NAARPR

The campaign to end the mass execution of those on death rows in the U.S. is one of the focal points of the work of the NAARPR.  Fifty-nine people were executed by State Governments in 2004. There are over 3,400 people on death rows in the U.S., all of them poor and most of them African American or Latino. There are more people on death rows in the U.S. than in any other country of the world.  Most countries have abolished the Death Penalty in law or practice.

In Illinois, the NAARPR is among the scores of groups calling for the abolition of capital punishment. As former Governor Ryan said when he commuted the sentences of death row inmates, "Our capital system is haunted by the demon of error." We urge everyone to join our call for a continuation of the moratorium, while working for the complete abolition of the death penalty.

The NAARPR is also active in the fight against official and unofficial police crimes.  We are a member of the Justice Coalition of Greater Chicago.  Thousands of signatures have been collected by the NAARPR Chicago Branch calling for a Civilian Police Control Board.

The Alliance is working with the American Civil Liberties Union and the Long Term Prisoner Policy Project with focus on the urgent need to provide adequate health care for people who are sick and injured under conditions of incarceration in Illinois prisons.  This is a fundamental human right that is being denied.

We defend and work to expand affirmative action programs to end continuing racism and genocide practiced against African American, Native American, Latino, and other Third World peoples in the United States. We defend Black elected officials under racist attack, such as Mississippi State Senator Kirksey and Mayor Eddie Carthan, and we struggle against laws and decisions to limit Black representation. 

The NAARPR held its Founding Convention in 1973 in Chicago. The Founding Convention 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. Since its founding, the NAARPR has campaigned for justice for Leonard Peltier, Delbert Tibbs,  Joann Little, Eddie Carthan, Johnnie Imani Harris, Mumia Abu-Jamal, the Rev. Ben Chavis and the Wilmington Ten, and many others.  

The NAARPR maintains active chapters in 3 states – Illinois, Kentucky, and Nevada.

In everything that we are doing we are acutely aware of our limited numbers.  We urge everyone here to join the NAARPR, and to participate in the struggle to expose and fundamentally change the prison-industrial complex, to end racist and political repression.

 Our Goals

Free Innocent Prisoners

For 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 and his exoneration of a crime he did not commit.  Beaten into a confession, which he repudiated at his trial as an adult when he was sixteen years old, Clements was given a life sentence and has been in prison for 25 years.

Expose the Prison Industrial Complex

The NAARPR has been in the forefront of the struggle against the prison industrial complex, one of the fastest growing industries in the country, yielding over 40 billion dollars annually for major corporations.  Its profits depend on the incarceration of more than two million people.

End Death Row 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.

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 the custody of penal authority 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 in order to build a strong civil rights class action in the U.S.  District Court and compel a system-wide solution to this problem.

Establish Civilian Control of Police

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. At the same time we are cooperating with other groups that have drafted ordinances to achieve the same goal of police accountability to the citizens of the city of Chicago.

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.

Present  Human Rights Award  

The Chicago Branch of the NAARPR has established a Human Rights Award.  It is presented annually to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the cause of justice and human rights. 

NAARPR Chicago Branch Steering Committee:

Clarice Durham and Ted Pearson - Co-Chairs
Josephine Wyatt - Treasurer, Finance Chair
Elizabeth Benson - Membership Secretary
Norman Roth- Labor Outreach

Volunteers

Practicum Students