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Cardrian Massey, left, and Kate Chandler hold hands in a circle with others from Atlanta, Ga., before joining demonstrators for reparations for slavery on the National Mall in Washington.

Reparations will pave the way to justice for all

By Editors' Choice, Reparations

By Cepeda, Roanoke Times — CHICAGO — In the spring of 1995, I sat in a stuffy classroom studying “Literary History of England, from Beowulf to 1800,” while overlooking Southern Illinois University’s iconic Pulliam Clock Tower. I was on the verge of boiling over. Somehow, the lone Hispanic (me and the lone black person in the tiny class were engaged in a shouting match over reparations for slavery. Rep. John…

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Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke was found guilty of 2nd-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery.

‘This Is Historic’: Why the Van Dyke Guilty Verdict Is a Victory For the Movement For Black Lives

By Commentaries/Opinions

By Miles Kampf-Lassin, In These Times — “We are far from done. This is the beginning and we should use this momentum to keep going forward.” Chicago has long been a city on the brink. Decades of racial stratification, disinvestment, segregation and endemic poverty have left large swaths of the population struggling to survive, while new development has disproportionately favored wealthier residents. The communities left behind by this process are…

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Obama reminded his audience at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign that the current troubles “did not start with Donald Trump. He is a symptom, not the cause.

In Illinois, Obama Hits the Midterm Campaign Trail—and Trump

By Commentaries/Opinions

By Jelani Cobb, The New Yorker — One hazard of the trolling that the United States has been subjected to from the White House for the past twenty months is that even the most alarming patterns can be hard to discern, and the most prominent dots impossible to connect. Yet a seemingly different pattern preceded the speech that Barack Obama delivered on Friday, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, in which he…

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Rahm Emanuel is leaving, but the damage he's caused needs to be reversed.

After Rahm Emanuel’s Neoliberal Nightmare, the Next Chicago Mayor Must Embrace Reparations

By Commentaries/Opinions, Reparations

Emanuel’s pro-corporate policies ravaged Black and Latinx communities across Chicago. His successor will be tasked with reversing this trend. By Saqib Bhatti, In These Times — This week, Chicagoans celebrated Rahm Emanuel’s announcement that he will not seek another term as mayor. But while Emanuel’s departure is welcome news to many, the next mayor of Chicago will have to come up with an aggressive plan to repair the damage that Emanuel’s…

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Ryan Jobson, Sharon Payne, and Caine Jordan discuss a community benefits agreement for the Obama Center and reparations from the University of Chicago.

Reparations and CBA Organizers Hold Teach-in

By Reparations

Reparations at UChicago (RAUC) and UChicago for a Community Benefits Agreement hosted a teach-in with guest speakers this past Tuesday. The speakers drew connections between seeking a community benefits agreement (CBA) for the Obama Presidential Center and demanding reparations from the University for benefiting from slavery.

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PROTESTORS AT CITY HALL demand reparations from the University of Chicago, which profited from the sale of land donated by slaveowner Stephen A. Douglas. (Photo by Robert Earl) By Patrick Forrest, Chicago Crusader

N’Cobra demands reparations from University of Chicago

By News & Current Affairs, Reparations

The National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America held a news conference to lay out a multitude of demands in respect to the University of Chicago’s founding. The group is calling on the city to void all contracts with the University until it complies with a 2002 ordinance requiring all companies conducting business within the city to disclose all records in respect to slavery. The Slavery Era Disclosure Ordinance…

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