NAARPR

The National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression was founded in 1973 in Chicago, Illinois.  Its grew out of the struggle to free Angela Davis from a racist frame-up on murder charges surrounding the aborted attempt by Jonathan Jackson to free his brother, George Jackson and the Soledad Brothers in 1970. It continues to struggle for justice with a focus on the following goals (continued below):

HOLD THE DATE APRIL 17 SATURDAY 7:00 PM

 37th Anniversary Human Rights Awards Dinner

keynote speaker

Gerald Horne, PhD

Author and activist

John J. and Rebecca Moores Chair of History and African American Studies

University of Houston

Houston TX

“Lift Every Voice for Justice”

Saturday April 17 2010

Dinner at 5:30 pm, Program at 7:00

Lutheran School of Theology

1100 E. 55th St.

Chicago IL

2010 Honorees

Charlene Mitchell

Founding Executive Secretary, NAARPR

Leader of the Committees to Free Angela Davis (1970)

Timuel Black

Historian and Activist

"The Dean of Chicago's Civil Rights Movement"

Mark Clements

Free at last and still fighting, after 28 years in prison for a crime he did not commit

Bernardine Dohrn

Founding Director, Children and Family Justice Center

Clinical Associate Professor of Law

Northwestern University Law School

NAARPR Chicago Branch Steering Committee

meets every 4th Tuesday of the month at 1 pm

(except November and December when it's the 3rd Tuesday)

in the Alliance office

1325 S. Wabash Ave. Suite 105

Chicago Illinois.

Please call 312-939-2750 to confirm meeting time and place.

End police torture

New trials for everyone convicted through coerced confessions
Prosecute police officers who abuse prisoners
Establish democratic community control and accountability of the police

The NAARPR works for the immediate freedom and new trials for the hundreds of men still in prison as a result of convictions based on confessions extracted through violence and torture.  We work for the prosecution and prison for police who violate human rights. 

From its inception, the NAARPR began an ongoing campaign to put a stop to police crimes -committed with impunity-- primarily against the poor and people of color.  Model Legislation to establish a Civilian Police Control Board that holds police officers accountable for their actions has been drafted and circulated. We are part of the coalitions Black People Against Police Torture, the Justice Coalition of Greater Chicago, and the Chicago Coalition for Police Accountability. 

Our goal is police accountability to the citizens of the city of Chicago.

Over the years the NAARPR has successfully campaigned for the release of many persons falsely charged and sentenced to death or to long prison terms.  Currently the Chicago Branch is working to get a new trial for Mark Clements.  Clements was beaten into a confession, which he repudiated at his trial.  He was tried as an adult when he was sixteen years old.  Clements was given four life sentences and has been in prison for 27 years.  

The Clements case is an example of a lot of what's wrong with the current system.  Young Black and Latino men are often falsely accused and railroaded into long prison sentences. 

End Executions

The U.S.A. has more people on death row than any other country in the world.  The NAARPR   works with other organizations in a campaign to end the death penalty.  The moratorium in Illinois has helped thrust this issue on the national agenda, resulting in the introduction of several National Death Penalty Moratorium bills in Congress. 


Reform draconian sentencing laws
Replace term imprisonment with rehabilitation

The NAARPR supports and works for change in the whole approach to incarceration.  We understand that white supremacy is behind the drive to brand Black and Latino men and women as habitual criminals. The so-called criminal justice system treats white offenders differently.  It views Black and Latino people as divergent from the social norm in the U. S.  It assumes that Black people and Latinos are hopelessly criminal, and that rehabilitation, training, and restorative justice programs are a waste of money.  Lifetime confinement behind bars or execution has become the dominant approach to crime, which is widely viewed as a Black and Latino problem.

The NAARPR supports drug treatment rather than prison for substance abusers; vocational training of people while they are incarcerated; restorative justice programs; prison study groups on the impact of crime on its victims.  The Alliance opposes capital punishment; opposes life sentences for juveniles; opposes all life sentences with no possibility of parole.

Secure Health Care for Prisoners

The NAARPR-Chicago is working to hold the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) and the County Jails across the state to the standard of the Eighth Amendment to the U. S. Constitution, which bans cruel and unusual punishment.  The U. S. Supreme Court has held that denial of medical care to people in prison or jail violates this ban.  We are working in Illinois on a Prison Medical Care Project that seeks two goals:

1.    Intervene directly through legal and political action to compel IDOC to address urgent crises in medical care when we are aware of them.

2.    Gather a sufficient number of medical records and complaints from prisoners throughout the IDOC to build a strong civil rights class action in the U.S. District Court and compel a system-wide solution to this problem.

Expose the Prison Industrial Complex

The NAARPR has been in the forefront of the struggle against the prison industrial complex.  Prisons and prison construction, one of the fastest growing industries in the country, yield over 40 billion dollars annually for major corporations.  Its profits depend on the incarceration of more than two million people-mostly African Americans-and most of them for non-violent crimes.  Through public forums and leaflet distributions, the NAARPR contributes to public awareness and attempts to stimulate action to end this situation.

Support Affirmative Action

Defending and extending affirmative action programs to end racism and genocide practiced against African American, Native American, Latino, and other 3rd World peoples in the United States, is another theme of the NAARPR's work.  The organization also fights against acts and decisions that limit Black representation in the elected bodies of city, state, and federal government.

Human Rights Award

The Chicago Branch of the NAARPR has established a Human Rights Award.  It is presented regularly to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the cause of justice and human rights.  Among past recipients are Jane Bohman, Executive Director, Illinois Coalition Against the Death Penalty; Lawrence Kenon, Civil Rights Attorney; George Ryan, former Governor of Illinois, Rev. Juan Y Reed, Vicar, St. Martin's Episcopal Church; Constance Howard, Illinois State Representative, proponent for expungement of prison records; Jonathon Peck, Project Director with the Southwest Youth Collaborative; and Rudy Lozano, Jr., Executive member, 22nd Ward of Chicago Independent Political Organization.

The National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression maintains other active branches in Kentucky and Nevada.
 

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Last Updated November 29, 2009

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