PHOTO SARAH JANE RHEE
The following are excerpts from interviews and posts from organizers of the #LetUsBreathe Collective’s occupation of the vacant lot across the street from Homan Square, a historic police “black site” in the North Lawndale neighborhood of Chicago. The project, called “Freedom Square,” integrates anti-State violence activism with cooperative societal experiments— with a focus on living independent from the police.
CHICAGO, IL — “Join The #LetUsBreathe Collective at Freedom Square—a community block party and occupation to imagine a world without police . . . Show up and show love—enjoy FREE food, FREE books, music, and political education from local resource providers. In addition to serving the community, Freedom Square is a call to action. The occupation will remain until the family of Pierre Loury [a 16-year-old killed by police in April 2016] is given the official police report from Chicago Police Department. The occupation will remain until Alderman Ed Burke and other councilmen on the City’s Public Safety Committee immediately recall a proposed ordinance that would make protesting police violence a hate crime, [which is] commonly known as “Blue Lives Matter.” The Collective also gathers in support of the newly introduced ordinance for a Civilian Police Accountability Council (CPAC)! We are honoring the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s legacy and resistance living in North Lawndale. Freedom Square continues the struggle for fair housing, employment as well as an end to police brutality and all forms of structural racism in the city of Chicago and throughout Black communities nationwide.” —#LetUsBreathe Facebook Page
“This is system-building. We are here in opposition to what I believe to be the greatest physical example of how violent and destructive our system is. And that opposition is happening in the name of creating a new system . . . Freedom as an idea can’t only be oppositional.” —#LetUsBreathe co-founder Damon Williams, 23
“#LetUsBreathe has been occupying Homan and Fillmore and rebirthing the space as Freedom Square. Our camp is set across the street from Homan Square known for snatching up black folks, torturing them, or making them disappear. The other night around 3 a.m., an old Black woman and her kids walked by and saw the camp we set up. I offered her the free food/snacks and water we have been giving out. I tell her why we’re here and her kids are in awe. She says to them, “’Oh yeah, that’s the beat up place, where they take you and beat you up.’” I have never felt so liberated, worried, tired, and energized at once.” — Sol Patches, 18
“Freedom Square is all of our building with North Lawndale . . . coming to fruition. We finally reached a place where we can create a space that centers the needs of folks in North Lawndale, and that, is for them, completely. It’s really just an act of service. With direct action, there’s a lot to do with visibility and who sees you, and who you’re opposing, right? But the people come here and see us, and they see community and family. And that’s different than just one direct action at City Hall. It’s a larger vision of what the world should be.” — Jennifer Pagán, 23
