Police Brutality Charges in Chicago Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit ------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the November 6, 1997 issue of Workers World newspaper ------------------------- CHICAGO: BRUTALITY CHARGES ERUPT IN POLICE BOARD MEETING By Erich Struch Chicago On a cold Oct. 9 at Truman College in the north side's Uptown neighborhood, community activists, socialists and trade unionists fought back against a violent police rampage marked by racism. Police Superintendent Matt Rod riguez had scheduled a public meeting of the Police Board. Appointed by Mayor Richard Daley, the board's sole power is to recommend to the city council disciplinary actions against officers accused of criminal behavior. It has never done even this. Since the Police Board is basically a means for the Chicago Police Department to cover up its bloody record, labor, progressive and community activists united to call for the board's resignation. Ilsa Guillen, Jorge Guillen's widow, called on the Police Board to fire the officers responsible for her husband's death. Guillen demanded a change in the board. Long-time progressive activist Chris Geovanis asked Rodriguez: "What kind of shell game do you think you're running, and what are you doing here? Your rules are structured to do one thing: to protect the criminal organization that is 13,000 strong"--the Chicago Police Department. Linda Giron, mother of police murder victim Angel Castro, put Rodriguez on the spot when she told how a police car rammed her 15-year-old son so hard he flew several feet into the air. Instead of taking him to the hospital for his injuries, the police shot him in the head and then handcuffed him. Giron described how these same officers continually harassed and followed her. She told how the police threatened to kill her daughter, actually putting a gun in her daughter's face while demanding to know where a gun allegedly owned by Angel Castro was kept. Giron brought with her a morgue photograph of her son's body, which she attempted to show to Superintendent Rodriguez. Appearing upset, Rod riguez refused to look. The crowd then chanted, "Look, look" and "Don't turn away." Giron, now in tears, pointed at Rodriguez and shouted to applause, "They [the Chicago police] do what they want because you let them do it." Wallace Gator Bradley of United in Peace, hated by police because he helped unite street organizations behind a peace treaty, asked Rodriguez, "Is police brutality a crime in Chicago?" He pointed out that officers are rarely prosecuted for illegal conduct. Bradley suggested the board recommend that the city council criminalize police brutality. Activists plan on cranking up the heat on Rodriguez at the next Police Board meeting on Nov. 13. - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint granted if source is cited. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: ww@workers.org. For subscription info send message to: info@workers.org. Web: http://workers.org) ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytrc-11.06.97-15:12:18-4975