The Homan Square police facility in southwest Chicago has been the subject of controversy for almost three months now, and for good reason. Up to 17 past detainees of the facility have stepped forward to describe unacceptable, problematic behavior by officers of the Chicago Police Department (CPD) in the facility. Detainees have been shackled for numerous hours, denied access to a phone or a lawyer, physically abused and held without records of their whereabouts. Most recently, a past detainee is pressing charges against the CPD after experiencing sexual abuse on the Homan Square facility premises.
All of this problematic behavior by the police in the Homan Square facility is taking place just a few feet away from schools, grocery stores, churches and residences in the neighborhood. In this comics report, we learn about the heavy police presence in the neighborhood, and how the brutality in the Homan Square facility ripples outward to affect the community living in Homan Square.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
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There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
Last week, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
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With love, rage, and solidarity,
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