About the Campaign
The Workers Center for Racial Justice (WCRJ) is fighting to dismantle systems of anti-Black police brutality in our neighborhoods by advancing a campaign to establish community control over the Chicago Police Department (CPD). For decades the Chicago Police Board, which governs the rules and operations of CPD, has lacked the independence needed to effectively regulate the department and abolish systemic officer abuse. As an appointed body, the loyalties of the Chicago Police Board rest with the mayor, city council, and by extension, CPD. This system actively undermines the will of the people, and perpetuates egregious patterns of racialized police violence and corruption in our city.
In order to end structural anti-Black violence within the police department, WCRJ is waging a campaign to ensure that voters directly elect members of the Chicago Police Board. We are leveraging the collective power of community to gather the 85,000 signatures needed to place a referendum question on the 2022 ballot, which would let voters determine whether or not the Chicago Police Board should be elected by the people.
How You Can Support the Fight
In order to collect the 85,000 signatures required to place the elected police board referendum on the ballot in Chicago, we need the support of engaged community members. There are two ways you can support the fight!
Join the "Power to the People Committee" to protect our democracy by leveraging grassroots power through ballot initiatives. The power to the people committee leads our binding referendum campaigns by building public and political awareness for direct democracy and strategizing gathering petitions to establish precedent for direct democracy initiatives through grassroots ballot referendums in Illinois.
You can also join WCRJ's campaign by gathering petition signatures from family, friends, and neighbors.
Instructions for collecting signatures are outlined below. Please follow the directions carefully in order to make sure the signatures you gather are validated by the Board of Elections.
After you have carefully reviewed the signature gathering instructions, download the petition form to get started.