They came together in Aurora on Sunday to preach togetherness, and call for police reform.
Area black and Latino elected officials held a press conference outside at a shelter near Simmons Middle School in Aurora to demand changes, and to do it together.
“We’re standing together to say we’ve heard you,” said Aurora Ald. Scheketa Hart-Burns, 7th Ward. “If we don’t get together now, woe to all of us.”
Ald. Juany Garza, 2nd Ward, echoed Hart-Burns’ comments, saying “we need to get together to make changes – this is the time.”
They were two of 16 city, county and state elected officials who came together Sunday to say that changes need to be made in how policing is done locally and across America. The press conference took place in light of the fallout from the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the murder charges against Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin.
Along with calling for reform, the officials said that African-Americans and Latinos need to work together as communities of color.
“We must come together to dismantle racism in all forms,” said state Rep. Barbara Hernandez, D-Aurora. “I’m here today to stand with my colleagues, to stand for justice.”
The press conference took place before a planned peace rally in the park across the street from the Aurora Police Public Safety Building.
Joining the local officials were representatives from Chicago and Cook County, including state Rep. Camille Lilly, D-Chicago, the chairwoman of the Black Legislative Caucus. She said “this is the time for us to stand together.”
“We have not just started this fight, we have been telling this story for decades, that we need justice,” she said.
State Rep. Lamont Robinson, D-Chicago, pointed out that both the black and Latino communities have the highest incidences of coronavirus in the state. He called for more money to fight the disease put into those communities.
He also said that the General Assembly needs to hold a special session to deal with such things, and he said people should call their legislators to encourage such a session.
“We cannot wait to November to get back to work,” he said.
The press conference was emotional at times, with Hart-Burns telling a story of her husband being searched and detained by police because someone said they saw him with a gun.
“He has never owned a gun,” she said. “They treated him like he was slave, because that’s how they saw him.”
Both Hart-Burns and Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin said they owed an apology to the younger generation for failing to address some of these issues sooner.
Irvin mentioned the 1955 death of Emmett Till in Mississippi, a key moment in the Civil Rights Era, who was beaten and lynched.
“From 1955 to 2020 we’re still having these same conversations,” Irvin said. “For that, I apologize.”
Hart-Burns presented Irvin and Lilly with signed copies of petitions that have been circulating online via the Change.org website that call for a number of police reforms universally and in Aurora.
The petition calls for more transparency in the complaint process against police officers; a mandated limit on the number of founded racist, sexist and excessive force complaints an officer can have; review of restraint tactics and removing suffocation as a form of restraint altogether; and continued sensitivity training and psychological examinations for police officers.
The petition also calls for a clearly defined and attainable avenue that an individual is able to take to have their name removed from the gang database; a monthly open grievance forum that law enforcement is required to attend; not allowing government buildings to post “Blue Lives Matter” inside or outside the building unless other groups are allowed to post their statements as well; no cooperation with federal immigration authorities; that all officers should wear body cameras; and having all Aurora police officers live in Aurora.