Photo by Nathaniel St. Clair.

Often cited as the most segregated city in the US by media outlets such as WBEZ Chicago and 14 EstChicago, Illinois is full of red line and racial profiling. One May 2024 report by a team of United Nations experts outlined a history of racist police brutality in the Chicago area, while a 2019 study by the New York University School of Medicine finder that Chicagoans from predominantly white neighborhood of Streeterville they live on average 30 years longer than the inhabitants of mostly Black Englewood neighborhood. Chicago Sun-Times and journalist Linda Villarosa attributed this disparity to government-sanctioned segregation, disinvestment, and exploitative policies.

Prison Policy Initiative NOTES that “With an incarceration rate of 433 per 100,000 inhabitants (as of July 2024), Illinois has a larger percentage of its population than almost any democratic country on earth.” Most of the state’s prisoners are Chicago residents. Meanwhile, black residents of Illinois “they are incarcerated to a rhythm 7.5 times higher than white people.”

Civic Federation reported a nearly $2 billion budget for the Chicago Police Department (CPD) for fiscal year 2024. It also noted that the CPD budget “has grown steadily over the years to keep pace with increases in personnel costs. CPD loans from the Corporate Fund have increased by almost 40% since 2018.”

A group of Chicago-area artists and activists called #LetUsBreathe Collective (#LUBC) imagines what the world would look like if those investments were redirected into endeavors like healing, organizing, and creating.

“By creating a bridge of creative placemaking and community-led mutual aid, we are able to provide an access point for those most affected by mass incarceration and invite them into dialogue about what an abolitionist future looks like.” group website. Member.

Of the collective vision it is “a world without police, without prisons, and without global systems of oppression.” The group nurtures artists, who are seen as being at the forefront of this revolution, to work on “imagining and designing that world”.

#LUBC operates out of the #BreathingRoom, a 4,000 square foot space in South Chicago where the collective combines “solidarity work with anti-capitalist, abolitionist artistic production.” #BreathingRoom facilities include a community garden, greenhouse, pond, farm, pharmacy and recording studio.

“When people come into this space, it feels like a little fortress — a little black town and school that no one knows about,” says #LUBC co-director E’mon Lauren. “You’d kind of miss it if you walked past her.”

#LUBC was founded in 2014 to support the riots surrounding the killing of Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri. “Most of us were artists and educators and suddenly found ourselves in the world of community organizing,” the group’s website NOTES. “Some of us were already activists, longing for a community to explore new ideas around liberation.”

In 2016, the organization creator a camp called Freedom Square for Homan Square protesters, a Chicago police unit that The Guardian described as “a run-of-the-mill interrogation warehouse” where inmates—82.2 percent of whom were black—were tortured. During this 41-day occupation, Liberty Square “became a community laboratory for the abolition and disinvestment of the police.” conformable on the #LUBC website. “Freedom Square was built on the principle that the resources needed to keep communities safe are: restorative justice, education, employment, housing, mental health and physical well-being, addiction treatment, access to nutritious food and the arts.”

During the COVID-19 pandemic and the riots of the early 2020s, the collective started a “micro-commission program” called Stimulus package for humanity under which creatives were asked to come up with content “at the intersection of justice and the pandemic”.

The pandemic also saw the launch of #LUBC’s biggest initiative, the #EverybodyEats food justice program, which provided food and shelter for mutual aid groups like Farm, food, family and the Southern Food Network.

Like the #LUBC site NOTES#EverybodyEats continues to distribute food “to fight hunger in our communities and support local community events, public actions and city-wide mutual aid efforts. We’ve built a team of volunteer farmers, culinary artists and gardeners (who)… responsibly manage an acre of land and cook nutritious meals for the community. Through this program, we seek to build Black power, food sovereignty, and liberating models of sustainability in our communities.”

Lauren notes that #LUBC also provides a space for art as a source of healing and community building. “What I do as co-director is bring creative programming to this space,” she explains. This includes paid apprenticeships for young people, creative writing programs and an abolitionist healing clinic called Soul Service.

Organized and facilitated by NurturHer and TBanksSoul Service focuses on mental and physical healing and self-care, specifically “for blacks and indigenous people.” Lauren says participants learn “self-defense moves in (case) they’re dealing with the police or any kind of violent situation.” The program also includes sliding scale reiki clinics, nervous system tuning lessons, and partner tea parties. Herbs for the fight for freedom which offers methods of healing through body and mind.

This article was made by The local peace economy.

Lauren also facilitates the Pod Squad summer program, whose teaching artists help five young apprentices develop art portfolios. “Having so many new, young, fresh faces in this space — it’s about generational work,” she says. “It goes on even after we’re (no longer here).”

Meanwhile, the #BreathingRoom event series provides a forum for artists, scholars, activists, and healers “to build coalitions, raise awareness, and support healing among artists, activists, and neighbors most directly affected by mass incarceration,” the website says.

Lauren beams as she describes #BreathingRoom. “It’s bright and gorgeous, from our farm to the garden to all our community partners who break bread here and make herbs and potions upstairs in our apothecary.”