The sixth annual state report on Illinois Traffic Stop Statistics was recently released by the Center for Research in Law and Justice of the University of Illinois at Chicago.  The statistics provide a window into local traffic stop data that helps local communities answer a fundamental question:   “Are the number of traffic stops and searches involving motor vehicles operated by members of a racial minority disproportionate to the number of traffic stops involving motor vehicles operated by persons who are not members of a racial minority?”

What does the data tell us about traffic stop behavior of the Champaign, Urbana, and University of Illinois police departments?

This is the IMC Weekly, a rundown of IMC events for the week of Monday, November 8th.

This is the IMC Weekly, a rundown of IMC events for the week of November 1st. Don't forget to get out and vote on Tuesday, November 2nd!

This is the IMC Weekly, a rundown of IMC events for the week of October 25. Happy Halloween, everyone!

About 50 people met outside Swanlund Administration Building on Friday, Oct. 22, at noon. A group calling itself “Students for a United Illinois,” made up of 19 different local organizations, is holding a series of events this weekend to protest a pro-Chief rally this homecoming weekend and pressure the University of Illinois administration for a new mascot. They are holding a counter-demonstration outside of Assembly Hall on Saturday at 5 p.m. and an after-party at ARC.

Despite a letter sent to Students for Chief Illiniwek by University of Illinois lawyers asking the group to “cease and desist” from using the school’s symbol, the so-called “Next Dance” is still going on. They were holding the event at Assembly Hall “for the children,” they said. Early reports are that ticket sales have been low.

This story is a collaboration between UC-IMC and SmilePolitely.com

A civil suit filed on October 6 raises new questions about who shot Kiwane Carrington on October 9, 2009. The complaint filed on behalf of Jeshaun Manning-Carter and his mother, Laura Manning, alleges that Champaign Police Chief R.T. Finney, and not Officer Daniel Norbits, “fired a shot downward into the chest of Kiwane Carrington, killing Carrington.” The suit charges the City of Champaign and Finney with “intentional infliction of emotional distress” on Manning-Carter.

Alfred Ivy, attorney for the plaintiff, stated, “He [Manning-Carter] didn't want to talk about it for a long time; he wasn't comfortable talking about it.”

The allegation that Finney pulled the trigger is a direct contradiction of officers' sworn statements and the findings of the Illinois State Police investigation into the incident. Visit the Kiwane Carrington Timeline site for all the public documents associated with the investigation.

Several hundred people came out to the Unity March on October 9, 2010, marking a year to the day since Kiwane Carrington was killed by a Champaign police officer. In the face of recent news reports about supposed racial attacks, this year’s event stressed the need for unity. The large turn out was a sign that people desire a community free from police violence and media sensationalism.

The march began at 906 W. Vine St. in Champaign, the house where Kiwane Carrington approached by Police Chief R.T. Finney and Officer Daniel Norbits as he and a fried were trying to find a respite from the rain. October 9, 2010, however, was a warm, sunny day―a perfect day for a march. On the steps of the house, Nick Elam sang the Boys-to-Men song, “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye,” before a solemn crowd.  

Surprisingly, Mike Sola, former WILL-580 weatherman and victim of an attack who has recently been featured in the media, showed up at the Unity March. He addressed the crowd saying that what was needed was not division, but unity to address the root problems in our community.

Join us for UNITY MARCH 7! on the one year anniversary of Kiwane Carrington’s death to:

RECLAIM your neighborhood. RESTORE the relationships in the community. REMEMBER the life of Kiwane Carrington.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2010 12:00PM

Start: 906 W. Vine, Champaign 
End: Randolph St. Community Garden (Randolph St & Beardsley Ave, Champaign)

Garden Party with food & music! Fruit tree planting in memory of Kiwane Carrington
In the event of rain, reception will be held at the  Church of the Brethren (1210 N. Neil St.)

PRE-MARCH SYMPOSIUM: "Other deaths and other truths: Communities confronting state violence"
Presented by: UIUC "Landscapes of struggle in Illinois" Focal Point Group 
Friday Oct 8 at 6:30-9pm
Asian American Cultural Center

1210 West Nevada St., Urbana

ALL WELCOME. REFRESHMENTS SERVED

With the current crisis in higher education, the University of Illinois Board of Trustees two-day meeting on Sept. 23-4, 2010 was a highly anticipated one. At the end of the second day during the period for public comment, Pine Lounge in the UIUC union was a full, with others spilling into an overflow room. Present among the crowd were many students from the Graduate Emplyees’ Union (GEO), MEChA, and Undergraduate-Graduate Alliance.

During public comment, several students got up to address the board. Carlos Rosa addressed the difficulty of working class black and Latino students getting into the University of Illinois with the growing costs of tuition. He referred to the recent figures that only 359 African American students were in this year’s freshmen class and said it was “utterly ridiculous.” He pointed out it was more than 40 years ago that Project 500 was launched to bring 500 freshmen students to UIUC, and yet today these numbers are not nearly being met. Carlos called for the recruitment of minority students “from Chicago, to Champaign, to Cairo.”

"All That Harms Labor Is Treason To America" --- Abraham Lincoln

Despite the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, this year's Labor Day March was a spirited affair. Members of the Iron Workers union, the Illinois Education Assocation, IBEW, Campus Faculty Association, and the Graduate Employees Organization joined other local unions for a march through Urbana.

Unemployment in Champaign County is the highest it's been in decades at 9.8%. Yet among many local unions morale is high as there have been successful strikes both with the GEO in November 2009 and more recently in Mahomet where the local chapter of the IEA won a strike.

The Labor Day Parade will conclude with a picnic in Prarie Park at Washington and Lierman in Urbana.

As students were moving into campus dorms along Florida and Pennsylvania Avenues in Urbana, the SEIU Local 73 and the Campus Labor Coalition held a rally to bring attention to the deepening crisis in public education. The union also held other pickets across campus throughout the day. At lunchtime, they marched in front of students and parents chanting “Students Move In! Tuition Hikes Out! Students Move In! Wage Freezes Out!”

As freshmen students return to campus this fall, they face a 9.5% tuition increase voted on this summer by the Board of Trustees. The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is asking workers to accept wage freezes and recent hires among the Building Service Workers are recommended to take a 13.5% pay cut. Across the campus, empty faculty positions are not being filled, job searches are being cancelled, tuition waivers for graduate students in Fine Arts are being rescinded, and annual contracts for lecturers and instructors are not being renewed.