NORTH LAWNDALE — Six weeks after protesters made permanent camp across the street from the Homan Square police facility, activists are still ramping up operations.
The small tent village has been building an open library and cooking free food, all on the backs on individual donations. Over labor day weekend, they added one more service: free school supplies for Chicago students.
Throughout the day Sunday, kids lined up to pick up "hundreds" of backpacks, binders, folders, marker sets and notebooks, according to organizers. Nearly all of them came from individual donors.
"People have been sending stuff from all over the country," said Damon Williams, co-founder of the Let Us Breathe Collective, which set up the encampment. "To us it's further proof of the support that not just the city, but the country has for supporting this movement."
The makeshift community was erected on the principle that police and prisons should be abolished outright, an idea that's gained traction among Chicago activists this year.
"We can't say we want to divest from police unless we're also harnessing that to support our own community, to invest in education," Williams said. "Because police don't keep us safe. What keeps us safe are houses, schools, community centers, after school programs, mental health services, restorative justice, things like that."
After giving out supplies all weekend, the organizers plan to drop off the rest in batches at different schools around the West Side, they said.
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