BYP100: Defeat of Cook County State’s Attorney Alvarez Was a Victory Won by Sacrifices of Young Black, Queer and Femme Organizers
BYP100 statement on defeat of Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez
CHICAGO, IL – “Political freedom has been at the forefront of our minds as we engaged in #ByeAnita actions, street-team canvassing, phone-banking and voter education events focused on young Black voters to remove the anti-Black Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez. Though the entire governmental structure is anti-black, the current Cook County States Attorney took devaluing Black life to extreme lows from covering up our deaths to even charging sexual assault survivors for defending themselves. Alvarez consistently resisted the call to serve in a way that showed she held those in consideration that are most affected by state violence
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“This victory was won by the sacrifices of young Black, Queer and Femme organizers. Thank you Assata’s Daughters, Black Lives Matter: Chicago, and our beloved members of F.L.Y., who we joined with to secure this historical win. We are so much stronger together and are committed to taking power back from the systems that seek to kill us. We also thank the Workers Center for Racial Justice, Action Now and SOUL for their organizing work throughout the community.
“To Kim Foxx, we urge you to honor the lives of Black people and lead with compassion. We’ll be looking for you to stay true to your platform and work for an elected civilian police accountability council. We expect the culture of police impunity to end with you. We demand that you cut off the school to prison pipeline, end prosecutions for low-level drug possession and a work with us to create mass expansion of alternatives to incarceration. If not, our membership is ready to organize and hold you accountable too.”
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