Three weeks ago the world was horrified by the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers. We condemn this public lynching and come against state sactioned violence against black bodies in our community, city, nation, and world. We condemn the sickness of white supremacy that continues to infect people and institutions and destroy our black neighbors and neighborhoods. The Board of Nobel Neighbors feels anger, disgust, sadness, shock, and lament.

Sadly, the pain we are experiencing is nothing new. Systemic racism has gone on far too long unchecked. Our service area and the whole West Side has been under the scourge of white supremacy for decades, beginning with redlining, contract-buying, white flight and disinvestment, the loss of our manufacturing base, the over-criminalization, policing, and incarceration of our black and brown youth, the continual denial of standard mortgages, the allowance of subprime mortgages, and now the specter of gentrification. Nobel Neighbors has been here for over 35 years working to confront the effects of this insidious system.

As an organization that serves the West Humboldt Park community, we affirm, unequivocally, that black lives matter. As a black and Latino community we affirm black and brown solidarity. Our black neighbors matter and they are created in the image of God. The two greatest commandments are to love the Lord your God and love your neighbor.

Here are some ways we commit ourselves as an organization to love our black neighbors:

•We will invest in more community organizing.
•We will invest in youth leadership building; we will listen and be led by our youth.
•We will add more black and Latino/a members to our board to reflect our community.
•We will learn from and collaborate with organizations that have created new models of public safety.
•We will fight against displacement and for community control over development.

Let us continue to dialogue about our relationships with law enforcement. Hopefully, Nobel Neighbors can help create a bridge for our community to be heard, not neglected. Be it politics or law enforcement, we will continue to provide CAPS meeting dates, aldermanic meetings, community events, and any resources that will benefit our West Humboldt Park neighborhood.

Sincerely,
The Board of Nobel Neighbors