Ep. 94 - Police Abolition 2.0 ft. District Councilors David Orlikoff & Ashley Vargas

BrownTown breaks down the relationship between police abolition
and state-sanctioned police accountability measures with newly
elected Police District Councilors David Orlikoff and Ashley
Vargas. The guests square their PIC abolitionist organizing roots
with the new accountability structure, Community Commission for
Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA), for the Chicago Police
Department. Three years after the first installment in the midst
of the 2020 uprisings, BrownTown and the
organizers-turned-electeds re-contextualize the path to abolition
with the paradoxes, nuances, benefits, and challenges of this new
structure on the foreground of the decades-long demand for
community control over the police. Originally recorded June 19,
2023.


Full Transcripts Here!


GUESTS
David is a grassroots organizer from Chicago who moved to the
Northwest side 10 years ago. He was the Defund CPD Outreach Lead
for the 35th Ward, where they received over 2,500 petition
signatures and 71 group endorsements to reduce CPD's budget by
75% and reinvest in solutions that provide the care our
communities need. He became very involved in organizing during
college with Occupy Chicago, marching against the banks that
stole millions of families' homes and then got huge handouts
while people suffered.


Ashley was born and raised in Logan Square. She is the daughter
of Mexican immigrants and the youngest of 5 children. She ran and
won as a write-in candidate for the 14th District Police District
Council. She began to get involved in her community during high
school, organizing for immigrant rights and affordable housing.
Now, she has worked in successful grassroots campaigns and plans
to continue her work of liberating marginalized people. Follow
David on Ashley on Instagram.


 


Topics Mentioned and Glossary



The youth are on fire by Jim Daley (Chicago Reader)

Progressive primary winner loses Buffalo New York Mayorship
to write-in (AP)


LAPD Officers’ Union Lists 28 Calls for Service That Someone
Else Can Handle (Los Angeles Magazine)

Abolition resources in the 1.0 description

Terms

OPS = Office of Professional Standards which turned
into IPRA = Independent Police Review Authority which
turned into the present-day  COPA = Civilian
Office of Police Accountability

CAARPR = Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political
Repression

CPAC = Civilian Police Accountability Council

GAPA = Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability

ECPS = Empower Communities for Public Safety (which
turned into...)

CCPSA = Community Commission for Public Safety and
Accountability

BIA = Bureau of Interval Affairs

SAFE-T Act





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CREDITS: Intro soundbite from Police District
Council swearing in and outro music from BnB alum Fiendish.
Episode photo by Darius Griffin of The TRiiBE. Audio engineered
by Kiera Battles.


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