Category Archives: Justice

Ubuntu Project Statement on Automated License Plate Readers

Posted on 11/15/2021 by Ubuntu Project

The Ubuntu Project Urbana-Champaign is disappointed to learn that the Champaign City Council is considering voting to purchase license plate readers. Considering the well-documented controversial reputation and questionable value of license plate readers, the Champaign people need more information on … Continue reading →

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Posted in African American, African Americans, civil rights, Crime, Gun violence, Justice, police accountability, Policing, Violence | Comments Off

Debt Peonage in the 21st Century: The Shamar Betts Case Continues

Posted on 09/23/2021 by Janice Jayes

On August 19, Shamar Betts was sentenced to 48 months in federal prison (minus 12 for time served) for authoring a Facebook post. The sentencing also made Betts personally responsible for repaying $1.5 million for damage committed by others at … Continue reading →

1,503 total views, 1 views today

Posted in African American, Justice, Police | Comments Off

The Ubuntu Project and the Need for a Progressive Shift in Policing

Posted on 09/22/2021 by Alex Horton

Ubuntu is a term that originated with the Zulu people and roughly translates to “humanity” in English. The term emerged as a political concept following apartheid’s disintegration in South Africa. Now a collective of local community members, scholars, clergy, and … Continue reading →

1,603 total views

Posted in African Americans, Community, Justice, police accountability, Police Brutality, Policing, Voices of Color | Comments Off

Police Brutality is Not Uniquely American: Try France

Posted on 09/22/2021 by Richard Esbenshade and Belden Fields

While we are rightly preoccupied with abuse by the police in the United States, almost no Americans know anything about policing and justice in other countries. France offers a particularly interesting case. In January, six nongovernmental organizations, including Amnesty International … Continue reading →

951 total views

Posted in 1968 Revolt, France, International, Justice, Police, Police Brutality, Police brutality, Policing, Racism, Students | Comments Off

Scapegoating and the 2020 Marketplace Mall Riots

Posted on 08/04/2021 by Janice Jayes

I watched the legal machinery eat further into the life of a young man this past month. On June 14, I joined others at the sentencing hearing for Shamar Betts at the federal courthouse in Urbana. Betts is accused of … Continue reading →

2,695 total views

Posted in African Americans, Justice, Police | Comments Off

The 2021 Illinois Police and Criminal Justice Reform Bill

Posted on 04/04/2021 by Belden Fields

On February 22, Governor Pritzker signed House Bill 3653. This bill, rather a composite omnibus of many bills, was sponsored by the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus in both the Illinois House and Senate. Several of the individual bills were sponsored … Continue reading →

Posted in Court System, IL, Justice, Police, Police Brutality, Policing | Comments Off

Bail Systems as Wealth-Based Incarceration, or “No Money, No Justice”

Posted on 04/04/2021 by Carol Skalnik Leff

The Eighth Amendment to the US Constitution prohibits “excessive” bail, a prohibition that dates back to English common law, and is largely honored in the breach. In Champaign County Jail, on any given day this past winter, there were … Continue reading →

Posted in Court System, IL, incarceration, Justice, National, Women | Comments Off

Shamar Betts: Caught in a Legal Drama that Started Before He was Born

Posted on 04/04/2021 by Janice Jayes

No one wants to be the poster child for a Supreme Court challenge. However, finding his case before the Supreme Court could not only help Urbana resident Shamar Betts resolve his own situation, but it could redraw the legal lines … Continue reading →

Posted in African American, BLM, Champaign County, civil rights, Court System, Justice, News, Racism, Women | Comments Off

Urbana Police Chief Finally Admits Misconduct in Aleyah Lewis Arrest

Posted on 12/06/2020 by Christopher Hansen

It has been more than seven months since the violent arrest of Urbana resident Aleyah Lewis. Tens of thousands of people have watched the videos of Urbana Police Officers throwing Lewis to the ground, pinning her, punching her in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Justice, Police, police accountability, Police brutality, Policing | Comments Off

Governor Pritzker has the Power to Halt All Utility Shutoffs by Signing an Executive Order

Posted on 10/27/2020 by Allan Axelrod

Robin Brown’s utilities in Champaign were shut off by Ameren Illinois on September 18, 2020, in the midst of our historical COVID-19 pandemic. When asked about how utility shutoffs affected her, Brown said “I’ve had to give away and separate … Continue reading →

Posted in Corporations, COVID pandemic, Economy, IL, Justice, Labor/Economics, State Government | Comments Off

Pro-Business Bias and Conservative Extremism at the Supreme Court

Posted on 06/05/2020 by Patricia Simpson

As recent books and law review articles have confirmed, the Supreme Court has been moving to the right since the Nixon Administration. Abetted by Republican politicians, anti-abortion advocates and organizations, and conservative legal entities like the Federalist Society, this rightward … Continue reading →

1,319 total views

Posted in Justice, Politics, Supreme Court | Comments Off

Incarcerated Activists Raise the Bar on Parole

Posted on 06/13/2019 by Joseph Dole and Shari Stone-Mediatore

Over-incarceration in this country takes many forms. One form that is particularly egregious in Illinois is that of keeping people imprisoned for years, or even decades, beyond the time that they pose any risk to public safety—and even beyond their … Continue reading →

Posted in incarceration, Justice | Comments Off

Faith in Place: Twenty Years Protecting the Earth and All Who Depend on It

Posted on 06/13/2019 by Cindy Shepard

At the dedication of a community garden, in a smallish county seat, I met Robyn, whose high school class had sown and nurtured the vegetable seedlings that we planted that day. She told me: “My special-needs students learn so much … Continue reading →

Posted in Community, Environment, Food Insecurity, Justice, Land, solar energy | Comments Off

Illiberal America: A Report Card

Posted on 03/12/2019 by David Prochaska

I never thought I would live to see the U.S. turn into the illiberal, authoritarian, populist, white-nationalist country it has already increasingly become in early 2019. Illiberalism Turns Liberal Democracy on its Head “Liberal democracy” is characterized in theory by … Continue reading →

Posted in bigotry, Democracy, Elections, Justice, labor, Media, Politics, Trump | Comments Off

Artist Spotlight on Charlotte Prieu

Posted on 11/14/2018 by Public i

Tell me a little about yourself and your past creative work. I am a French native and a PhD student in French Linguistics at the University of Illinois. I am very passionate about social justice, especially regarding anti-racism and intersectional … Continue reading →

Posted in African Americans, Arts, Justice, Police | Comments Off

History Matters: Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Fight for Economic Justice

Posted on 05/04/2018 by Stephanie Fortado

By Stephanie Fortado Dr. Stephanie Seawell Fortado is a Lecturer at the University of Illinois Labor Education Program, providing workshops and extension programming for unions and the general public on the Champaign-Urbana campus and throughout Illinois. Before joining the University, … Continue reading →

Posted in African Americans, Economy, Justice, labor, Voices of Color | Comments Off

New Bill Takes Effect Cutting Cost of Calls from Illinois Prisons

Posted on 01/08/2018 by Brian Dolinar

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 8, 2018 FOR MORE INFORMATION: Brian Dolinar, Program Director, Independent Media Center, (217) 621-5827, briandolinar@ucimc.org The Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center (UCIMC) is proud to announce that as of January 1, 2018, a new state law took … Continue reading →

Posted in Justice, Prisoners | Comments Off

“You’re Still in Jail”: How Electronic Monitoring Is a Shackle on the Movement for Decarceration

Posted on 12/07/2017 by James Kilgore

(A longer version of this article originally appeared in Truthout.) By James Kilgore Despite the “law and order” vows of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, states and counties continue to take steps to reduce prison and jail populations. In August, Cook … Continue reading →

Posted in Justice, Prisoners | Comments Off

4th Annual Welcome Awards Ceremony Celebrates What Makes America Great

Posted on 10/19/2017 by David Cisneros

By David Cisneros. State, national, and international news media have brought us a daily barrage of tragic or infuriating news stories. And national rhetoric increasingly features voices of nativism, racism, and hatred. In the face of all of this, it … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Rights, Immigration, Justice | Comments Off

Insurgent Midwest: The Constructing Solidarities Symposium

Posted on 10/19/2017 by Ken Salo

by Ken Salo, Zsuzsa Gille and Efadul Huq [Editor’s note: the Public i requested contributions on this important conference from both organizers and academic attendees; these perspectives have been integrated into this article.] On September 8-10, delegates from grassroots … Continue reading →

Posted in homeless, Justice, South Africa | Comments Off