Police letter to Mayor + CPD from C400
Letter to Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Police Superintendent David Brown from Chicago 400 members
Dear Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Police Superintendent David Brown:
We want to introduce ourselves: we are the Chicago 400. We are fathers, mothers, aunts and uncles, veterans, providers, volunteers, mentors, church members, faithful friends. We are believers: in God, in peace, and in the possibility that our lives will change with the support of decision-makers like you.
Like everyone, we have made choices in the past that we wish we could change. But unlike everyone, we have been held accountable by the system and punished. We have served our full sentences (and more) but we are not allowed to move on with our lives. Residency restrictions and registration requirements based on past convictions banish us from nearly all housing. There are no legal, safe, or affordable places for us to live. We want to be clear with you: these laws are making us homeless.
Because we are homeless, we must re-register in person every single week at the Chicago Police Headquarters. Wait times are long, and some of us arrive as early as 1:00 AM on the day we register to be sure we have a good spot in line. We have lost jobs because we’ve had to register. We have had to choose between taking our children to school for the day or getting in line to complete registration. We have been sent back to prison because we were receiving medical care in the hospital and couldn’t register in person. We have lost our lives and our livelihoods to these regulations.
Every week, we put our lives on hold just to sign a piece of paper. We show up to the station at all hours of the night to line up outside in the wind, rain, and cold. We arrive feeling dread, knowing we will face persistent harassment and punishment from staff, officers, and our neighbors who know our history. We are cramped into a small room with benches that police call a "bull pen." We wait until our number is called, which often takes hours. There is not enough seating for us, no outlets to charge our phones, and no bathroom, unless we leave the building. We—many of us without income—are made to pay a $100 fee each year so that we might continue to sign our lives over in this way, week after week.
We want you to remember we do all of this even though we have already served our time.
The burden of this process and the hundreds of thousands of hours we have lost to it—waiting in line to receive a number, waiting for our number to be called, waiting to be seen by an officer, waiting to be dismissed for the day—has taught us great patience. In this system, we can’t do anything but learn patience. But we must ask you: when is enough enough?
As people experiencing homelessness, we’ve faced a lot of new challenges while COVID continues to impact our city. We are grateful that public health has been considered and that we’ve been spared having to face weekly in-person registration on top of everything else. During the months we didn't have to register, we had the chance to return to some kind of normalcy, and to get to know life the way it should be.
We had more time to spend with our kids, to really get to know them, to bond with them, and let them know we are there for them. With the time we’ve gotten back, we’ve played music in church. We supported our friends and family who need us. We have been able to look for housing. Some of us been able to find work or work more hours. Some of us have volunteered to respond to the pandemic in the community, handing out food, hand sanitizer, and face masks with local organizations. Like everyone else, we have taken care of our wives, siblings, parents, and children with COVID. We have buried our loved ones.
We are afraid of the extreme health risk, chaos, and harassment we know we will face when we return to registration. We are asking for change in the laws so that we can realize our full promise. Until that happens, we ask for change in how the laws are implemented. We are asking for better communication and interaction, and to be treated humanely. We are asking for empathy and acknowledgment of the challenges we face because we’re made to register every week. We are asking for our questions to be met with respect and suggestions, instead of hostility, aggression, and insults.
We have been meeting as a group to come up with suggestions about changes to make registration safer for us as we continue to face a pandemic. We hope you will consider our input with seriousness and urgency because this is important. These are our lives.
As a next step, we are requesting a conference call with you to review our recommendations and talk about what is possible. We look forward to finding a time for that discussion.
Sincerely yours,
Chicago 400
MORE STATEMENTS FROM CHICAGO 400:
Larry H.:
I have income to get a permanent apartment but I can’t find a location that meets the requirements. Without a permanent address, I have problems receiving disability payments and medical records from my doctors regarding my ongoing health conditions. I have been registering weekly in person since 2011. I care for my elderly, sick parents and am afraid to return to registration and possibly expose them to the virus. My situation creates stress for them too, and I worry about the possibility of going back to jail. I’m frustrated. I haven’t been able to find housing for more than 9 years. The news about COVID and about homeless people being killed in Grant Park makes it terrifying to try and stay safe and survive.
JC:
I’m Black just like you. I’m living just like you. I just want to live my life without being judged or criticized for something I did that I’ve already paid my debt for. Homelessness is no joke—it’s every day. I started registering in 1996, and I will be doing this for the rest of my life.
TERRANCE:
I’ve been registering every week for 13 years and am registering every week for life because I had an address that was denied. I am 36 years old.
JAY:
Well first of all is I get to work a full week and have a full check to help me get through the week. Second, I feel like I have more freedom to move around and get things done. It also feel like a burden has been lifted from my chest. I not as stressful as I use to be. I pray they will end this weekly registration and have us call in every Friday.
TERRANCE S:
I'm able to save gas from coming down every week, I don't have to stand on the corner just to try to get gas money to make it to 35th, I don't have to stand for 5 hours to register, no drama to deal with, no officers yelling at us because of how slow it's going, we don't have to be there to watch them go to lunch 30 minutes early while some people did have jobs had to lose them because they would go to lunch early sometimes an hour early, we don't have to down there and here them say the system is down come back the next day, we don't have to sit right next to sick people who can't stop coughing, I no longer feel likes it's a double jeopardy anymore, i actually feel free now…
DEREK:
Without weekly registration, I'm at peace. I can work. I can look for an apartment. And I'm am not going back to jail [for not having an address].
JAMES:
I have been less stressful by not spending the night in my car every Thursday night in to order register Friday morning. l feel soooooo much better....
MARTIN:
Coming down there every Friday take a lot out of you. What you would have to do, you cannot get a job because they want to know why do you take off every Thursday.
RON:
Now I feel normal not having to lie about where I’m at every Friday and having to work only night shifts, so I can make it to register. Then the whole thing is so embarrassing because the registration office separated from the police station. It's nerve-racking. Then to register as homeless for 2 years, you would think the city will provide some kind of housing information. I struggle every day to just be normal, congestive heart failure, which led to minor brain damage. It's most stressing.
ANTHONY H:
It’s been a heart relief to be able to sleep somewhere u can without having the stress of going to the police station every week when u hv to work to survive. And its so hard because i have lost jobs home and my freedom because i am always nervous that they will lock me up for nothing because i dont have a place to live or can afford because i had address and had to move because they raise the rent to 1396 and was paying 780. For four and half years and now homeless and its devastating to my life because I am living in my car and it is hot. And losing jobs because they stated that I'm in non-compliance I'm concerned and worried about that I also have a physical injury with trying to survive doing odd jobs working at temporary services to survive and no have no help with no family members. It's a real bad struggle right now but it's a little slight relief from not going down there each and every week because that's that's like you being locked up again and it's like you going through the whole process of being locked up the whole jail process. Being in a bullpen is horrendous is unhealthy, the conditions is bad. People sick in there next to you. My case was a misdemeanor in the beginning and I still forced to register I have four and a half more years to go.