AustinTalks (http://austintalks.org/prominence/top-story/page/74/)
If you are using the Newspaper or Carousel optional homepage layout, add this label to a post to make it the top story on the homepage
Austin Coming Together in partnership with the Greater Chicago Food Depository will be distributing food from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. July 30, while Forty Acres Fresh Market will hold its weekly pop-up market at Austin Town Hall from 1 to 6 p.m.
Racism is indeed a health crisis, writes Daryl Satcher. The sick system is the true virus that we need to defeat. But we must destroy this virus within ourselves first.
The Austin Peoples Action Center hosted a rally Friday that featured George Floyd’s brother Po Floyd and former NBA player Stephen Jackson, who called for Blacks to come together and stop the violence. Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle announced $5 million in anti-violence funding at the event.
Rev. Ira Acree wants Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx to replace her office’s existing victim witness assistance program. The Austin minister says the culture of fear can be broken if people who report perpetrators have the support and resources they need to keep themselves and their families safe.
Walk-ups are welcome from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday and Friday at the North Austin library branch, 5724 W. North Ave. No IDs are required; free masks, hand sanitizer and community resources will be available.
ROYAL, a group of youths from Oak Park, led a march through Austin, Garfield Park and Oak Park last weekend. They were protesting police brutality and commemorating the death of Elijah McClain, a Black man who died while walking home from work last year in Colorado and after police put him in a choke hold.
Dozens of West Side residents gathered to commemorate Nelson Mandela and call for economic empowerment in Austin.
SEIU Illinois and The Loretto Hospital reached a tentative contract agreement last week. The new contract includes wage increases, regular raises for staff and staffing protections. Workers will vote on the agreement on Wednesday. On Monday, they’ll will gather outside the hospital as part of the “Strike for Black Lives National Day of Action” to their solidarity for workers across the country “calling for the resources, wages and workplace protections needed to protect Black lives on the job and in our communities.”
Although Illinois has one of the country’s tougher gun laws, the neighboring Hoosier state doesn’t, which means illegal guns keep flowing into Chicago, says Austin lawmaker La Shawn Ford. He’s pushing legislation to stop the flow of illegal guns from nearby states.
The Austin Adams Block Club hosted the event last weekend. They planted rose bushes along Adams Street, ate barbecue from Smoky Zo’s and were visited by the mayor. Another community event is planned for this Saturday.