Author: chicagovotes

With one election after another throughout the past year, we are relieved to say the next election won’t be until 2024, phew! Until then, we have the opportunity to reflect on our past efforts to get young people to the polls!

Between the February municipal elections and the April runoff, voter turnout from young people ages 18-24 increased by 32%, with ages 25-34 increasing by 24%. That is no small accomplishment. In six weeks’ time, grassroots organizations, campaigns, and nonprofits hit the ground running– door-knocking, phone banking, hosting voter mobilization events, and more. 

After conducting a robust get-out-the-vote (GOTV) campaign ahead of the February municipal elections, Chicago Votes continued to turn out voters with an energetic GOTV campaign ahead of the April runoff. We released our March-madness-themed voter guide, which included a poster from Chicago artist Ewrks, a mayoral candidate questionnaire, and other helpful voting information. On top of that, our fellows organized dozens of voter mobilization events, including open gym & mic nights at the community colleges, phone banking, mayoral forums, phone banking, and canvassing. It’s been a lot, but with such a significant increase in young voter turnout, it’s safe to say that it is paying off!

In this month’s Chicago Votes Monthly, we recap the April runoff election, update you on our programming, and tell you all the ways you can tune into the work this spring.  

Celebrating Our Spring Fellows!

Shortly after the runoff elections, we wrapped up our ’22-’23 Get Out the Vote, Give A Sh*t, and Digital Organizing fellows. Throughout these programs, they have organized 3 robust get out the vote campaigns, contributed to 3 voter guides, hosted an entire GAS Weekend, mastered wheat-pasting, phone banked, hosted events at community colleges & high schools, made countless TikToks, written op-eds, and even more.

Denzel, Jazmine, and Emoonah thank you for your months-long on-the-ground work to get young people to the polls. Mena and Temi, thank you for your innovation and commitment to voter education in the digital realm. Tre, thank you for your creativity, vision, and energy. The number of creatives you have brought into civic spaces has been priceless.

Unlock Civics

House Bill 39, Voting in Prison

Chicago Votes is working with the Unlock Civics Coalition to pass legislation to restore the right to vote to people serving time in prison. House Bill 39 (HB39), is under consideration for the Elections Omnibus bill in the Ethics and Elections Committee led by Chairman Maurice West. HB39 will be scheduled for a subject matter hearing before the session ends in May.

If you are interested in joining our weekly Unlock Civics Coalition calls on Tuesday from 4:15 to 5pm, email freddie@chicagovotes.com. 

Reimagining Democracy

Are you an Illinois educator? Sign up to introduce the Illinois legislative process to your students in an engaging, relevant, and influential way. The only way to learn the legislative process is to directly engage with it! Chicago Votes’ Legislative Tracking curriculum.

So, what does the legislative tracking curriculum entail? 

• Learning how a bill moves through the House and Senate

• Selecting a bill to track and either support or oppose

• Creating a campaign plan for the bill

• Reaching out to lawmakers

The curriculum takes place now through the end of the legislative session, May 19th. Sign up to bring bill tracking into your classroom

Give A Sh*t

 Sh*t Talks 

Thursday night Instagram Live Sh*t Talks are back! Beginning May 4th, each Thursday at 8pm, we’ll be on IG Live with community members, artists, electeds, and many more, discussing issues that are most pressing to young people in Chicago today. 

If you would like to be featured or have a topic you would like to see discussed, feel free to fill out this form. We would love to connect and make it happen! 

Catch up on previous episodes on Youtube or wherever you stream your podcasts!

Sh*t Talkin’ Central 

Sh*t Talkin Central amplifies the voices of young bloggers who create online content from videos and trainings, to op-eds and blog posts, allowing us to view the world through their lens or pen. The goal is to create a culturally relevant and engaging space for civil discourse. 

If you are a writer, poet, or storyteller of sorts, you could be paid $100 for your submissions. Go to bit.ly/pitchchicagovotes to submit your story/article/blog post for consideration to Sh*t Talkin’ Central. Selected writers will be paid $100.

Volunteer Opportunities

By Caleb Dunson

In the 1960s a young man from the west side of Chicago transformed Black, Puerto Rican, and  white gangs into political organizations that sought to build the kinds of community institutions the city refused to provide. They established free day care centers, free food pantries, free breakfast programs, free clothing programs, and free community health clinics across the west and south sides. They challenged the hegemonic order imposed by Chicago’s machine politics, openly opposing the corrupt Police Department and building support among the city’s working class. Fred Hampton and the Original Rainbow Coalition exposed the weakness of the old Daley regime, and forced the establishment to respond through violence to stop them. 

Mayor Richard J. Daley and his allies at newspapers like the conservative-leaning Chicago Tribune characterized the Rainbow Coalition as violent and criminal, a movement which required a forceful response to be defeated. Of the Coalition, Mayor Daley said, “These criminal gangs extort money from businessmen and also from school children. They burglarize, assault, rob, rape, and murder…They seek to cloak this criminal activity under the guise of social involvement and what they advertise as constructive endeavors.” This character assassination eventually turned into an actual assassination, that of Fred Hampton, done by the FBI and the Chicago Police Department, which effectively ended the Original Rainbow Coalition. 

It would be another 15 years before another Rainbow Coalition was formed, and that one propelled Harold Washington into office. And from Mayor Washington onward, the city has been largely controlled by the Democratic machine. The result of this has been the development of a city so profoundly unequal, segregated, and over-policed that the creation of a new Rainbow Coalition has seemed almost impossible at times. 

And yet, nearly 60 years after the rise of the Original Rainbow Coalition, and 40 years after the political movement that carried Harold Washington to office, we once again have the opportunity to build a new Rainbow Coalition. The city has been eager for this chance, the chance to send to the fifth floor a mayor that will demand better for the parts of the city that aren’t awash in cash and opportunity. That is what’s at stake in this election. The promise of investing meaningfully in communities long ignored by city government, in giving neighborhoods on the south and west sides the opportunity to create institutions that center equity and humanity rather than ruthless capitalistic growth. With this election, we can set this city back on the path started by Fred Hampton and lead the city in a truly democratic, community-centered fashion. We can do this by electing Brandon Johnson for mayor of Chicago.

Now it must be acknowledged that electoral politics only offer a limited opportunity to create the transformative, liberating change many of us seek. But this election is certainly a step in the right direction. At the very least, it is a chance to reject an unimaginative, dangerous vision of Chicago, one guided by a desire for punishment and domination. By rejecting Paul Vallas at the ballot box, we reaffirm our desire for a new set of politics, hopeful and not cynical. 

So I am asking that everyone who can vote today, vote, because it is no exaggeration to say that whoever becomes mayor will determine how the city will look for decades to come. And while we still have the chance, we should return that power to the people.

Paid for by Chicago Votes Action Fund.

By Temi Akande, Digital Organizing Fellow

With one of the most consequential elections just days away, the future of Chicago is in the hands of Chicago’s youngest, and most unlikely voters. 

I was reminded of my generation’s power this past week at Chicago Votes’ Party at the Polls. With over 400 high school seniors at a block-club style voter mobilization rally at the Maggie Daley early voting site, it was evident that we have the numbers and we have the passion. 

We’ve seen it many times throughout the history of this city–when youth are mobilized and standing together on issues, we show out. We saw it during the 2020 uprisings after the murder of George Floyd. We saw it in 2021 when 13 year old Adam Toledo was killed by the police. Anger is an emotion that drives people out. But hope for a better future can also be a catalyst for change.

During the Party at the Polls’ student power rally, a student speaker from Simeon high school correctly informed his peers that the 18-24 year old vote only comprised 3% of total votes cast, with just 16% of voters in that age group voting. There are a list of factors contributing to this–insufficient civics education in schools, lack of access to trustworthy voting information, and a disillusionment with our systems of government to name a few. 

But at the same time, young Black and brown people are disproportionately affected by the decisions made by our mayor. When our schools and neighborhoods aren’t invested in and mental health facilities are closed down, we are the ones suffering. This is why it is so important to not leave the fate of our city up to chance. 

As a young Chicagoan myself, I admit that I don’t associate Chicago politics with feelings of positivity. We have witnessed firsthand how the rich, wealthy, and well connected are oftentimes put into positions of power and not held accountable for their actions. I didn’t grow up in Chicago, but in my past 8 years here I’ve lived in a few different neighborhoods and seen the discrepancies. I lived in Little Village for two years and firsthand witnessed gun violence and how it’s impacting the young people in that neighborhood. There is so much beauty in that neighborhood that is often overlooked because it is associated with violence. That is a common theme of Black and brown neighborhoods on the south and west sides of Chicago. 

We can’t change our city overnight, but we can take steps in a better direction if we simply take charge. If we change our mindset from “things are just happening to us” to “we are happening to this city” we’ll see that there’s more power within us than we think.  Voting is on of the main tools we have to ensure our voices are heard. 

The results of this mayoral run-off election will be largely determined by the 18-35 age bracket because when we show up at the polls we affect the numbers drastically.  We are so much more powerful than we could even imagine, especially because we are expected to be civically unengaged.

Davion from Simeon Academy professed, “this generation will continue to be a revolutionary symbol in this country. We have significant power. We must utilize it so generations after us continue to progress society forward”

In the next four years I and many of my friends could have children of our own. What type of quality of life do we want the next generations to have? I am proud to be able to tell my children that I mobilized around getting young people civically engaged for multiple election cycles. Voting is essential, and I want to encourage all of my friends, colleagues, and anybody who cares even a LITTLE about the future of this city to vote. 

If you are ineligible to vote, continue to spread information so that we can combat the misinformation that is so easily and commonly spread. Keep encouraging those around you to not only vote but to hold elected officials accountable when they are elected into office. 

By Mena Enuenwosu, Digital Organizing Fellow

A lot of people believe that the most important elections are the ones that elect the seat to the highest office in the nation; the presidential election held every four years. However, there are a set of elections that actually affect your day-to-day life a lot more–we call those municipal elections.

So what are municipal elections? Municipal elections are held to elect local governing officials. In Chicago’s case, this would be the Mayor, the City Clerk, the City Treasurer, Alderpeople from all 50 wards, and Police District Councils.

Here are four reasons why you should vote in the upcoming Chicago municipal elections.

1. Local government offices and their decisions can, and will, affect your day-to-day life

Upset that 40% of Chicago’s budget goes to the police? Well, the mayor is responsible for creating the city budget. 

Upset about how traffic caused by construction in your neighborhood has added an hour to your daily commute to work? You’ll need to talk to your alderperson.

Want to introduce a financial education program in Chicago Public schools? You should talk to the city treasurer!

Need a sticker for your car? You’ll be heading to the office of the city clerk.

Upset about the heightened police presence in your neighborhood? Police District Councils have a say in how police engage with the community. 

Let’s break down the offices on the ballot. First up, let’s talk about the executive or the manager of the city–the mayor. The person elected Mayor of Chicago following Chicago’s 2023 municipal election, is in charge of the city’s daily operations. They have the power to appoint and dismiss key department heads–such as the Chief of the Chicago Police Department. The mayor is also responsible for presenting a yearly budget to the City Council. They have a huge say on what the city will spend its money on for the fiscal year. They should address the needs of the community: gentrification and housing, transportation, and parks and recreational areas, etc. 

On top of that, Chicago is divided into 50 legislative districts or “wards”. Each district is represented by an alderperson, who is elected by citizens to serve a four-year term. Together, 50 aldermen from Chicago’s 50 districts make up the Chicago City Council, which serves as the legislative branch of the government of Chicago. Alderpeople vote on city ordinances, zoning changes, traffic control issues, mayoral appointees, and the budget.

Next up we have the treasurer. The treasurer is the city’s banker; they keep track of the city’s finances, managing all cash and investments for the City of Chicago, the four City employee pension funds, and the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund. The treasurer’s office also manages a number of programs that promote financial education and small business growth in Chicago’s neighborhoods.

The City Clerk is in charge of record-keeping for the city of Chicago and its elections. The position is central to government transparency because the clerk is responsible for keeping and making official records and legislation accessible to city residents. They also run the CityKey program-providing free government-issued  ID card to Chicagoans regardless of age, gender, immigration status, or housing status.

Lastly, Police District Councils are a newer one! The newly created Police District Councils establish community oversight of the police. There are 22 police districts. Every four years during municipal elections, three community members will be elected to each of the 22 Police District Councils. Council members must live in their respective police district and cannot have been a member of the Chicago Police Department, Independent Police Review Authority, Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA), or the Police Board for at least three years before they assume office. 

Council members are supposed to keep an eye on the police, hold monthly public meetings, work on the implementation of restorative justice practices, and build stronger relationships between police and community members. 

With that in mind, it is clear all five of these offices have a very real impact on each of our day-to-day lives. 

2. When we don’t vote, decisions are made without our input.

Young people typically vote at lower rates than older people. There are a lot of reasons for this including lack of access to voting resources and civics education, and disillusionment with the current system. However, if we don’t vote, we are allowing other people to make very important decisions about our lives. 

Our experience as young people is unique; we are coming of age during a pandemic, an increased awareness of racial injustice, and extreme climate change. We are also the youngest voting bloc, meaning we will be dealing with the repercussions of decisions for the most time. 

When young people do not vote, other people get to decide the future we will live in. 

3. We are literally paying for the city.

Anyone who lives in Chicago pays taxes to the city. Buying a bottle of soda at 7/11? Paying the city. Got a parking ticket? Paying the city. 

All of the taxes we pay go towards the city budget. The city budget is created by the mayor and voted on by city council or alderpeople. So, the people who are elected to office decide how to spend the money that comes from us–people in the city.

In 2012, Mayor Rahm Emmanual closed six of the city’s twelve mental health clinics, four of which were located on the South Side. Still, ten years later, the city only has six public mental health facilities. This is due to “lack of funding.” However, 40% of the entire city budget goes to the police department. If we vote people into office who share our values, we can create a city that doesn’t prioritize police, incarceration, and punitive responses over investing in healing and restorative spaces. 

4. You have the right to vote in Illinois

In Illinois, all citizens over age 18 who aren’t serving a conviction can vote. Still, that means community members without citizenship and those in prison are locked out of our democracy. When people aren’t viewed as constituents or voters, elected officials aren’t pressured to hear and address their needs. That is why it is important we fight for a democracy that includes all of us. 

In the meantime, though, it is our responsibility to vote for people who will create a future where all people are valued and included. 

By Caleb Dunson

This is a peculiar moment in time. We have only partially emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic, and we have yet to fully understand how it’s affected our country socially, politically, and economically. Donald Trump was defeated in 2020, and yet the threat of authoritarian control looms with his return and Florida Governor Ron Desantis eyeing the presidency. We have stood against dictatorship by sending military aid to Ukraine, but the coming months of the war, the results of which will alter the global democratic movement, seem the most decisive yet. In essence, we have lived through a series of history-defining events, and now we stand on the other side with the task of determining a way forward. 

This moment is crucial. We must address the questions created and elevated in the past few years. How will we solve issues of inequality worsened by the pandemic? How will we fight back against politicians who seek to obscure history and oppress the disadvantaged? How will we build an economy that serves everyone? Because the answers to these questions are so consequential, we must take seriously the task of selecting people to answer them.

It might seem that the sole power to make key political decisions rests in the hands of our national representatives, but the people we choose to speak for us at the local level are just as, if not more, influential. They have the power to answer those crucial, nation-shaping questions, and to do so in a way that has a direct bearing on our day to day lives. They determine who can afford to live in the city, how our education system serves our youth, and how economic opportunity is distributed between our neighborhoods. They influence what our justice system looks like, how we offer mental health support, and who receives access to public health resources. 

Because of this, the stakes are high in this election. The past four years have been marked by controversy, chaos and turmoil. We are trying to figure out how we will address the longstanding problem of police violence, how we will reduce crime without punitive measures, and how we will invest in the development of our underfunded neighborhoods. And we are doing this while trying to emerge from the pandemic as a world-class city. The leaders we elect today will preside over the effort to address these problems. They will set the priorities for our city and set us on a path toward a future Chicago.

This is not to say that voting will automatically solve all of our problems. It’s not a silver bullet. But nevertheless, it’s a crucial action among many that we all must take if we want to change our city. It’s an opportunity to voice our desire for a better Chicago, and we cannot waste it.

I am currently writing this from the United Kingdom. I ordered a mail-in ballot over a month ago and it never made it to this side of the Atlantic, so I have been disenfranchised in this election. This has reminded me of just how precious the vote is. Though I cannot vote this time around, I hope that you will. I hope that you will take the opportunity to have your say in the direction of this city, and to prove that when the community calls for change, it does come.

Young Chicagoans were asked, “what do you love about Chicago?” These are their responses.

From Jelena K

Dear Chicago,

Chicago is about culture. There’s not many places where you can be in one room and hear 4 different languages at once. I love it! The food is better than anywhere. I think another thing that makes Chicago special is, we all go through the seasons together. We’re all goin through it in the winter months, but as soon as the sun comes out we are ready to grow! As someone in customer service, I think we help hold each other down through the tough times, mentally/spiritually, and then celebrate with each other, without even really realizing! Chicago is connection!

Love,

Jelena K

From Demerike Palecek

Dear Chicago,

Chicago has always been so welcoming and loving. It’s inviting to educate each other and share cultures with food, holidays, and beautiful conversations. I live in uptown and the diversity when I walk down the street makes me beyond proud to be here and share with my neighbors.

Love,

Demerike

From Rosalyn Murga

Dear Chicago,

From eating pizza Nova, checking out as many festivals as I can, to discovering new murals, playing soccer at the lake and a having a carne asada BBQ right after. Summertime in Chicago is the best!

I was born here, grew up in Pilsen in the 90’s. Summer was about playing in the streets until dark. Waiting for the ice cream car to pass by, for the elote cart to honk it’s horn or the paleta man to pass by with his frozen cart ringing it’s bells. As I grew up and explored the city, I realized how lucky I was to take a 10 minute bus ride and get to Chinatown or a 20 minute train ride and I’m in the loop. I can go south, north, east and west, and I would discover so many rich and vibrant communities with so much to offer.

Yeah it’s fun to look at the fountain light up in Grant Park or see your reflection at the bean and check out all the tourist attractions. But honestly, there’s nothing better that cruising down DuSable LSD on a summer night with good music, great people and finding a new spot to eat and chill. Would I leave Chicago? No- although the cold can change my mind from time to time. Even with a polar vortex, Chicago is and will always be home.

Love,

Rosalyn

From Claude Hill

Dear Chicago,

What do I love about Chicago? I love the sunrises, sunsets and the people. I love the memories. Those things no longer here. I love the Taste of Chicago and the evolving bus and train lines. I love to watch folks riding their bikes most of the time. I love to sit on the bench and sketch, as birds tickle the tip of their beaks on the lakefront’s watery waves. I love when the Chicago Bears won the Super Bowl back in the 1980s and their win printed on the front page. I love the Chicago bulls 6 championship basketball wins in the 1990s and its exciting parades. I loved when the White Sox, the Black Hawks and the Chicago Cubs won their championships on their greatest days. I love the ingenuity of our brilliant youth, and the diversity of our neighborhoods. I love my Chicago because it is my home, and it is my living breaths. It is a loving mirror of my roots and it’s cultural depths. I have lived through it’s first woman and black mayor, as Chicago took it’s first diverse steps. And I get to share my love for Chicago with you. I am looking forward to what comes next. I love you, My Chicago.

Love,

Claude

By Caleb Dunson

“He was a human piñata for those police officers.” That’s what lawyer Antonio Romanucci said of the death of Tyre Nichols. Mr. Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, was beaten by five Black police officers after being pulled over at a traffic stop on January 7. The officers pulled him over on what they claimed was suspicion of reckless driving. He fled. They chased. They caught him. They beat him. Savagely. They bragged about the beating. He died three days later. 

The video of his death has been released to the public, and news publications are playing it on a loop like it’s a snuff film. Media commentators are calling the officers “bad apples” who don’t follow protocol, officers that tarnish the good name of law enforcement. Politicians are offering exaggerated expressions of grief and calling for subdued protests in their cities. All of this feels so familiar, and so sickening. 

Much of the nation is seeking a solution to this horrifying killing within the existing arrangement –– convict the officers of kidnapping and murder, place more constraints on police conduct, make police civilly liable for their violent actions. In these solutions they display a fealty to the law, even when it has so clearly betrayed humanity, even when it has allowed a man to to be so brutalized that his death paints horror across the faces of us all. But there comes a point at which we have to confront truth: the law has failed us. There is no recourse to be found in the courtrooms or congressional halls. That truth has been before us for a while now.

There is something unique about this murder, in particular. It came at the hands of five Black men, which many argue is proof of the fact that the presence of white people is not necessary for the perpetuation of white supremacy. That’s true. The fact that 5 Black men did this shows that, contrary to the beliefs of so many politicians, diversifying the police force will not make it any less of a violent, totalizing institution. Tons of police departments across the country have been trying to diversify their ranks. Police still killed over 1100 people last year (and a disproportionate number of those killed were Black). There’s more to this, though.

This murder shows that the issue of policing, while shaped and colored by race, is fundamentally one of power and democracy. Being a police officer is having the power to, under the pretense of the law, stop anyone for virtually any reason, and then subject them to harassment and physical abuse. The Memphis police chief was unable to find evidence of the reckless driving the officers say they stopped Mr. Nichols. Being a police officer is having the power to, under the pretense of the law, terrorize and threaten and intimidate. Those officers, without cause explanation, threw Mr. Nichols to the ground and tazed and beat him. Being a police officer is having the power to, under the pretense of the law, determine who lives and who dies, and almost never face the consequences of that decision. These officers were charged with murder, but they were also able to post bail and return to their families as if nothing happened. They were fired, and law enforcement around the country are distancing themselves from these officers, but that kind of action is only done to protect the legitimacy of a destructive institution. Make no mistake, there will be no defunding or abolition to come from this.

This state-sanctioned power, which the police wield with reckless abandon, is more reflective of an authoritarian regime than the democracy we claim to have. The mandate that comes with this power –– to preserve the perception of order, even if it comes at the expense of human life –– does not reflect the will of the people. It is so grimly clear that the American police state is the gravest violation of truth, justice, and equality. It is our country once again falling short of its ideals. 

People will make apologies for this situation, trying to justify the individual actions and social institutions that have created this perverse outcome. A lawyer for one of the officers said, “No one out there that night intended for Tyre Nichols to die,” but that point is irrelevant. When you vest that much power in a small group of people and ask them to unrelentingly enforce order, abuse will happen, and death will happen. It’s been happening ever since the establishment of the modern police force. It’s bound to keep happening as long as we show deference to power and force instead of love and humanity. 
I’m not entirely sure where we go from here. For the sake of Mr. Nichols’ family, I hope those officers are brought to justice. But we cannot rely on the carceral system to address the issues of race and domination that that same system relies upon. And we cannot expect police to suddenly stop killing people at rates higher than any other democracy. I do know this. I know police domination must be brought to an immediate end because our people are dying. All of our people are dying.

By Alejandro Hernandez

The First Amendment of the United States Constitution officially states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” Among many of the rights that it protects for us, is our artistic expression. However, there is one art form that seems to be an exception to these protections: Hip-hop music. 

In the last month, 28 members of the Atlanta-based hip-hop label Young Stoner Life (YSL), most notably Young Thug and Gunna, have been charged with 56 indictments of different RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) charges including armed robbery, aggravated assault, and murder. Leading these charges is Fani Willis, the Fulton County District Attorney who previously indicted rapper YFN Lucci along with 11 others with 105 RICO charges in 2021. Part of the evidence that the courts are using in both YFN and YSL’s cases are song lyrics and visuals from music videos.

Imagine yourself in Young Thug’s shoes for a moment. You’re born and raised in a difficult environment plagued by violence, police surveillance, and inaccessibility to wealth and resources. You do what it takes to survive in that environment while using your musical talent to become a successful career artist. You may draw on some of your lived experiences for inspiration, and after enough time, you become discovered by a label and change your life forever. In time, you invest your own money and resources into creating your own label so that you can help others that were once in your position, and you’re able to do so with great success, discovering future stars like Lil Baby, Gunna, and the late Lil Keed. Then, all that labor and effort comes crashing down with the very art you made to build your empire being used against you in the court of law. It’s fucked up, isn’t it?

While the YSL indictment is the most recent and most high profile of any similar, there has already been an ugly precedent set against rappers by the judicial system of the United States going as far back as the FBI surveilling NWA following the release of “Fuck Tha Police” in 1988. In an interview with Crime Report in 2019, authors of the book “Rap On Trial” Erik Nielsen and Andrea Dennis estimated as many as 500 cases in which rap lyrics were used as evidence, some of which successfully imprisoned artists going as far back as 1990.

As mentioned earlier YFN Lucci was indicted after prosecutors used his lyrics and social media posts as proof of his ties to Bloods. In an article written for Complex earlier this month, Andre Gee points out “In January 2021, the state of Maryland ruled that rap lyrics were permissible as evidence of guilt… The ruling set a dangerous precedent for prosecutors in other states to follow.” following the sentencing of a man who recited lyrics through a jail phone to a friend. This directly contradicts to alleged right to artistic expression that is supposed to be protected by the first amendment.

It’s no coincidence that this direct criminalization of hip-hop most directly affects young Black and Brown artists, as this is just another example of America’s long history of systemic racism. This creates a double standard with other artistic mediums. Think of how many popular films depict white men committing violence. Not only are the filmmakers absolved from any guilt toward committing a crime (and rightfully so) but those films are often glorified in our culture, which is it’s own separate conversation. Many classic rock and country songs also depict violent crimes, but you’ve never heard of a case in which Freddie Mercury was put on trial for murder after singing “Mama, I killed a man/Pulled my trigger now, now he’s dead.” However, hip-hop artists are often blamed for poisoning their community with the music they make that’s just a reflection of social inequities that already exist in the hood. 

In Chicago, we witnessed Rahm Emmanuel close 50 schools in the South and West sides in 2013, yet he pinned the crime rates on drill artists, most notably Chief Keef who is effectively banned from the city due to outstanding warrants for his arrest. In New York today, history is repeating itself. In a separate article for Complex, Andre Gee writes about mayor Eric Adams’ expressed intentions to ban drill music completely from social media, claiming that the genre is contributing to the number of violent crimes. 

Currently, the status quo of America stands that white men can draw inspiration from violence for artistic purposes, but when a Black person does it, it’s taken as a literal threat to society. The response of politicians is reactive, turning the musicians behind hip-hop into scapegoats for their city’s crimes instead of addressing the structural racism at the root of the issue. Our elected officials should be taking a proactive approach by funding Black and Brown communities through education, healthcare resources, and better employment opportunities, however, that would require them to relinquish their positioning within the existing power dynamics of class and race in this county.

The current YSL indictment should be treated with the utmost serious conviction. Young Thug recently urged fans to sign a Protect Black Art petition that calls for the limitation of using art as criminal evidence. Gunna just published an open letter in which he claims his innocence, vowing to fight against these charges that are an infringement of his rights. It’s important that we fight too. If this is what courts can do against high-profile artists, imagine the type of punishment they inflict on smaller independent artists with less funds and legal resources. White America simultaneously punishes and profits off the stories of Black artists every day, and will continue to do so until we all collectively decide to shake the table instead of seeking a seat at it.

Whether or not you’re an artist or even a fan of hip-hop at all, it’s important to organize with our communities and take a stand every day against the system that continually polices every aspect of the lives of Black and poor people. Hip-hop is the most consumed and influential art form that exists today after being born from working class Black and Caribbean immigrants who simply found a new way to express themselves freely with the limited resources they had in the first place. If we truly want to continue progressing the culture forward, we have to actively protect it. In order to ensure we never give up the fight to protect it though, we have to understand the historical and racial implications of its existence in the first place.

By Caleb Dunson

Three mass shootings in 10 days. 32 dead.

213 mass shootings this year. In classrooms, in churches, in nightclubs. At flea markets, on street corners, at community events. On trains, in cars, in homes.

After the Parkland mass shooting, we marched out of schools across the country mourning those lives lost and demanding gun control. But four years and over fifteen hundred mass shootings later, it seems we’ve marched to nowhere. 

Far away on Capitol Hill, our politicians will strut across marble floors to sit in their grand chambers and make pronouncements about the horrible tragedy of these mass shootings. They will give speeches, put together press clips, and post statements on social media so that everyone will know how bad they feel about the tragedy. Then they will tell us that there is nothing they can do to stop a future tragedy. 

We will grieve. The thoughts and prayers, Twitter takes, and think pieces will circulate for a few days. We will argue a bit over what we can do about this tragedy. Some of us will protest. Some of us will vote. A lot of us will move on. None of it will matter. 

It won’t matter because we court violence in this country. We have invaded and stolen and enslaved. We have raped and beaten and lynched. We have tortured and shot and bombed. We have done these things under the banner of the red white and blue, in defense of life, liberty, and property.

The mistake we make is in seeing violence as an aberration in our nation’s history, as an unfortunate stumble in pursuit of a more perfect union. Violence is a necessary component of the American project. It takes center stage in an ongoing story that indicts the character of our nation. The collective dance we do in moments like these –– the outpouring of emotion, the government inaction, the acceptance of the status quo –– shows just how accustomed we have become to this pattern, 415 years long, of American depravity. 

That we refuse to meaningfully confront this tremendous failure of state formation and governance is troubling. That we normalize these perverse events, this mass death, is disturbing. It is a display of willful ignorance of America’s moral stench, which is growing more pungent by the day. 

The moralizing usually comes at this point in pieces like these; the “here’s what you should do to stop this from happening again” kind of rhetoric. But I have nothing left to say. I can’t tell you what to do with this information. I can’t tell you because I don’t know. I don’t know what to do when communities are suffering, people are dying, and help is nowhere to be found. I don’t know what to do when our government is, and has always been, failing in its most fundamental duty: keeping us safe. And even if I did know what to do, I’m not sure it would be enough to stop a slide toward ruin four centuries in the making.

So for now I will just continue to hope and pray that, against all odds, these tragedies will end.

By Yas Tadross

If 2020 was the commodity of breath, then 2021 is the abundance of death. 

So many bodies have been lost. 

In America, the only thing that is abundant is death.

We never ask, could these deaths be preventable?

Often the answer is, they are worthy of their violence. 

That your life chances are disposable like a plastic toy, only to be thrown into the dumpster when you have been used up.

We often think visibility will save us all, but what do we have left when we are not desirable to the masses?

The answer: we don’t have anything but flesh.

I wake up most days to a knot in my stomach the size of a ball of yarn hoping that all the strings will be let loose. 

These mornings, scrolling through people’s lives finding out another Black Trans person dead, a person dying of illness in a healthcare system that seeks to escalate death rather than prevent it, another person losing vital resources and not knowing when they will ever get that back.

I don’t know how to grieve these days because how do you mourn a death when there are so many?

How do people selectively choose who they want to grieve?

I often resort to dissociating, allowing my body and my spirit to separate from each other hoping that I get through the day. 

Alignment frightens me because this world is too overwhelming. 

I wonder what it would mean to collectively grieve together?

In grieving, I hope we move beyond empathy. 

I hope we honor people more than just their accomplishments, that they existed. 

We are brought to this Earth to be with each other, not to produce and isolate.

That dissociating is only a tactic of surviving rather than being. 

I understand death is part of our life cycle, 

I want to end the systems that destroy our life chances.

Yaz is an activist, writer, and tiny house enthusiast. Their writing explores issues of being Black, Arab, Transgender, women/femme in both public and private spheres. They also explore topics of grief, reimagining romance, and navigating borderlands.