Since the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, cities globally, especially and including Chicago, rose up to demand an end to police violence and white supremacy. Not only was the government standing by as COVID-19 ravaged Black, Latinx, Indigenous, houseless, and other marginalized communities inciting mass Black death with their calls to "reopen the economy" by any means, but the police, other state authorities, and racist vigilantes continued to brazenly hunt and kill Black folks while they sleep in their beds and on open roads in broad daylight. This was a breaking point.
S U M M E R
Words by Damon Williams, Produced & Edited by Sensitive Visuals, Photos by Love & Struggle Photos, Music by Rebel Diaz, Footage by SoapBox & Equals 4 Media
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Directed & Produced by David A. Moran (SoapBox), Cinematography & Editing by Xenon Zeigler, Additional Cinematography by Caullen Hudson
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Filmed, Edited, & Produced by James Edward Murray
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Filmed, Edited, & Produced by James Edward Murray
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FALL
#DefundCPD and legal strategies take shape
In early summer 2020, individual activists and organizations fighting for police abolition and Black liberation for years joined forced to create the Black Abolitionist Network which seeded the #DefundCPD campaign calling for a 75% divestment from the Chicago Police Department (CPD) and investment into community services among other demands. #DefundCPD educated, organized, and mobilized thousands of Chicagoans around abolitionist demand to defund the CPD on the heels of the global uprisings against state violence and white supremacy; and for Black lives. Come fall, protestors, organizations, and movement lawyers also came together to sue the City of Chicago around the especially egregious violence by CPD seeking justice for the harm done while struggling for a better future.
Protestors v. City of ChicagoWords by Miracle Boyd, Produced & Edited by Sensitive Visuals, Photos by Love & Struggle Photos, Music by PK, Footage by SoapBox, guillaume Le Mezo, Tom Callahan, Matt Ginsberg-Jaeckle, Ervin Lòpez, Austin C. Pruett
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#DefundCPD Budget PresserProduced by #DefundCPD & SoapBox, Edited by James Edward Murray, Music by Chicago Soundbox, Footage by James Edward Murray & Caullen Hudson
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Photos by Sarah-Ji.