City Council Passes $5.5 Million Burge Torture Reparations

Deborah Bayliss | As of Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Jon Burge
Jon Burge

L. C. Riley, 59, is one of the 118 documented black men who was tortured by former Chicago Police Commander, Jon Burge and the Chicago Police Department's (CPD) Area 2 and Area 3 law enforcement officers who assisted in the torture of several other black men reportedly from 1972 to 1991.

Riley told the Chicago Citizen Newspaper that his first encounter with Burge was in 1974 at age 19 while hanging out in a Park at 102nd Street and Prairie Avenue in Chicago where he was spending time with his then six month old daughter and some of his male friends.

“They drove up chasing a guy who was running from them,” recounted Riley. “The guy threw a pistol over a fence but they couldn’t catch him so they started harassing us. One of the detectives, stooped down next to my daughter’s stroller and then stood up holding three or four bags of weed in his hands. They took me in but I wasn’t charged with possession. I believe they gave me a disorderly conduct. They wanted to know who had guns and who the gangs were. From then on, they harassed me every time they saw me.”

The harassment continued over the years Riley said. In 1976 about six plain-clothes detectives showed up at his house saying he robbed a record store.

“I told them I didn’t do it but they took me in and jumped on me at the police station and I ended up with an eight to 12 year sentence but got out of jail on appeal and the witness saying it wasn’t me who robbed the record store.”

In 1985, Riley said he was again picked up by detectives for another stickup they accused him of.

“I was handcuffed to a wall at Area 2 Police Station and was asked if I wanted to confess to the robbery, I said no and they turned the lights off and left the room. I dozed off. The next thing I knew someone came in and grabbed the bottom of my pant legs and snatched me off the bench while I was still handcuffed to the wall. I told them I thought my arm was broken. They told me they didn’t give a d_ _ _ _ about my arm. They then slapped me in the mouth with a rolled up newspaper and knocked my tooth loose. I later lost that tooth. They kept trying to get me to confess and hit me in the groin with the rolled up newspaper. I ended up signing the confession because I thought I could beat it. I tried to tell the State’s Attorney that they were jumping on me and that I didn’t do what I confessed to. The state’s attorney went and told them that I wasn’t talking or giving them anything. The detectives came back in and told me we know how to play with niggers and asked me if I wanted the full treatment meaning the black box, the electric shock I had heard about. I was 31 at that time. I didn’t get the electric shock but they beat me up. A judge sentenced me to 40 years and I did 20 years for something I did not do.”

Riley was released from prison May 23, 2005.

“It really messed up my mother,” Riley said. “I was the oldest and I always took care of home. My two young daughters grew up without a father.”

Riley and the 15 other torture victims and their family members became emotional during the Chicago City Council meeting on Wednesday.

Outbursts of sobbing echoed throughout the Chicago City Council as the torture victims listened to remarks from council members who provided testimony regarding the unanimous passage of the $5.5 million reparations package for the victims and their families for the torture they suffered and endured.

Burge's victims suffered through electric shock to their groin areas, kicks in the groin, plastic bags placed over their heads, and brutal beatings.

Chicago Aldermen Joe Moreno (1st Ward) and Howard Brookins, Jr., (21st), chairman of the City Council Black Caucus and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, offered commented.

“This happened not in Iraq or Syria but Chicago,” said Moreno. Burge and his henchmen and their system of torture of mainly African American men in our fine city. This incredulous stain…I don’t think we’ll ever wipe it away.”

Brookins and Moreno introduced the ordinance more than a year ago.

“To the rest of the world and to Chicago, we get it…this type of behavior will not be tolerated in our city,” Brookins said, as he thanked the members of the Black Caucus.

The package includes public recognition of the torture committed by Burge, financial reparations for his victims, the creation of a permanent memorial recognizing the victims of torture, and curricula about the Burge case and its legacy in eighth and tenth grade Chicago Public School history classes as a way to ensure this kind of inhumane treatment is never repeated.

Additionally, City College tuition and job training will be provided free of charge to Burge victims, their immediate family members and their grandchildren. The City will fund psychological, family, substance abuse, and other counseling services to Burge victims and their immediate family members and will work with sister agencies to create new opportunities for Burge victims in reentry or transitional job programs, senior care services, health services and small business assistance.

“To the victims and their families, this essential step is to right a wrong. What happened here is that Chicago will finally confront its past and come to terms and say something was wrong,” said Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel who thanked the victims for never giving up. “This stain cannot be removed from the history of our city…There can never be total closure but we will be there for you as long as you need.”

Joey Mogul and Flint Taylor of Chicago Torture Justice Memorials and the People’s Law Office represented many of the Burge torture survivors over the decades, and were involved in the negotiations that brought this the agreement to fruition.

“There are 15 torture victims here today. This is the first time the City Council acknowledged the (torture) practice under Burge’s regime. This legislation is a form of apology and acknowledgement. Some of the victims who are here today and some are now deceased...We owe all of them a debt of gratitude for their strength and reliance,” Mogul said.

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