We write to you as stakeholders in our democracy recognizing the significance of the moment we are facing and the incredible need for urgent action amongst our elected leaders. Our organizations collectively represent millions of voters nationwide who are counting on you to fight for our communities and our democracy.
In normal times we would be coming to you emphasizing the importance of nonpartisan, independent districts that improve the representation of all voters throughout our democracy. These are not normal times. As leaders we are calling on you to meet the moment and use your power in support of communities nationwide.
We are seeing the beginnings of a multi-state strategy to rig our democracy with states like North Carolina and now Texas gearing up to rewrite the rules to consolidate impenetrable power at the behest of an authoritarian regime. We believe that the only way to prevent the ever-accelerating descent into fascism is for leaders in the 15 Democratic trifectas to act boldly and leverage their redistricting power immediately to redraw maps and secure voter representation and power at both the congressional and state legislative levels. We cannot wait for the normal, 10 year cycle based on what is already guaranteed to be a rigged 2030 census.
As believers in democracy and fair representation, we do not take lightly the threats to our rights and freedoms posed by the current authoritarian and lawless Trump-Vance Administration. After watching them steal seats during the 2024 cycle in North Carolina, we know that the current attempts to rig the rules in their favor will not stop at Texas. Indeed, we are already seeing pushes by top administration officials, including Vice President Vance, in states like Indiana, Missouri, Ohio, and Florida. Based on Republicans’ own stated goals, we are firm in our belief that they will attempt to redraw state legislative districts to cement power at the state level in all 23 states where there is a Republican trifecta, before moving on to states with divided governments.
Project 2025 and the neo-segregationist agenda have levied direct attacks at civil rights progress and infrastructure: distorting the truth by attacking the press and erasing history, attacking diversity, equity, and inclusion and overturning Roe, overtaking courts and dismantling agencies. The urgency of the moment is clear: once they achieve control of two-thirds of state legislatures, they will be able to force a constitutional convention to complete the project of eliminating civil rights and civil liberties, and specifically repealing the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments.
Let’s be clear: we are not asking you to abandon the values of democracy and fair representation. We are asking you to stand up for democracy using the tools at your disposal in a time of impending crisis to save our nation from descent into fascism. Republicans have historically used redistricting to strip Black and brown voters of fair representation; you have the opportunity to use the process to ensure fair representation and send a message to your Republican counterparts: we refuse to stand aside and allow them to cheat. Now is the time to meet the moment.
It is imperative that you leverage all possible options to undertake the redistricting process now. We recognize the lift, political capital, and financial cost it will take to make this happen, however, the cost of our democracy is far greater and must take precedence. This is not a drill.
Signed,
Portia Allen-Kyle, Interim Executive Director, Color Of Change
Dorian Warren, Co-President, Community Change Action
Cliff Albright, Cofounder/Exec Director, Black Voters Matter Fund
Hon. Rev. Michael Blake, Founder/CEO, Kairos Democracy Project
Quentin James, Vote to Live Action Fund
Pastor Michael McBride, Black Church Freedom Fund
Bishop Leah Daughtry, Black Church Freedom Fund
Khalil Thompson, Win With Black Men: Civic Action Fund
Bishop Talbert Swan, Greater Springfield NAACP
Holli Holliday, Sisters Lead Sisters Vote
Frank White, Black Men Vote Civic Action Fund
Rhonda Briggins, Delta 4 Women in Action
Honorable Brandon Johnson
Mayor of Chicago
Office of the Mayor
121 N. La Salle St.
Chicago, IL 60602
Cc: Garien Gatewood (Deputy Mayor of Community Safety), Deborah Wizburg (Inspector General), Anthony Driver (President, Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability), Larry Snelling (Superintendent of Police)
Re: Terminate All CPD Officers Associated with White Supremacist Extremism and Launch Task Force Aimed at Appropriately Addressing White Supremacist Extremism within CPD
Dear Mayor Johnson:
We write on behalf of Color Of Change, one of the nation’s foremost racial justice organizations with millions of members nationwide, including more than 46,000 members in Cook County, and the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, a mass defense organization that defends the rights of Black people and all oppressed peoples to unite, organize and fight for freedom, justice and equality. We are joined by 14 undersigned local civil rights, justice reform, labor and other community-led organizations in the city of Chicago and 10 elected officials.
We urge you to demand that Police Superintendent Larry Snelling immediately terminate Chicago Police officers who have been identified as having ties to the Oath Keepers, a white supremacist, anti-government extremist militia organization. We also demand that a task force to include community stakeholders be formed to plan and implement a comprehensive, whole-of-government approach to preventing, identifying and eliminating white supremacist extremist activities and associations within the Chicago Police Department (CPD). People affiliated with hate and extremist groups – including the Oath Keepers, the Proud Boys and the Three Percenters – should have no place in policing our streets.
We are deeply alarmed by the results of the recent CPD Bureau of Internal Affairs (BIA) investigation into several CPD officers’ affiliations with the Oath Keepers1. The BIA investigation relied exclusively on interviews with the implicated officers alone, which resulted in the BIA’s failure to sustain any of the allegations against the identified active officers whose personal affiliations to this extremist group were made known. Our letter follows months of continued outrage and calls for immediate action on this matter by the Southern Poverty Law Center, from several members of Chicago City Council and from residents across the 33rd Ward and other parts of the city.2
Our letter also comes after Chicago’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) found BIA’s investigation to “suffer from deficiencies materially affecting its outcome.”3 According to the OIG, during the investigations, “BIA conducted deficient interviews, failed to conduct an additional investigative step, and concluded that ‘membership [in] organizations in itself is not a rule violation’” — which the OIG finds runs contrary to CPD’s own Rules and Regulations.4
This is unacceptable. It signifies a lack of urgency, lack of thoroughness and lack of accountability on an issue that should be a matter of zero tolerance. It is apparent that the CPD and the BIA cannot be trusted to appropriately investigate and terminate officers on the force who are tied to white supremacist activities and associations. This is why we look to you to direct Police Superintendent Snelling to immediately terminate the identified officers and launch a task force that would address this public safety issue systemically.
The haphazard nature of BIA’s investigation and outcome are particularly disturbing and dangerous given how released records show that some of the implicated officers were recruited to the Oath Keepers from within the department and were paid to become members — signaling a more systemic problem that must be addressed.5 Officers associated with white supremacist ideologies and racist policing are a risk to public safety and civil rights. They should not be policing our streets. All eight of these officers at some point had been part of the now disbanded Special Operations Section unit, which notoriously carried out corrupt home invasion operations and were found to have stolen money, drugs and jewelry from Chicagoans.6 Furthermore, several of these officers have been accused of using racial slurs and have faced excessive force complaints.7
We appreciate you consistently reiterating your commitment to “rooting out extremist, anti-government, and biased organizations in our law enforcement ranks” and your administration’s “steadfast” commitment “to genuine accountability and ensuring that such activities have clear consequences.”8 We have seen the same public commitment made by Superintendent Snelling.9 However, how can the general public be expected to trust these public commitments to root out Oath Keeper and other white supremacist-affiliated officers on the force when, in this scandal, the department chose to depart from a 50-year-old precedent by affirming that memberships within white supremacist organizations in itself is not a rule violation?10
If Superintendent Snelling enforced the plain language of CPD’s policy, he could have — and should have — recommended that all of the officers who admitted joining the Oath Keepers while a member of the CPD be terminated. Both you and Superintendent Snelling have the opportunity to make good on your promises and your duty to the people of Chicago by ensuring there are actual consequences for white supremacist associations and activities within the CPD. The issue of white supremacist extremism in law enforcement is not unique to the CPD; the failure to take corrective actions and hold officers accountable to CPD’s own policy on the matter is.
Based on all of the facts and evidence available, it is clear that BIA’s investigation was a sham, and that the identified officers violated CPD policy. We strongly urge you to ensure that these implicated officers are immediately terminated and we ask that you accept the OIG’s recommendation to launch a comprehensive, whole-of-government approach to preventing, identifying and eliminating white supremacist-affiliated officers from the force. Given the inadequacy of the CPD and the BIA’s disciplinary response, we look to your administration to prioritize convening this task force comprised of representatives from all appropriate city agencies or departments, as well as community stakeholders, to plan and implement the aforementioned whole-of-government approach to ridding the CPD of white supremacist extremism.
White supremacist extremism and hate within CPD is an urgent matter of public safety that must be addressed rigorously and earnestly beyond stated public commitments.
We look forward to your prompt response and attention to these demands.
Sincerely,
Organizations
Asian Americans Advancing Justice | Chicago
CAARPR
Chicago Torture Justice Center
Chicago United Solidarity Project (CUSP)
Color Of Change
Community Renewal Society
Empowering Communities for Public Safety (ECPS) Coalition
Equality Illinois
Friends for Lanetta Thomas PAC
Impact for Equity
Jewish Council On Urban Affairs
Network 49
New Era Young Lords/Young Lords
ONE Northside
Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation
Warehouse Workers for Justice
Elected officials
Maurilio Garcia, Council Member, 19th police district
Maria Hadden, Alderperson, 49th Ward
Julia Kline, Council Member, 2nd police district (former)
Dion McGill, Council Member, 7th police district
Deirdre O’Connor, Council Member, 20th police district
David Orlikoff, Council Member, 14th police district
Leonardo Quintero, 12th police district
Elizabeth A. Rochford, 14th police district
Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez, Alderperson, 33rd Ward
Andre Vasquez, Alderperson, 40th Ward
“Since 2020, Color Of Change has grown rapidly and become a bridge to action for millions of people across the country. From high school students and first-time marchers to century-old institutional leaders and political and corporate decision-makers, people turned to Color Of Change and its rapidly growing staff for guidance on how to respond to the unprecedented crisis of COVID and the unique opportunity of the racial justice uprisings. The racial justice and American democracy victories Color Of Change staff worked together to win in this period were many and often historic: Color Of Change co-led one of the largest boycotts in American history, taking on Facebook while winning policy changes across other major social media platforms. We helped win criminal justice changes at the local and national level, changed Hollywood representations of Black people and the justice system, and engaged millions of Black voters to demand racial justice. We also shifted corporate policies through our #BeyondTheStatement campaign, and exposed rampant racial discrimination in the federal Paycheck Protection Program. In many ways, this moment reflected the best of what our organization can be and we’ve only continued to do more of this powerful work since.
But those hard-won achievements came with an intense challenge: aligning our organizational values with a workplace culture struggling to balance rapid growth and a transition to virtual working during a high-intensity moment. In this context, problems, sometimes serious ones, arose that we were not able to prevent. This included an allegation of sexual assault and allegations of harrassment that demanded immediate action. We took this seriously and personally. We have always – and will always – respond with urgency when made aware of abuse or mistreatment. Every allegation was investigated thoroughly and responded to urgently; individuals who broke our trust by violating our principles were held accountable (including removal from their jobs); and we created dozens of new policies that set clearer expectations that allowed us to respond more easily should problems arise in the future. Make no mistake, we are not done yet. In fact, like the racial justice movement itself, we expect to constantly be improving and evolving to make things better.
Already we’ve begun to take our internal change work a step further: through an organization-wide culture change and strategic alignment process that has included audits of our internal practices, realignment of our programmatic work and a focus on preventing problems that inhibit our continued growth and success. We are proud that this period of challenge and evolution has also coincided with support for the Color Of Change staff who expressed interest in joining a union. In line with our organizational values, Color Of Change quickly and voluntarily recognized their union and has done everything in our power to expedite the bargaining process.
Like so many individuals and institutions, we have needed to evolve in the years since COVID and racial justice uprisings. We have taken stock of our losses, found fortitude in our triumphs, and are focused on building and rebuilding, even as we face down new challenges arriving each day. A precipitous and sudden drop in philanthropic giving across the sector has forced us to reevaluate all of our activities and priorities while still working to strengthen our internal culture.
This economic and cultural shift has forced us to make additional internal changes, including recent layoffs, in order to protect the long-term sustainability of the organization. We are not alone in having to face hard choices in this period, and we will continue to do the hard work of leadership to ensure Color Of Change is strong in the years to come when our work and leadership will be needed.
When the organization was named Color Of Change we implicitly acknowledged a critical fact of our future: change will be the constant. Today, we are bolder, wiser, and more committed than ever to building a world-class organization where our employees thrive while doing the most meaningful work of their careers: building power that delivers real change for Black people.”
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