LSNA is reaching out to our Latinx/o/a leaders and regular every day tios, tias, jovenes, trabajadores to call us to our higher selves
by Juliet De Jesus Alejandre, Executive Director, LSNA
Mi gente,
On May 25, 2020 George Floyd, an African American man was killed by police officers in Minneapolis, Minnesota. No justification. ꜞFue el estado! George Floyd was murdered by a racist police force and a fundamentally anti-black system designed to deny Black people their humanity. The same system that fails to adequately deliver justice to Breonna Taylor, Mike Brown, and Chicago’s own Laquan McDonald amongst so many others. The same system that allows state-sanctioned murder of Black men and women is the same one that puts Latin American migrant children in cages. We are all impacted by this system created on the ideas of White Supremacy.
This past Saturday, I was moved to see Latinx/o/as embracing who we are in this world as afrodescendientes and indigenous people who need the system of white supremacy to come to a halting end. By Sunday night social media posts showed some Latinos attacking Black folks--African Americans and Afro-Latinx/o/as across our city and even in nearby suburbs like Cicero. Lives have been lost.
In a city that gives away billions of public dollars to luxury developments like Lincoln Yards and allows our schools to go underfunded for generations of Black and Brown Chicagoans, we have so much more in common in our principled struggles. Together we are the majority of the city!
ANTI-BLACK words and actions must come to an end. I am so grateful to the reparation work happening on the ground right now. We know the chaos of the last couple of days has been scary. It’s scary for everyone in our city. The reality is black mothers are scared for their children ALL THE TIME. Undocumented mothers also know this daily, pulsing kind of fear. We understand how these daily fears, coupled with the pandemic and now escalating police and military presence in our communities can distort and misdirect our righteous indignation. When we are in survival mode, we may think that property damage is a reason to threaten the lives of another, but PEOPLE ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN PROPERTY.
So what does LSNA do as a mostly Latinx/o/a organization? We have critical conversations and popular education trainings about anti-blackness and afro-latinidad with our Parent Mentors and youth leaders. We listen to our afro-Latinx youth and let them lead. We work with non-black Latinx youth to discover who their ancestors are and reclaim their indigeneity and discover that they are members of the African diaspora. And we partner with African American led organizations, and we ask how can we build trust and heal and begin to move from unpacking anti-blackness to embrace pro-black policies, mindsets, relationships?
LSNA would like to invite you to join Action Now’s “People’s Movement Rally” where LSNA has been invited to co-host and then to listen to leaders share their vision of a Black Agenda for Chicago on Thursday, June 11, 1-3 pm at the intersections of Madison and Kildare. LSNA invites our leaders who can, to join us.
And on this Friday at 6pm, Deborah Harris, Executive Director of Action Now and myself will have a conversation on Facebook Live about the histories and future of Black and Brown unity and abundance.
And please at this time invest in the critical work of Black-led organizations who are channeling and transforming generations of pain into bold and just futures for us all:
Donate Now:
Kenwood Oakland Community Organization (KOCO)
Organizing:
Call Mayor Lori Lightfoot at (312) 744-3300 and email at lori.lightfoot@cityofchicago.org to demand 1) The immediate release all protesters in custody; 2) A moratorium on arrests and an end to police attacks on protesters; 3) Defunding of the Chicago Police Department; and 4) Reallocation of the $33 million dollars going towards police in Chicago Public Schools to restorative and healing justice work.
Email State’s Attorney Kim Foxx at statesattorney@cookcountyil.gov to demand that she drop charges against protesters and people who were arrested with charges connected to curfew violations.
In peace and solidarity,
Juliet de Jesus Alejandre
Executive Director, LSNA