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Jon Burge, the ringleader of the Chicago Police Department’s history of Abu-Ghraib sytle torture from the 1970’s to the 1990’s, has been arrested and charged with perjury and obstruction of justice.  (I have embedded the trailer to Shielded Brutality below, which is the documentary I’ve been producing documenting this history.)

From chicagobreakingnews.com:
Retired Chicago police Cmdr. Jon [...]

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Before January gets too far along, I wanted to take a minute to reflect on the year past, especially as it relates to the making of my film, Shielded Brutality. In short, last year was hugely successful, and ended on the great note of two and half years of hard work coming together successfully. But before I get to that, let me quickly recap what was accomplished. Here are some of the people I was fortunate enough to film interviews with over the past year discussing the Burge history and criminal justice reform in general.

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We just found out this week that our documentary film, Shielded Brutality, was awarded the Media Justice Fund grant from the Crossroads Fund in Chicago! This will be a huge asset in finishing the film and I can’t thank the people at Crossroads enough.
It’s been a very busy past few months. Much [...]

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Issues regarding the Chicago Police Department have taken center stage over the past several weeks here in Chicago. Important developments towards seeking justice regarding the Jon Burge torture scandal (the subject of my documentary - “Shielded Brutality”) have occurred in both the Cook County Board of Commissioners and in the Chicago City Council over [...]

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View the Quicktime trailer for the documentary film “Shielded Brutality”, which documents a 30-year scandal of police torture and political cover-up in Chicago

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In addition to the disturbing anecdotes of abuse and torture recounted by multiple witnesses, Commissioners continually pressed testifying attorneys and legal scholars for help in figuring out how to punish the perpetrating officers despite the failed investigation by the Special Prosecutors.

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Dr. Morris’s commentary was deeply thoughtful, insightful, and passionate as he discussed his thoughts regarding Chicago’s history of police torture and issues of social justice in general. I am very grateful to him for taking the time to participate. Below are a couple of stills from the interview:

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On July 10th, the Cook County Board of Commissioners will vote on four resolutions related to Police torture and the Jon Burge Scandal. The resolutions are as follows (contact information provided):

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Mr. Willis has been an unrelenting activist for civil rights since leading the charge to name Chicago’s west side campus Malcolm X College in 1969. He has been one of the most important figures in fighting for justice for Burge torture victims.

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The most powerful testimony came from the victims and family members of victims. Much of the hearing was intensely emotional, heart-wrenching, and profoundly compelling. Thirty years of anger, frustration, and outrage boiled forth as witness after witness expressed dismay at the fact that justice has yet to be served in this sordid history.

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