We Live in the Sunlight: End Permanent Punishment Now

One thing I know: Corruption only withers under the sunlight.

In Illinois, 3.3 million adults have been arrested or convicted of a crime since 1979. Right now, there are 1,189 permanent punishment laws and regulations in Illinois that restrict people with records. Often these restrictions are permanent punishments. I am an elected representative of my community, and I have been removed from an office I was duly elected into, because of such permanent punishments.

“How did this happen?” you might be asking. I’m sharing my experience, because it is indicative of a much larger problem of corruption in Joliet Township and it exposes a longstanding injustice in our state. Let’s start at the beginning though.

In a state where many of our elected officials, including governors, have prior convictions, this is a clear double standard. It also means that, even after serving time and being released, we are not fully free.

I began community engagement and organizing in 2020. That year, alongside other dedicated community members, I co-founded Will County Democratic Black Caucus and BLM Will County. In April of 2021, after many years as an activist and community leader, I was elected as Trustee of Joliet Township. It was a day of celebration and community pride. Soon after the election, we got to work.

In the face of police violence and impunity, we called for a citizens oversight board. We were engaging the community and responding to their calls for more accountability from law enforcement. We started a gun violence prevention program. Of course, responding to the needs of the community is the job of a duly elected trustee.

When Eric Lurry needed care and support, officers who took oaths to protect and serve their community instead hastened his death. Mr. Lurry, suffering an accidental overdose, was treated with such blatant disregard and violence by police that the city launched an investigation into their behavior. How can this kind of racist and inhumane behavior go unaddressed, or worse, defended? Joliet police not only refused accountability in the role they played in the death of Eric Lurry, they withheld information from the community. Without the vigilance of Nicole Lurry (Eric’s widow), they would have swept his death under the rug. I began working with organizers to call for real accountability.

It is the job I was elected to do—to make sure that people with power do not harm the people they are there to serve. I helped to found the Black Caucus, knowing that in order to achieve the change we want we must be strong.

On July 18, the Illinois Supreme Court upheld the SAFE-T Act. The court rejected the “uneven reasoning” and reversed Judge Thomas Cunnington’s earlier ruling in the 12th Judicial Circuit Court. Cash bail will be abolished on September 18 of this year. This law will make our community safer, and lower the rate of recidivism. Ultimately, it intervenes in a profoundly unjust system, which allows people with money to walk free, and keeps poor people behind bars.

We need people in politics to pass this kind of legislation, we need changes in our economic policies, we need social programs that care for all of us. We need political, social, and economic change, at the core of all our structures. And we each have a role to play in this work. As a trustee, I was playing my part alongside others who share a vision for racial justice in our community.

Doing this work made me a target of those who want to protect the racist status quo. James Glasow, the longest sitting state’s attorney in the country, threatened by our growing people power, started a campaign to remove me from office due to a prior conviction. In a state where many of our elected officials, including governors, have prior convictions, this is a clear double standard. It also means that, even after serving time and being released, we are not fully free.

But we keep working for freedom.

The criminal legal system targets and oppresses Black, Indigenous, queer folks, and people of color—especially those who are poor—at every turn. Poor people of color are often sentenced the longest and the worst. Then, if we are able to return to our families, communities, and lives, we are faced with laws that create barriers for us at every turn.

Recently, I spoke at a press conference about the PIECE Act at the Joliet Township Government Building, where I was once elected to represent my community. I also joined the township meeting at the Joliet Township Government Building to help our community know what is at stake. Because corruption only withers under the sunlight.

Many have worked tirelessly to prevent me from fighting for my community in the halls of power. But I refuse to concede the fight, and want to tell my story, in hopes that others will join in the fight against corruption, no matter where it happens.