Saturday, December 21

Tag: chicago

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Journalism

Chicago teachers’ strike: Educators want trauma care for students

Strike is about more than pay; teachers demand counsellors for every school to help students deal with daily trauma. Thousands of demonstrators take to the streets, stopping traffic and circling City Hall in a show support for the ongoing teachers strike [Scott Heins/Getty Images/AFP] Chicago, Illinois - Chicago Public School social worker Cathy Mizicko hasn't had a "normal day" in her 17 years at Jordan Elementary Community School in Rogers Park, a school on the far north side of the city. "My day is always different," Mizicko said. "Our school has a high poverty level, and it's very diverse ... There will be a shooting near one of the student's apartments, so they come in having to deal with that," she told Al Jazeera. Mizicko is one of the more than 30,...
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Journalism

Chicago police chief to skip Trump’s first visit as president

The move is the latest in a long contentious relationship between the president and the city, a Democratic stronghold. His spokesman said Johnson will be hosting and attending several other events at the conference [File: Teresa Crawford/AP] President Donald Trump's appearance next week at a police chiefs conference will be his first visit as president to Chicago, a city he has ridiculed for years. The city's top cop plans to skip the speech, even though he is hosting the event. Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson's apparent snub of Trump's speech on Monday at the International Association of Chiefs of Police Conference is the latest chapter in a long and contentious relationship between the Republican president and the nation's third-largest city, a Democ...
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In Chicago, Police Violence Survivors Heal Through Song
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IN OTHER NEWS

In Chicago, Police Violence Survivors Heal Through Song

The Freedom Songbook workshop was designed to provide a creative safe space for survivors, and prevent isolation and other PTSD-related issues permeating Black communities. Over a slice of caramel cake on a Tuesday evening last month, Mark Clements shared his story with me. At the young age of 16, Clements was tortured into confessing to crimes he did not commit. He subsequently spent nearly 30 years in prison. “You know,” he began, settling back into his chair, “when I went to prison, sister, I couldn’t read that word right there.” He pointed to a bulletin board behind me. The word displayed was “love.” “As a kid, you go into the prison system naive,” Clements continued. “The [court] gave me natural life. So, you’re thinking that it’s not as serious as it is, but you beg...
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Housing in Chicago: Pushing out the poor?

Geoff Smith: Low-income areas are losing affordable housing due to decades of economic disinvestment and discrimination. Newly sworn-in Mayor of Chicago Lori Lightfoot ran on a campaign that promised change for every day Chicagoans. Pursuing office as an outsider without decades of connection to the Chicago political machine, Lightfoot pledged to address Chicago's growing housing affordability gap. Now in her first days as mayor, Lightfoot has appointed Marisa Novara to head Chicago's Department of Housing. The department will operate as a standalone government entity for the first time in 11 years, a decision that was made during the final months of former Mayor Rahm Emanuel's administration. Novara comes from the Metropolitan Planning Council, where she he...
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VIDEO REELS

Chicago group aims to stop shootings

In one of the United States's deadliest cities, a group is attempting to curb gun crime by working with community. Thanks to a group that's using former gang members to reach out to one of the city's most violent neighbourhoods, gun shootings in Chicago have plummeted. It's using a novel method with a disruptive approach. by John Hendren Al Jazeera's John Hendren reports from Chicago.
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VIDEO REELS

Chicago cops acquitted of cover-up charge in black teen’s killing

Relatives of Laquan McDonald, killed in 2014, call ruling step backwards for black community's fight for justice. Reverend Marvin Hunter: 'To say that these men are not guilty is to say that Jason Van Dyke is not guilty' [Noreen Nasir/AP] Activists and relatives of Laquan McDonald, a black teenager in the United States who was killed by a white police officer more than four years ago, have decried a court ruling that acquitted three current and former Chicago officers of conspiring to protect a white colleague by lying about the circumstances around the fatal shooting. The October 2014 killing of 17-year-old McDonald, which was captured on police video, triggered months of protests and became emblematic of long-standing police abuse in Chicago, the country...
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VIDEO REELS

Chicago Police Accused Of Racist Use Of ‘Bait Trucks’ Tactic

The tactic, which sees trucks filled with valuable goods and left unattended, has been criticized for both creating the crimes it catches and for its use in impoverished, minority neighborhoods. The Chicago police department has been accused of targeting some of the city's poorest communities with a controversial tactic. Local activists say police are entrapping young black men with a so-called "bait truck", which is parked on the road with expensive products and left unattended. by John Hendren Al Jazeera's John Hendren reports from Chicago.
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Protests erupt in Chicago after black man fatally shot by police
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Protests erupt in Chicago after black man fatally shot by police

Harith Augustus, known as Snoop the barber, was killed on Saturday, prompting clashes between police and protesters. Protesters in Chicago are demanding answers after the fatal shooting of a black man by police prompted violent confrontations in the Illinois city. "The whole damn system is guilty as hell," dozens chanted on Saturday just hours after police shot and killed 37-year-old Harith Augustus in the South Shore neighbourhood of Chicago. Augustus is known in the community as Snoop the barber, local media reported. The city's police patrol chief Fred Waller told reporters late on Saturday that Augustus was shot after police officers on foot tried to question him because "the bulge around his waistband" suggested he was armed. Augustus became combative and eventually broke free fro...
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