BRONZEVILLE — Four people are running for the Wentworth (2nd) police district council seats. The district includes parts of Bronzeville, Kenwood, Hyde Park and Douglas. Meet them below.
Ephraim Lee
Credit: Kirk Williamson for the Chicago ReaderA Navy reservist for 24 years, Lee is pursuing a master’s degree in social work. He is the Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy beat 215 facilitator.
Candidate questionnaire responses
- Do you have experience as an activist or community organizer? No
- Do you have experience interacting with CPD? Yes
- Do you have experience working in or interacting with government? Yes
- Should the city hire more police officers? Yes
- Is CPD adequately funded? Yes: funding should stay about the same.
- CPD reform: The police need training and some reform.
- Mental health crises: Police should accompany healthcare workers to crises.
What do you consider the primary role of a police district councilor to be?
- Communicating with the department on behalf of the community
- Helping police do a better job
- Other: “To act as an honest and trustworthy bridge between the citizens of the district and the police.”
Why are you running for Police District Council?
“I am running for the Second District Police Council because I believe that there are parts/agencies of the Chicago Police Department (CPD) that lack strong, decisive, leadership, and ethical guidance. For too many years, our police department has failed to champion and live up to a clear and unfettered code of fairness, accountability, and values, throughout the entire department.
This failure of having high standards of professionalism, has placed the department, its members, and the citizens that it has sworn to protect, at odds with one another and this division has led to increased crime, deep-seated anger, and fissures of distrust that have grown over time. I firmly believe that only through a dedicated urgency of transparency, and a renewed focus on justice, fairness, and respect, can these decades of wounds be fully healed. I hope to be a part of this change.”
Alexander Perez
Perez worked for Aurora’s mayoral department of communications for four years and was the director of community engagement for West Aurora School District 129 for over a year. Alds. Pat Dowell (3rd) and Jeanette Taylor (20th) have endorsed.
 Activist or organizer |  Supports more police accountability |  Political endorsement |
Candidate questionnaire responses:
- Do you have experience as an activist or community organizer? Yes
- Do you have experience interacting with CPD? Yes
- Do you have experience working or interacting with government? Yes
- Should the city hire more police officers? No*
- Is CPD adequately funded? Yes: funding should stay about the same.
- CPD reform: The police need training and some reform.
- Mental health crises: Police should accompany healthcare workers to crises.
*I do not believe that we need to expand hiring; I think we should focus on filling in the vacancies that we currently have.
What do you consider the primary role of a police district councilor to be?
- Establishing civilian control of the department
- Helping the police do a better job
- Communicating with the department on behalf of the community
Why are you running for Police District Council?
To increase transparency and accountability through modernization of communication and outreach efforts.
Coston Plummer
A home care worker and a member of SEIU, United Working Families, and the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR), Plummer has done community work in Washington Park since 2016. “I want every neighborhood to have the policing it deserves,” he says, “and I want to be the vessel to my community that helps make that happen.”
In 1991, Plummer’s 15-year-old brother, was beaten over a period of 39 hours by Chicago police working for the notorious CPD Commander John Burge. Johnny Plummer was sentenced to life in prison for murder as a result of the confession, and like many of Burge’s victims, remains incarcerated.
Ald. Jeanette Taylor (20th) and SEIU have endorsed.
Activist or organizer | Supports more police accountability | Political endorsement |
Candidate questionnaire responses
- Do you have experience as an activist or community organizer? Yes
- Do you have experience interacting with CPD? No
- Do you have experience working or interacting with government? No
- Should the city hire more police officers? Yes
- Is CPD adequately funded? Yes: funding should be reduced
- CPD reform: The police need training and some reform.
- Mental health crises: Police should accompany healthcare workers to mental health crises.
What do you consider the primary role of a police district councilor to be?
- Establishing civilian control of the police department
- Communicating with the department on behalf of the community
Why are you running for Police District Council?
I’m running for District Council because I want to hold the police accountable for their actions in the 2nd Police District. But I also want to be a vessel for the 2nd Police District. Whatever the 2nd Police District community wants me to fight for is what I will be fighting for.
Julia Kline
A former CPS teacher, Kline is a community organizer, sales and marketing consultant, and voting rights activist. She is a cofounder along with Jocelyn McClelland and Morrow Cleveland of Neighbors Who Vote, which works on voter registration and turnout, cross-neighborhood organizing, and amplifying the work of other groups. In 2018 and 2018 Kline was on the marketing and communications team for Indivisible Chicago, helping to organize a number of street protests.
Activist or organizer | Supports more police accountability |
Candidate questionnaire responses:
- Do you have experience as an activist or community organizer? Yes
- Do you have experience interacting with CPD? No
- Do you have experience working or interacting with government? No
- Should the city hire more police officers? No
- Is CPD adequately funded? Yes: funding should be reduced.
- CPD reform: The police need significant reform.
- Mental health crises: Police should not be involved in mental health crisis calls at all.
What do you consider the primary role of a police district councilor to be?
- Establishing civilian control of the police department
- Other: “Policing is never going to be the path to real safety. Rather, we in this Council must work to create an entirely separate safety infrastructure: one based in restorative justice, mental health resources, violence interruption and outreach. For evidence of the effectiveness of this approach, look at Lawndale. They have seen a 40 percent drop in the incidence of violence since having invested heavily in these types of approaches just two years ago.”
Why are you running for Police District Council?
To look at me, many might assume I’ve never experienced police violence firsthand. But when I was 15 and got caught for smoking weed, I was almost raped by those two police officers. So I have a visceral understanding of the kind of reverberating trauma that is inflicted by abuse of power at the hands of police officers.
It infuriates me that MANY officers remain on CPD payroll despite multiple dozens of accusations of misconduct against them; and even officers still collecting either a paycheck or pension, despite having been convicted of criminal wrongdoing. Most recently, a whistleblower cop (yes, of course there are some good cops) named Sergeant Isaac Lambert was awarded $910,000 by a jury, after attempting to call out the wrongdoing of three fellow officers. Yet those three bad cops are all still employed by CPD!!!
I cannot stand by and watch this kind of injustice — to say nothing of a catastrophic waste of economic resources — continue unchecked. Many before us have tried and failed (and CPD is currently resisting the federal consent decree), but to not keep trying is unacceptable
