CHICAGO — Anjanette Young is working to ensure no others have to endure what she experienced in Feb. 2019 when Chicago police carried out a botched raid on her home while following up on a bad tip.
Young gathered with several city alderwomen at Daley Plaza Saturday morning to rally supporters for the Anjanette Young Ordinance, which demands the city address a pattern of violent and discriminatory police raids that have targeted Black and Brown families.
Young said March is Social Work Month, and as a social worker herself, she said she was “very intentional” about the timing for Saturday’s rally in going with the month’s theme for this year, “The time is right.”
“The time is right, right now, and there could not be a better thing for all of us to use our voice to speak truth to power against all systemic issues, including the one that we’re here for today, the Anjanette Young ordinance,” she said.
Young said the ordinance “targets the heart of the Chicago Police Department’s unethical search warrant practices” by implementing regulations that would protect all residents from potentially harmful police raids, like banning the use of no-knock warrants and ensuring the use of officers’ body-worn cameras.
Supporters of the ordinance at the rally Saturday included representatives from the Illinois chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, Social Service Workers United, National Lawyers Guild Chicago as well as city alderwomen and co-sponsors of the ordinance Jeanette Taylor, 20th, Maria Hadden, 49th, Sophia King, 4th, and Stephanie Coleman, 16th.
“It’s still hard to comprehend the indignity that Ms. Young was subject to, but we need to do something about it and as city council members, we can,” King said.
The ordinance also includes “basic, common-sense recommendations that we need to codify,” King said, such as confirming whether or not the actual target of an investigation lives in the home that police plan to raid and avoiding raids when children are present.
Thirteen police officers raided Young’s home on Feb. 21, 2019, restraining her while she was getting ready for bed and forcing her to stand handcuffed and naked as officers searched her residence. She repeatedly insisted they had the wrong place.
Aldermen voted in December to settle Young's lawsuit against the city for $2.9 million, ending a legal case that became an embarrassment for Lightfoot after her administration tried to prevent footage of the raid from airing.
The ordinance addresses demands for the city to be transparent with information on wrongful raids as well.
Hadden said the ordinance has 20 co-sponsors so far from the city council, but she would “like to see all 50″ council members sign-on.
“There’s nothing controversial about signing on and voting to pass legislation that keeps people safe in their homes, that ensures that every resident is treated with the same amount of respect that you deserve, that I deserve, that Ms. Young deserves,” Hadden said. “We can pass this ordinance. We should.”
