BLACK LIVES MATTER

A key issue for CAASE

CAASE supports Black Lives Matter and demands all systems, including lawmakers, city government, the criminal justice system, and the Chicago Police Department do more to address inequalities in Chicago. The ways our society has long dealt with domestic violence and sexual harm are both similar and dissimilar to the ways in which it has dealt with race and racial inequality. Black men tend to be vilified, while Black women are not believed. As a community, we firmly believe that criminal justice reform and improving our community responses to gender-based violence are mutually supportive, not conflicting, goals. As well as improving systems and options for BIPOC survivors outside of the criminal justice system. 

Policing Perpetuates Gender-Based Violence

Racism in policing, police misconduct, and gender-based violence are inextricably linked. Sexual misconduct is the second most common form of police misconduct after excessive force. Police sexual abuse isn’t just the case of a few bad apples: It’s systemic. CAASE continues to urge Chicago leaders to prioritize Black lives and address sexual misconduct committed by CPD officers.

• Studies indicate that Black people are significantly more likely to experience police brutality than white people, and whiteness protects against police use of force.1

• • Black transgender people are at the highest risk when it comes to instances of police violence.2

• The vast majority of killings by police do not lead to an officer being charged with a crime. Murderous, racist actions by officers compound well-founded distrust of the criminal justice system by communities of color. It is a distrust that survivors of sexual violence share when they are too often ignored, disbelieved, and silenced by police.3

• Police also use their power to sexually violate. Far more often than not, their misconduct is met with zero consequences.4

• • A CAASE research report that included interviews with women who were in the sex trade (some of whom self-identified as trafficking victims) said they were harmed by police in some way, from being verbally harassed or groped to being forced to provide sex to avoid arrest.5
  • Many people who sell sex are victims of crime themselves, yet they deal with derogatory comments and attitudes and even rape by officers. One Chicago-based study found that 24 percent of women who stated they were raped while selling sex on the streets said a police officer was the perpetrator.6
  • Nearly 50 percent of Black transgender people have been incarcerated at some point. While incarcerated, Black trans women face discriminatory policies and the constant threat of sexual assault.7 

• CAASE believes there is a need for investment in a higher level of training for all officers regarding domestic violence, sexual harm, gender-based violence, constitutional policing, and sex trafficking. The consent decree requires training on some of these topics every 3 years. Considering domestic violence is one of the most-reported crimes in the city, every 3 years is not nearly enough. 
• CAASE supports legislation that protects all survivors, like legislation that denies police the ability to claim “consensual” sexual contact with someone in custody.8

Sexual Exploitation Disproportionately Impacts Black Women

Sexual harm is both a symptom and a cause of inequality. Girls and women, LGBTQ+ people, immigrants, people with disabilities, those with low-income, and people of color are at the greatest risk. Specifically, harm against Black women in particular is more likely to be dismissed or ignored, and is fueled by misogynoir – the harmful stereotypes and misrepresentations of Black women that fuel racist and sexist abuse experienced by Black women. BIPOC trans people are disproportionately in the sex trade and more likely to be incarcerated. Opposing oppression like anti-Blackness and transphobia are key to addressing sexual violence and ensuring BIPOC individuals have broad liberation, and equity.  

• The way that the sex trade is policed in the United States restricts access to resources, enables violence, and exacerbates racial disparities. Women of color as a whole, but especially Black cisgender and transgender women, girls, and femmes, are often more vulnerable. Cultural attitudes about the sex trade often ignore the need to address and abolish structural issues that lead to and enable exploitation.9 
• Patriarchy claims that women must be contained, suppressed, managed and that we want special or different treatment than our fellow citizens. It asserts that women lie about being sexually harmed in an attempt to manipulate situations and facts just to garner sympathy. White supremacy tells a very similar tale about Black people and anti-Black violence. These oppressive forces have so much in common that to address one we must address the other.10
• Sexual harm and exploitation are tightly tied up in these issues; you cannot separate broken policies and weak economic support or bad policing practices from the harms of the sex trade. Selling sex is often one of a few bad options in a society that keeps Black and/or trans people out of the workforce, discriminated against through laws and other practices. Black trans folks are among the most marginalized in our communities—and with respect to the sex trade, they are disproportionately harmed.11 
• In 2019, 91 percent of the transgender or gender-nonconforming people who were fatally shot were Black women.12 
• CAASE has successfully advocated for legislation that eliminated felony charges for prostitution, enabled victims of sex trafficking to clear their records of prostitution convictions, and created funding streams for specialized services to assist people with lived experiences in the sex trade.13 
• CAASE believes that addressing sexual exploitation also means supporting policy that expands economic justice and opportunities and removing stigma and discrimination against Black, brown, and LGBTQ+ people.14

For more information, contact Madeleine Behr, Policy Director, Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation, at 773.244.2230 ext. 212 or mbehr@caase.org.

References

1. Khan, Kimberly Barsamian et al. “Protecting Whiteness: White Phenotypic Racial Stereotypicality Reduces Police Use of Force.” Social Psychology and Personality Science, vol. 7, issue 5, Feb. 2016.
2. Medina, Caroline et al. “Improving the Lives and Rights of LGBTQ People in America.” Center for American Progress, 12 Jan. 2021. 
3. “The Arrest of Derek Chauvin for the Murder of George Floyd,” Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation, 30 May 2020.
4. Patin, Nikki. “The Police Brutality that Doesn’t go Viral.” Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation, 10 July 2020. 
5. “Gender-Based Violence Needs CPD Attention—Chicago Police Board Can Help.” Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation, 12 Mar. 2020.  
6. “CPD Wrongly Targets People Selling Sex.” Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation, 30 Jan. 2020. 
7. “Transgender Incarcerated People in Crisis.” Lambda Legal, n.d.
8. Forrestal, Hayley. “3 New Laws CAASE is Proud to Get Behind.” Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation, 5 Sept. 2018.
9. Sankofa, Jasmine. “From Margin to Center: Sex Work Decriminalization is a Racial Justice Issue.” Amnesty International, 12 Dec. 2016.
10. “We Stand with Black Lives Matter.” Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation, 10 June 2020. 
11. Ibid. 
12. Hawbaker, KT. “Allies: Prioritize Black Trans Lives.” Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation, 1 Feb. 2021. 
13. Ibid. 
14. Ibid.

Issues in Action

Our commitment to these issues is animated through our work, especially in advocacy for systemic solutions that prevent future sexual violence by breaking down the layers of oppression that increase the likelihood of victimization. The current policies we are working on can be found on our Legislative Priorities page. You can also learn about or Public Policy and Advocacy work through our blog posts on the topic.