We Do This 'Til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice

Chicago has been a major center for activism against police violence. Those who suffered torture at the hands of the Chicago police department have had the opportunity to speak publicly and candidly about what they experienced, a testament to “the power of language and the spoken word” (104). According to Kaba, activists must make it so that Black lives matter, not simply by passing certain pieces of legislation, but by fostering a culture that acknowledges the harm done and commits to repairing it. Inspired by the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial in Washington, DC, Kaba imagines a memorial documenting each victim of police violence in a major American city. She states that, while this will require a direct confrontation with terrible realities, reckoning with them is nevertheless the first step toward a community coming together with the insistence that love will persevere.

The Chicago City Council authorized the payment of reparations, along with a formal city apology, to victims of Jon Burge, a police captain who subjected hundreds of Black people in his custody to gruesome tortures over a period of many years. Chicago was the first city to endorse such a motion, but it came after a long period of silence from the city’s leadership and judicial system.