Incarcerated Parents Played Key Role in Phone Justice Victory!

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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#BlackLivesMatter Protests Locally

Posted on January 2015 by Public i

Along with others across the nation, people of Champaign-Urbana have held protests, die-ins, and marches. Below are photos from some of the events. On Tuesday, November 25, CU Citizens for Peace and Justice held a demonstration outside of the county … Continue reading →

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New MRAP Soon To Be Rolling Down The Streets Of C-U

Posted on October 2014 by Brian Dolinar

Earlier this summer, the News-Gazette ran a story that Sheriff Dan Walsh had acquired a Mine-Resistant Armor-Protected (MRAP) vehicle. Titled “Something Big Just Arrived,” the article touted the benefits of the new truck. Yet in the wake of Ferguson, a … Continue reading →

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Chuco’s Justice Center in Los Angeles: Home of “College Prep, Not Prison Prep”

Posted on October 2014 by James Kilgore

In August I travelled to California as part of my research into the use of electronic monitoring in the criminal justice system. My first stop was a converted factory along the border between South Central Los Angeles and Inglewood, Chuco’s … Continue reading →

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Six Community Organizations Ask Urbana Council for a Study Session on Racial Disparities in Police Stops

Posted on November 2013 by Belden Fields

October 7, 2013 The Urbana Police Department (UPD) has been reporting traffic stop data to the State of Illinois for nine years, 2004 through 2012.  City data trends and patterns of traffic law enforcement can now be discerned and documented … Continue reading →

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21st Century Slavery, Electronic Style

Posted on November 2013 by James Kilgore

Somewhere in the middle of a November night in 2009 I got a phone call from my then 95 year old mother. She said she had chest pains, had already phoned 911 and thought she was having a heart attack.  … Continue reading →

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Angela Davis with CUCPJ at the IMC

Posted on November 2013 by Brian Dolinar

Angela Davis gave a talk at the University YMCA’s Friday Forum on September 27, 2013 in its series “Beyond Mass Incarceration.” That morning, she spoke at the IMC and talked with members of CU Citizens for Peace and Justice, who … Continue reading →

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How Privatization Destroyed Award-Winning Suicide Prevention Program in Champaign County Jail

Posted on August 2013 by Brian Dolinar

Several years ago, while working at our local Books to Prisoners, I met a volunteer who had formerly worked as a mental health counselor in the local jail. This was just after there had been three jail suicides within a … Continue reading →

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Fight to Stop New Jail Coming to a Head

Posted on May 2013 by James Kilgore

I’ve been involved in the No New Jails in Champaign County campaign for over a year. Likely sometime in June or July our efforts will come to a head. The County Board likely will take a vote on whether to … Continue reading →

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