Families of the Victims Tortured by Chicago Detectives Rejoice at First Arrest

A 25-year fight to bring Jon Burge and police who systematically tortured black men to justice makes a critical breakthrough.

At the head of Chicago’s police torture ring was Jon Burge, a decorated Vietnam veteran who once made his name for himself as a young cop on the beat on the South Side of Chicago. As Police Commander, first at Area Three on Chicago’s North side and then at Area Two on the South, Burge is said to have instituted some of the same techniques he saw deployed in Vietnam, to brutal effect.

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Historic 2008 Election Could See Unprecedented Attempts to Bar African American Voters

In the latest issue of the New York Review of Books, Hacker writes, “Obstacles to getting blacks to vote have always been formidable, but this year there will be barriers—some new, some long-standing—that previous campaigns have not had to face.” [includes rush transcript]

via Democracy Now!

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