Chicago police and their allies are trying to take down State's Attorney Kim Foxx's agenda to stop over-incarceration. The North Suburban Association of Police Chiefs, representing 30 Cook County police departments, and the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) took to the stage yesterday to announce a vote of “no confidence” against Kim Foxx--continuing a tirade of attacks against her since she dropped charges against Black actor Jussie Smollett. The Chicago FOP, Rahm Emanuel, the National District Attorney’s Association, and the Illinois prosecutor’s bar have all come out making personal attacks against her--the Chicago Tribune even published an editorial saying she should lose her job.

Let's be clear: the attacks against Kim Foxx are about upholding a racist criminal “justice” system that bends to the will of police and their unions and seeks to lock people in cages rather than transform harm in communities. In their press conference, the FOP president said this is about more than Jussie's case and listed off numerous other incidents where State’s Attorney Foxx did not over-prosecute and seek to throw people in jail, but sought to find other solutions to address harm that didn’t end in incarceration. The police even lamented that despite their over-policing of Black neighborhoods to rack up marijuana arrests, her office refuses to prosecute them--literally saying she makes it "impossible for us." Jussie Smollett’s case was not special, State's Attorney Foxx has been moving her office away from unnecessarily locking people up since she got into office.

In reality, it is Chicago police that have a track record of racist and brutal practices. And they're so bad that the Department of Justice had to investigate and intervene with an agreement that established federal monitoring of the department. The “law and order” faction of Chicago politics is deeply afraid of the power in Black communities electing their own prosecutors--and it's because we could dismantle the status quo. Our movement could result in the police actually being held accountable and Black people not being locked up for petty offenses. Our work could drastically change the unjust criminal legal system. The police and their unions feel their unchecked power slipping away, which is why they are attacking State’s Attorney Foxx and, by extension, our national movement to hold prosecutors accountable. We need to have her back to ensure no elected official could even try to remove her from office--this is about the future of our justice system.

Will you sign the pledge to stand with Kim Foxx? 

Here is the Petition:

We support your decision to not press charges against actor Jussie Smollett. Thank you for staying true to your commitment to decarceration by not needlessly prosecuting and filling jails.