March On The Democratic National Convention

On August 19th 2024, we will join the march on the Democratic National Convention in Chicago to bring our feminist reproductive justice abolitionist agenda within sight and sound of the Democratic Party leadership!  

Follow our social media to stay informed of when and where we’ll be in the days, weeks, and months leading up to the convention, and learn below how each of the coalition’s demands relates to moving forward our work & goals:

• ‍Defend LGBTQ, Women’s and Reproductive Rights When we say “mama” we mean all mamas- biological and non-biological. We fight for bodily autonomy and care for all people! We demand Reproductive Justice- and uplift how state intervention- like the kidnapping & torture of our members' sons- disrupts how mamas parent- and inspires mamas’ resistance! While Governor Pritzker claims to be for women’s rights, he disrespects mother-activists who don’t play into his ideal versions of “good mothers who stay silent.” If Pritzker truly cares about all mothers, he would free MOK members’ incarcerated loved ones!
• ‍Stop Police Crimes & Community Control of the Police Us, our kids, and our families, are all survivors of police torture & abuse- Free Us ALL!  While we actively build networks of community care towards a world in which policing & prisons are obsolete, we cannot rely on this system to hold itself accountable. Towards dismantling these systems, we are working to change policy and reimagine what “accountability” looks like.  Incarceration & police violence doesn't just impact our kids inside Illinois prisons-they also directly impact us, our families & our communities on the outside. As Mothers Of The Kidnapped, “We’re locked up, too- Free us all!”
• ‍Fight for the Liberation of Palestine! No U.S. Aid to Israeli Genocide and colonization! From Chicago to Palestine, our struggles against racism, imperialism, policing & prisons are inseparable. As Chicago mamas fight for the freedom of their kids, who were stolen and tortured by the Chicago police, mamas in Palestine fight to liberate themselves & their children from Israeli colonization & genocide and its incarceration of Palestinians en masse. Since CPD and the Israeli military share strategies and technologies as they targeted our communities in Chicago and Palestine, our struggles are connected. Like Chicago police violence, Israeli state violence targets mothering and the capacity to parent free from the threat of violence and forcibly separates loved ones from each other. From Chicago to Palestine, collective liberation is a feminist struggle. We are connected through our resistance and our shared fight for a connection with our loved ones free from state violence and for life affirming futures! Since U.S. police violence depends upon the U.S.’ support for Israeli colonization, we affirm that we will not be free if Palestine remains unfree. We vow to continue cultivating interdependence & growing practices of collective care & mutual aid, and working to build new worlds from Chicago to Palestine, where compassion, love & connection can thrive.
• ‍Money for Jobs, Schools, Healthcare, Housing, and the Environment, Not for War Mothers and caregivers often carry the burden of supporting communities when the state has targeted them and deprived them of resources needed to survive and thrive. To free mamas and caregivers and our communities from socio-economic state violence, we demand resources for all people living in Chicago; resources for people coming home from prison and their mamas and caregivers; reparations! Wars on Black, Brown & monetarily poor people are wars on mamas and caregivers! We want to see our taxes going to revitalize and nurture the communities we have been striving to support- not to military, prisons and police!
• ‍Justice, Peace, and Equality We uplift community members to gain knowledge and educate each other on the INjustice system and webs of lies, holding judges, prosecutors, and government officials accountable. There is a gross lack of accountability within the police and legal systems. We will not sit back while sexist racial capitalist elites play games with our kids’ lives to advance their careers! We refuse to be told by officials to shut up and sit down and take what they give us! There is no peace without justice!
• ‍Defend Immigrant Rights and Demand Legalization for All Undocumented Workers We reject immigration policies that perpetuate settler colonialism, and uplift and support Indigenous peoples’ leadership in decisions about immigration and settlement on stolen land. We stand with decolonial indigenous and migrant movements that together, resist the settler U.S. state’s violent imperial borders and its theft of indigenous land as a united struggle.
• ‍Support for the Right to Unionize Many of us are union members ourselves- and the rights of working-class mamas to organize must not be denied!