AustinTalks (http://austintalks.org/tag/police/)
Akua Njeri and Fred Hampton Jr., the fiance and son of Black Panther Party leader Fred Hampton Sr., attended a pre-release screening of “Judas and the Black Messiah” last week held at Kehrein Center for the Arts.
High school juniors and seniors at Austin College and Career Academy – as well as the district’s dozens of other high schools – will be learning exclusively at home. The school is still deciding whether to keep its two school resource officers. Two other Austin high schools – Michele Clark Academic Prep Magnet High School and Frederick Douglass Academy High School – have already voted unanimously to keep their officers.
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.
While fewer people are illegally gathering than before, 15th District Commander Yolanda Talley says residents must stop congregating outside. “People in our community need to take this a lot more seriously,” Talley said of the state’s nearly 3-week-old, stay-at-home order.
All West Side stakeholders are invited to the meet and greet with 15th District Commander Yolanda Talley 9 a.m. Dec. 9 at Sankofa Cultural Arts & Business Center, 5820 W. Chicago Ave. Breakfast will be served.
Bring your lawn chairs tonight to Moore Park, 5055 W. Adams, to take a stand against crime in your neighborhood. The annual event, sponsored by the 15th Police District, will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Mayor Lori Lightfoot is expected to stop by tonight’s event.
Six panelists –– state Rep. La Shawn K. Ford, Dr. Elena Quintana, Flint Taylor, Amy Campanelli, Yohance Lacour and Darrell Cannon –– spoke last week about trauma, injustice and institutionalized racism. The July 25th panel discussion was inspired by the recent Netflix miniseries “When They See Us,” which tells the true story of the “Central Park Five,” five young black men wrongfully charged for the assault of a woman in New York City’s Central Park in 1989.
Take part in a discussion at 6 p.m. May 23 about the resource officers in Chicago Public Schools. Representatives from the Office of the Inspector General will also be discussing the gang database. Dinner will be served at the free event, which will be held at Sankofa Culture Center at 5852 W. Chicago Ave.
The Good Neighbor Campaign will be recognizing the Chicago Police Department’s first response team as well as an exemplary teacher at its monthly meeting at 6 p.m. May 14 at 5437 W. Division.
There have been fewer homicides so far this year, a drop Ald. Chris Taliaferro attributes to “hard” police work and community involvement. Some also credit the drop in killings to the community-building work groups like BUILD and the Institute for Nonviolence Chicago.