As thousands of Chicagoans took to the streets during 2020′s nationwide racial reckoning on policing, one word captured the fury of that summer: “Defund.”
Following the murder of George Floyd, a Black man who gasped “I can’t breathe” as a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck, the rallying cry was shouted by activists and scribbled on cardboard signs across Chicago. Although it was largely rebuffed by the bulk of the city’s political class, including Mayor Lori Lightfoot, at least one sympathizer in local government emerged: Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson, who is vying to unseat her in the Feb. 28 election.
Less than a month after Floyd’s death, the county commissioner from the West Side introduced a nonbinding resolution calling for the county to “redirect funds from policing and incarceration to public services not administered by law enforcement.” The “Justice for Black Lives” resolution was symbolic, but it overwhelmingly passed that July.
