Hello, I’m State Senator Robert Peters of the 13th District. Let me first say this is personal for me, I was forced into adoption due to the war on drugs and my biological mother’s addiction. I grew up with an adoptive father who was a civil rights lawyer and argued in the Supreme Court against police misconduct. In 2016, as an organizer with The People’s Lobby I joined a group of organizations to form the End Money Bond Coalition and the Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice. This wouldn’t have happened without the organizers, advocates, and community members who are tired of the failed status quo.
The status quo isn't working.
It just isn’t. We’re ending a system of cash bond that stands at the intersection of race, class, and gender. Cash bond says if you are poor then you get a lower tier of public safety. If you’re poor and Black, you get an even lower tier. If you’re poor, Black, and a woman an even lower tier of public safety. The status quo is where someone, like Kyle Rittenhouse, backed by his right wing supporters could bond out from jail and then go missing for a day but a working class Black mom, like Lavette Mayes, who is struggling to get by is stuck in jail guilty of being poor. The status quo was rejected by many Domestic Violence survivor advocacy organizations who played a vital role in ending cash bond and improving our public safety system. ICADV said, “this is criminal justice reform that puts survivor safety first.” The failed system of wealth based detention will be gone by 2023. We are moving towards safety and justice for all, not just a few.
This bill is a comprehensive improvement on the status quo overall. We’ve improved victims services and compensation, crime survivor trauma support services, use of force standards, moved away from guilt by association policies, and improved police accountability.
Whether you live in Peoria, Champaign, or Chicago, Illinois; real safety and justice for all means a good school in every neighborhood, a roof over our heads, it’s our family and friends, especially on a birthday or a holiday. When people think about their safest moments, when they close their eyes. They think about that one moment that makes them smile, that brings tears of joy, and our task is to give Illinoisans those moments as much as possible. That is safety. That is justice. That is dignity. That is the life we all deserve.
Real safety & justice for all means
Good schools in every neighborhood
A roof over our heads
Surrounded by family & friends
Too often our state is pitted us against each other. Chicago vs. everyone. This misses the fact that pain, violence, and struggle exists in every corner of Illinois. This misses the fact that no matter the zip code, we have people who just want to feel safe and haven’t. We have police shootings all over our state. We have people turning toward addiction or theft due to poverty and stress all over our state. See, the status quo is failing Central and Southern Illinois. For 40 years we have watched as manufacturing has moved out along with relentless attacks on our labor unions, we have watched as big ag has eaten up family farms or saddled them with crushing debt, we have watched as our education systems struggled through a painful budget impasse, and we have watched as a few benefited from tax breaks while the rest of us scraped to get by.
While this has happened too many political leaders have turned towards incarceration and away from the difficult decisions of community investment. Safety and justice for all isn’t locking up poor people, particularly poor people of color. No safety and justice is looking at 40 years of failed policies and saying enough is enough. It is investing in our people, our communities, and building grassroots, self determined power. Whether it is Chicago or Springfield, we all deserve better; we deserve dignity and justice for all.
We are in the midst of 3 crises.
01
Public Health Crisis
02
Economic Crisis
03
Systemic Racism Crisis
These crises don’t tell us anything new but highlight long term failures. Frederick Douglass said, “if there is no struggle there is no progress, power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.” He didn’t just say this divorced from the world around him. It was a statement about the role of enslaved people in the emancipation of the Caribbean. He was saying that you must make bold demands and you must be willing to struggle and to struggle to win those demands will be a history making act. Illinois’s own, Abraham Lincoln said “A house divided against itself cannot stand” people often say this is a statement about unity but in actuality it was a very divisive statement. Lincoln’s next words were our country will be either one that is slave or free. He was calling on people to make a choice and that we can’t avoid or ignore making a choice. We are in a similar period in time. Where we must make tough choices about who we are as a people.
So, we must make demands and we must make tough choices. These aren’t my words but the words of leaders before me. Lastly, let us talk about Dr. King. The Dr. King we know today isn’t the Dr. King who lived. Dr. King in the 1960s as he fought for justice polled at 17%. I repeat, 17%! He was an extremely divisive figure who organized demands and called on us to make a choice about who we are as a people. Today, very smart people who think they know politics would’ve told politicians like us to avoid Dr. King, “he just doesn’t poll well” is what they would say.
But, this isn’t about the polls but what we as a people, as a state need. It is about what is right. It is about history. It is about the world that we are building together. Safety and justice for all, no matter the zip code, is about making bold demands, making tough choices, and fighting for what is right. We have moved from Black Lives Matter yard signs to legislative action. With the signing of HB3653, the SAFETY Act, we have done that and we, all of us, should be proud.
While this has happened too many political leaders have turned towards incarceration and away from the difficult decisions of community investment. Safety and justice for all isn’t locking up poor people, particularly poor people of color. No safety and justice is looking at 40 years of failed policies and saying enough is enough. It is investing in our people, our communities, and building grassroots, self determined power. Whether it is Chicago or Springfield, we all deserve better; we deserve dignity and justice for all.
