Coalition to March on the DNC Demands A Permit from the Transportation Department
Who: Coalition to March on the DNC
What: Press conference to demand a permit from the city
Where: Outside City Hall, 121 N LaSalle
When: February 6th, 2024 9am
Why: The Coalition to March on the DNC is demanding a permit recognizing the right of working and oppressed people to protest for justice within sight and sound of the Democratic National Convention starting August 19th 2024
The Chicago Department of Transportation recently denied our permit to march on the Democratic National Convention. Their stated reason for this decision is that the city will not have the resources to police us while securing the rich and powerful Democratic Party leaders. We reject their decision because we have the right to voice the demands of the people within sight and sound of the DNC. We demand a permit to march as a gesture of good faith that the police will not introduce violence into our family friendly protest.
The denial letter proposed a second route for the march that is nowhere near the DNC. We refuse to be cast away where those in power cannot see or hear our demands for their own convenience . Agreeing to our own displacement would defeat the entire purpose of protesting. Many of the attendees of the DNC are responsible for or complicit in U.S.’ aggression against other countries including genocide in Palestine, police committing crimes with impunity, mass incarceration, deportations, neglect of LGBTQ and reproductive rights, undermining of workers demands, and other injustices against the people. Working and oppressed people have a right to make demands of those in power. We plan to make these demands on August 19th and we will be seen and heard.
Several organizations who also applied for parade permits during the DNC received a letter with identical wording from the Transportation Department. This approach to the movements for social justice is insulting. The organizations in the March on the DNC coalition have decades of experience planning mass marches while keeping attendees safe, often in spite of efforts of the police to start a riot. We know what our rights are and we know that it is always right to fight for justice. It is unacceptable for the Transportation Department to tell working and oppressed people to move elsewhere while making space for the expensive motorcades of politicians. Chicago is not a city for the rich and powerful. When they gather, we have a right and responsibility to gather in response.
This is not Richard J Daley's Chicago. Working and oppressed people here have made many historical advances since 1968 including the strongest police accountability legislation in the country, freedom and reparations for police torture survivors, electing a mayor from the worker's movement, and making Chicago the largest city to call for a ceasefire in Palestine. In order to make these gains we had to overcome opposition from the Democratic Party machine. The same mass movement that won all those victories will get us a permit to march on the DNC, and our united efforts will ensure all our demands are met and a better world is built.
