6 Years Later, Police Torture Survivors Are Still Waiting On The Memorial Chicago Promised Them


Kendrick

Administrator
Staff member
Six years after the city passed a reparations package, police torture survivors gathered at Daley Plaza Thursday to demand Mayor Lori Lightfoot honor parts of the law still unfulfilled, including the funding of a permanent torture survivor memorial.

Holding banners bearing the names of survivors and the dates they were tortured, representatives from the Chicago Torture Justice Center and Ald. Howard Brookins (21st) implored the city to use part of its $1.7 billion police budget to build the memorial, which would be erected in Brookins’ ward.

Under former Police Cmdr. Jon Burge and his “Midnight Crew,” officers tortured at least 100 Black men into confessions from the 1970s-1990s, with abuses ranging from suffocation to mock executions.

It is estimated that the city paid more than $57 million to victims of Burge and his detectives. A Chicago Police Torture Archive created by journalism nonprofit Invisible Institute documents Burge’s legacy of torture.

Invoking George Floyd and Rodney King, Brookins said the city has paid out more than $100 million to settle police misconduct lawsuits since he became aldermen in 2003. The torture survivor memorial should be built “as soon as possible” to provide closure to those affected.

https://blockclubchicago.org/author/jamie-nesbitt-golden/
 
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