Agitation Rising previously reported that the Bloomington City Council would have to approve the EAGLE intergovernmental agreement between the McLean County Deputies Office and the Bloomington Police Department (BPD). This is not the case. The EAGLE agreement requires each agency funds its own equipment and training. Funding for BPD’s SWAT team has already been appropriated by the Bloomington City Council, and the agreement would not require additional funding for BPD.
Agitation Rising also implied that Task Force 6 had its own separate SWAT team. This is untrue. Task Force 6 relies on the SWAT teams of its constituent members.
As DSA BloNo hemorrhaged active membership, the trend was for autonomous groups to form in its absence.
Afro-Socialists & Socialists of Color Caucus continues to exist. They are a space for people of color to organize autonomously. They continue to focus on base building by performing events and outreach to the community: swim lessons, COVID-19 vaccine clinics, fine art events, etc. Their email address is afrosocblono@gmail.com.
The Bloomington-Normal Tenant’s Union is an organization created to provide resources to tenant’s and defend tenant’s rights, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. They are a vehicle for renting class solidarity and empowerment in the BloNo IL area.
BloNo is home to its very own chapter of the Communist Party USA. During the flooding that occurred last summer, Summer 2021, their members volunteered helping many people whose basements had flooded get the problem fixed (the BN Tenant’s Union was also involved in this effort). Furthermore, the CP continues outreach to the community by holding monthly family picnics during warmer weather.
The BloNo Socialist Feminists group aims to educate the Bloomington-Normal community on issues that affect marginalized genders and building solidarity through awareness, advocacy, and empowerment. Their past work includes outreach to the community through public events, addressing food insecurity, and public education.
The BloNo Socialist Feminists is a group that grew out of DSA BloNo’s Socialists-Feminist Working Group. Like Afro-Soc, they are completely autonomous from DSA.
Currently, their Facebook page is the best way to contact them.
The Central Illinois solidarity-Research Collective (CIRC) is dedicated to helping organizations & individuals request information from public bodies. CIRC is intended to be a resource for all Leftists across Central Illinois and is not limited just to the Bloomington-Normal area. This research is important to guarantee transparent & accountable government. Every person has a right to access most government records. CIRC specializes in requesting police records and helping individuals file complaints again local law enforcement. CIRC is also involved in lobbying legislation and educating the people on changes to various laws and statutes. CIRC is an all-volunteer organization.
CIRC grew out of DSA Blono’s Solidarity Research Working Group. Like Afro-Soc and BloNo Socialist Feminists, CIRC is completely autonomous from DSA.
Those looking to get involved in CIRC should fill out this contact form and someone will be in touch with them. No previous experience doing research is required. Individuals can also email the organization at cisolidarityresearch@gmail.com. GET INVOLVED IN CIRC!
If you’d like your organization added to this list, please send an email to zgetco@gmail.com with your org’s name, contact info, a short description of the group, and any active projects the org is engaged in.
For the second time in two months, the Afro-Soc Caucus of BloNo DSA is publically calling out alleged abusive behavior by BloNo DSA members, including the few remaining leaders of the Executive Committee.1
The Caucus alleges, “The slander and character assassination of targeted members of color represents numerous violations of our Community Agreements and Chapter Bylaws, including our Harassment & Grievance policy… the harassment, the smear campaigns, and the move to reduce our members of color has been persistent. Members of color who have spoken out against this abuse and bullying have simply been made targets themselves for defending any victims. Additionally, we have witnessed members of the Chapter’s Executive Committee participate in and support wild conspiracy theories that undermine our election.”
As reported previously, the Caucus released a statement on October 17th, 2021 condemning the alleged widespread abuse of power and anti-democratic strategies of DSA BloNo’s leadership. All four Harassment Grievance Officers (HGOs), including Afro-Soc co-chair Sonny Garcia, resigned from their positions in the chapter with some leaving the organization entirely.
According to this new statement, the alleged abuse has only gotten worse.
The October statement was passed by a majority vote (5-1) at a meeting, including co-chair Ann Simmons. At least two other Afro-Soc members (including co-chair Sonny Garcia) who did not get a chance to vote have stated they did not support the statement and did not believe it would have passed the full Caucus membership of 25. No other member who did not vote has come forward with their opposition, that I am aware of. This new statement passed 7-4 seemingly falsifying this argument.
There is an election for new Exec members (Co-Chair, Secretary, Public Relations Officer, and Treasurer) and HGOs next Saturday, December, 18, 2021. So far, all candidates running have not been in leadership prior and most are running unopposed.
This clause in the Bloomington Police Department union contract is causing concern.
According to interim-Chief Gregg Scott & City Manager Tim Gleason, nothing in the contract would prevent a co-responder model. This means crisis teams would be the first responders on the scene along with police officers. But, we don’t want co-responder models. We want these crisis teams responding without police presence, because the mere presence of a police officer is itself an escalation of any situation.
Interim-BPD Police Chief Gregg Scott (Left); City Manager Tim Gleason (Right)
We want the norm to be that individuals experiencing a mental health crisis are not considered a threat to public safety. By having crisis teams be the first responders on the scene (without police), they can determine whether an individual is only a threat to their own health (i.e., we treat this as a health care issue); or, if they do in fact present a larger threat to public safety. If it is the latter situation, then the crisis team can request police assistance to help resolve the conflict. But, treating these mental health crisis as instances requiring health care and/or social welfare is the norm we want to see in society.
Assistant Chief Wamsley, Interim-Chief Scott, and City Manager Gleason all made very clear in the way they framed the conversation that a non-co-responder model could very likely be a violation of Article 20 of the union contract. The PBPA’s membership mainly lives outside the city limits, doesn’t pay property taxes, and can’t even vote for the elected officials their bargaining with. If PBPA did file an Article 20 grievance against the City of Bloomington for implementing crisis teams without initial assistance from police, they would be sending the message that they–and not the tax paying residents of Bloomington–should be in charge of how the City spends and prioritizes its resources; and they should be in charge of how the community chooses to democratically address its own social problems.
CESSA would create an alternative response to the police for most nonviolent, noncriminal calls for service. CESSA stresses that just because an individual is only a threat to themselves this does NOT constitute a threat to public safety. Finally, CESSA is designed so that incarceration, institutionalization, or in anyway restricting a person’s freedom is the last resort in resolving a situation. CESSA is a non-co-responder model. Crisis teams under CESSA would be the first responders on the scene and have authority over the situation to best determine the needs of the individual in crisis, and to be able to determine based on their own experience how best to provide help and not harm.
The murder of George Floyd by four Minneapolis police officers has ignited a fresh, new wave of protests in support of Black Liberation across the country. In Central Illinois, like elsewhere, those organizing the events are not from older generations like Boomers and Xers, not even from Millenials, but from the Zoomer generation just now coming of age. The combination of no school during the last quarter of the school year, nearly 2 ½ months under quarantine restrictions, the economic depression during COVID-19, and the fact the police can’t stop messing with Black Lives EVEN during a global pandemic has caused an eruption of support for the liberation of Black Lives beyond what many of us expected to see.
Even before May 30th, 2020 Zoomers were already standing on the sidewalk along Veterans Parkway with signs supporting Black Lives. But, Saturday May 30th was a catalyst here in Bloomington-Normal. 24-year old Micah Denniston, posted on Facebook she was organizing a protest at the McLean County Jail in downtown Bloomington. Denniston, a woman of the Caucasian persuasion, was affected by Floyd’s death because “I am the mother of three mixed children. They are mixed with black,” she said. “I shouldn’t have to fear for my son’s life when he grows up. God forbid, he gets pulled over and the next thing you know he’s dead on the ground by a cop because they fear him for the color of his skin or they fear my boyfriend for the color of his skin or my brother next to me for the color of his skin. It’s not right.”
Micah Denniston, 24
She only thought about 15 people would show up. Instead, over a 150 people gathered near the jail next to the US Cellular Coliseum. Micah and her friends wanted to March around the jail. More experienced activists helped facilitate the goals of these Zoomers: blocking off traffic, documenting the scene, and negotiating with law enforcement.
Because the McLean County Jail is in the heart of downtown Bloomington, inmates can be seen from the streets. For many protesters there, it was their first time experiencing their voice reaching out in protest and making a connection of solidarity with another, especially individuals being isolated from society by the state. Even from across the street on a busy day, one can clearly hear inmates banging on their windows. The effect is poignant. Realizing that you can see from the street what the state hides behind architecture and that you can transgress the state’s forced isolation of inmates is a powerful feeling. At the same time, inmates who have been kept on 23-hour a day lockdown because of the COVID-19 pandemic, received some much needed social interaction. These bridges being built through the walls of state authority are an important link activists for Black Liberation must continue to cultivate.
Another novelty found was Bloomington Police Officers, unprompted, offering to block of traffic so that protesters could take over the streets safely. For nearly thirty minutes, Black Liberation activists occupied East Street just outside the McLean County Law & Justice Center. Afterwards, the march of nearly 150 people took over the streets of downtown Bloomington in a spontaneous manner, picking and choosing its direction almost at random for nearly 3 miles as if hunting out the vestiges of white supremacy in the city. Even without a clear direction, police continued to block off traffic for the protesters. There is a clear distinction in the way police in BloNo have been reacting to BLM protests after the death of Floyd. Unlike many cities where the police are actively attacking peaceful protesters, police in McLean county are getting on one knee, saying “Black Lives Matter”, and hugging protesters in an alleged solidarity.
At the jail were many tense moments between protesters and sheriff’s deputies. There is a primal rage in the early protests after George Floyd. An absolute disgust at the injustice inherent in our policing and carceral institutions. There were about 3-4 sheriff’s deputies being confronted by protesters. The anger in the people wouldn’t allow for a satisfactory answer to congeal from the deputies, aside from ripping off their badge and joining the revolution. But, this anger is nevertheless righteous. So many people are sick of the abuse of state power by the police, the sense of helplessness when under the gaze of an officer. The three officers were between Scylla & Charybdis in front of the massive group. No answer was sufficient to calm them down, and any escalation would have put everyone in danger. Yet, those officers needed to feel that powerlessness for the protest to be effective. The entire confrontation only lasted about ten minutes and was finally diffused by a Sargent yelling “Black Lives Matter” with open arms & a smile. It was enough to distract the powder keg and relieve the mounting pressure.
