Help Us Document Our History: Black Lives Matter in Cicero
Many gathered on June 7th, 2020 outside the Town Hall building of the Town of Cicero for the In Solidarity with BLM Cicero and Berwyn Walk that was organized by Cicero residents. (Photo by April Alonso)
By Irene Romulo
On May 30th, thousands in Chicago marched calling for justice for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade and the many other Black people who have been killed by police in this country. Many did so even during a pandemic that has so deeply affected communities like Cicero, exacerbating systemic inequalities that existed long before COVID-19 brought them to light.
On Monday June 1, people in Cicero had to de-escalate and intervene in violence perpetrated against Black neighbors. Some businesses were broken into and two members of our community were killed during the chaos. The events of Monday have been followed by at least four different unity marches, a curfew imposed by the town and a wave of conversations about what happened.
As the only bilingual news organization focused on capturing our stories and providing information for Cicero and Berwyn residents we feel the need to create a more complete view of what happened in Cicero and aid in our communal understanding of what went down.
To do that, we need your help. We are collecting images and videos of what happened in our town as well as your individual reflections of what occured. You can send us essays, poems, pictures of your art, photographs, whatever you have made to help you process and reflect on the events that transpired. If you’d rather we give you call let us know.
You can fill out the form below with your contribution, email us at info@ciceroindependiente.com, text us or leave us a voicemail at (708) 683-9340 so that we can get back to you. Please make sure to include your real name in the form below and a way to contact you so that we can get in touch about any questions. You’ll be able to remain anonymous if we publish your contribution.
The following are a few questions we’re grappling with, feel free to use these as a guide but please don’t feel bound to any.
What conversations are you having with your families and friends about what happened? What are your parents’ questions? What conversation tools do you wish you had? Were you out there protecting your hood, why? What are you doing to take care of yourself at this moment? Are you worried about COVID-19? Were you following the livestreams in Cicero? What did you witness? How did you feel as it was happening? Were you de-escalating confrontations? What do you wish Town of Cicero police or local officials would have done differently? Do you feel safe in Cicero? Have you joined any of the unity marches that started on Tuesday? Are you organizing them? What have Chicago media outlets covering our town gotten wrong? What have they gotten right? What’s next?