(exciting music) - Our targets are Bill Cunningham, Senator Cristina Castro, Don Harmon.

In the state of Illinois, the only people who cannot vote are people in prison.

Okay, let's go to 309.

- All right.

- [Camille] We need to show how important it is to advocate for people in prison.

- Did you talk to Representative Crawford?

- [Camille] Because I believe that everyone, whether they're free or incarcerated, should have the right to vote.

- Pleasure to meet you.

- I'm Camille.

Nice to meet you, Senator.

The narrative that we tell ourselves is that our vote doesn't count, and this isn't true.

We need to take democracy into our own hands.

(suspenseful music) (car engines whir) (footsteps click on floor) I work at Chicago Votes.

(door creaks) Our mission is to engage young people between the ages of 18 and 35 to get more young people civically engaged.

And then moving on to the next part is I updated the link to the IRX work plan.

I'm like the go-to for everything.

If there's anything that needs to happen here for the most part, I'm the person that's bottom line or I'm the person that you can ask the question.

- Okay.

- And then we also talked about our Day of Action in Springfield on October 15th.

So we're trying to get as many folks out to that as possible.

The flyer- - [Camille] Right now, our biggest legislative objective that we're working on is the RACE Act, a piece of legislation that will restore the right to vote for people in prison.

- I think I sent you an email about making a flyer for it, Trey.

- [Camille] What we're doing to help get this bill passed, we're phone banking and text banking.

Also our upcoming lobby day where we're gonna advocate for the RACE Act in Springfield.

- We are still in the process of hiring our lobbyists to support us in the veto session.

So, one of the lobbyists was a guy who actually has like worked, like, a lot with Republicans and so his pitch was that he might be able to really reach across the aisle and really touch base with, like, some of the Republican lawmakers, whereas like some of these- - For people in prison, it's important for them to vote.

They should have a say so in their children's schooling, what healthcare looks like for them, the resources that are in their community.

They still should have a say so in what's happening in their lives on a day-to-day basis.

(horns honk) - So what we do and when we go down to Springfield next week, what we'll be doing is talking to lawmakers, informing them of our issue, why it's important to us, and trying to influence them to make the change that we're advocating for.

- [Camille] There was a training held in the office with Dominican University to take some students to help with our advocacy efforts.

- So these aren't letters that actually got mailed right here to this office.

And this is what kind of like keeps us engaged in the work.

And sometimes, it's like, it feels like we're fighting a losing battle, but we have to remember that these are the people that we are accountable to and wanna see this work happen.

And so that kind of keeps us in the fight.

Sometimes when we talk to lawmakers they'll be like, "Well, do they even care?

Do they even want the right to vote?

Why are y'all doing all this?"

And it's like, actually, the people who are incarcerated are the ones who actually like wrote and came up with this legislation.

- Why do you wanna help these people?

Even though I have a brother that's in jail.

Like, why do you want help them?

Even though they made the choices that they made and like, or like who's gonna care about this?

Like I'm thinking to myself, right?

Oh, like you guys never been in jail.

You guys don't know how it feels, like, how it feels to be inside and why do you care about helping people that did something so bad?

- Grace, one of the Dominican University students, she was very skeptical on why did we care about people who are incarcerated when none of us had been incarcerated before.

Even though like we haven't been to prison directly, but through my lived experience from my family members, I can identify with it.

My brother has been in prison since he was 15 so he never experienced voting.

So that's another big reason why I do this work.

- These are rights that everyone should have and when we don't fight for everyone to have the rights that they should have, like, it's only a matter of time till like, they try to take our rights away, too.

I think that's one of the reasons why I care and I think that every human being is worthy of having an opportunity to, like, change.

- Yeah.

- And so yeah.

- So this like basically is giving people, like, a second chance.

Like, they feel like nothing but you guys are showing them there's actually people that care a lot.

(gentle music) - I'm an African American woman from Chicago, which is always being publicized as this terrible place.

I am showing my advocacy for not only myself but the communities that I'm a part of and that I serve.

(contemplative music) The moment that kinda opened my eyes for me was the tragic death of my mother.

This is the only picture that we have with my mom and me and all of my siblings before she had passed away.

I was six years old.

There was a drive by with two cars.

The first car ran the stop sign and jumped the curb because they were being shot at and her body was stuck under the car.

We kinda had to wait for the ambulance to come and she succumbed to her injuries at the hospital.

I'll take that shirt.

The first time that I was in the courtroom, it was to testify in my mother's murder trial.

And then after that, it was followed up by a custody battle.

So my experience with the judicial system and the carceral system hasn't been pleasant at all.

(gentle music) (engines whir) - Hello.

- Hi, Milos.

- Hi.

- How was your commute?

Milos is our international fellow from Bosnia.

Within this program, it's a cultural exchange where we understand how their political system works, how our political system works.

Voter registration, which will always be right here.

- [Milos] Are they like different from state to state or?

- No, they're pretty much all the same 'cause like every US citizen needs to fill this out, so it's pretty much the same across the entire US.

- The states.

- He's gonna see parts of the city that are not shown on TV and I look forward to how all of those experience shape the plan that he puts together to engage his community back home to mobilize their young people and get them more civically engaged.

So how do you feel about the current political, like, climate here in the US?

- I mean those are, right, internal things and those are democratic processes and democracy is as it is.

From the outside, like someone that is observing the situation in the US from the Balkans, so like, it's far, far away from here, I would say that you know, there are enough mechanisms of power within the system of the US so that the things actually end up on the most positive way.

But as long as you know, like, you have the rule of law, that is really, I would say present here.

So from my point of view- - I look forward to seeing how Milos' perspective of Chicago and the US is being shaped because he mentioned like law and order and following rules.

And I think that when he goes and sees what we do, that law and order narrative looks different for marginalized people.

We can pretty much start the program.

- Start the adventure.

- Yeah.

(engines whir) But I know we gotta get started.

Do we know which courtrooms we starting off today?

- I either started in Maldonado.

I always go to like Chiampas.

Sometime I go to Timothy Joyce.

I like bouncing around from them courtrooms.

- That's great.

I like Anthony Willis.

I ain't gonna lie, I be looking at all the Black judges.

So I go to him, I go to- - I think within the judicial system, there are good and bad judges.

So the court watching program was started to increase judicial accountability and identify who these judges are.

Is there any cases today that we are following that needs to be uplifted?

I remember Queen bringing up something about a aggravated assault against a police officer.

- Hearing her trying to fight for her freedom and you know how they do every day, just act like this don't matter, they don't have no evidence for the girl.

She felt like her public defender was not representing her properly.

She had this whole paper she wrote up yesterday and I was very impressed with people speaking up for they selves and she spoke more than her public defender spoke.

- How are these judges influencing people's lives?

Because they send so many people to jail on a daily basis.

So the court watchers write their experience of what they saw or something that stood out to them.

And then we gotta put the data together.

Does anyone wanna take the opportunity to talk about the misbehaviors of the judges that they've been seeing in the courtroom?

- They don't care.

- Yeah.

- You know, cases be two to three minutes if that, one minute.

They come in, come out.

It's like, these are lives you're dealing with and you just tossing them like it's nothing.

- Two of the judges, one just sat there kind of lazed.

I saw her on her phone during the middle of a hearing and then it's at the end and she just judges and says, you know, "This wasn't a violation.

The police did it right."

I had another one that listened.

She was respectful.

Again, she didn't say anything other than at the end, "Yep.

Police did everything right."

I mean, they explained and then that was it.

And then I went- - All of the people who court watch are the best people to court watch right now because they are either the support system of someone who has been incarcerated or they themselves have been incarcerated.

- You know, and every time they did it to me, they maxed me out.

They gave me the maximum turn every single time.

That happened four times.

So I know from personal experience that they are not about fairness.

They don't care about fairness.

All they care about is getting that conviction.

And once they get the conviction, they move on from there and they pad their resumes to do bigger things in the system.

- What are like the legal steps that you can take after you see for example, that something is wrong in court?

- So we're not a legal services organization.

So our goal is again putting information into the hands of the community because we know that the people actually have the power.

- Right.

- And so for us, it's saying, "Hey, community members, here's what's happening in the courts."

Here's what the data is showing and here are some recommendations that we have on how to mitigate that harm, right?

- The court watchers put together a voter guide meant to help voters identify the judges that are on the ballot because most people don't know, and the best way that we educate ourself and empower everyone in the community to know who they are is by court watching.

Because during election cycle, judges does not really run campaigns.

You don't really see it.

It's more so you pick them based off their name.

- We all want a different system entirely.

But while we have to have the system, to keep ones in that are supportive, that give people chances, judges and other people we can vote on, I think that's important.

- [Camille] What do you think about the court watchers?

- It's a lot of informations and everything is totally different, but regarding their mission and role in society, wow.

And I'm so like impressed that they're all really into it because they can relate with the things.

They all had some kind of experience.

Even if it's just on the level of collecting the data, that can prove something at the end so you can inform people about something, it's still a good thing for the community, right?

- No, for real.

But that's the thing.

You gotta collect the data.

- Yeah.

Someone has to do it.

- Yeah, someone has to do it.

(gentle music) - Hello.

- Hi.

How are you doing today?

- Okay.

Got a little hair I need to do.

(mixer whirs) - [Camille] After my mother passed away, I lived with my grandmother.

- Camille, she was six years old.

We went to court.

We went to court.

The other guy that was driving the other car, they caught him.

We went to court for about nine months before they finally sentenced him.

But from then on, they were my kids and my kids alone.

- My dad wanted to get custody of me, but the judge ruled in favor of living with my grandmother because he had a criminal background from before I was born.

And I was confused because I was a daddy's girl.

I was technically there.

I was considered a witness, but I just graduated from kindergarten.

I can, like, go back and remember like all the people and just feeling, like, scared.

Like, understanding what's happening but not really knowing what it meant at that time.

Being an adult and now understanding, like, that judges can play a big role on someone's life outcome and how they continue to show up through the rest of their life, which goes back to like the court watching.

My life experience helped shape what I'm doing now and it makes me feel hopeful of, like, the change that I can make.

- In school, they teaching you geometry and now when do you do geometry when you get out here?

Teach civics.

Teach these people, these kids, the parents, me.

Make me understand how the law works.

I've sat in so many courtrooms and watched so many people get messed over.

It's been messed up for years.

It's been messed up.

(engines whir) - Trey, dude, is there anything you need me to do?

- No, ma'am.

- No?

Cool.

I think the problem is when we think about civics, we think it's boring, but we have to make it fun.

We have to make it appeasable to the younger crowd.

So we have a podcast series used to highlight topics and young people across the city of Chicago to talk about issues that they care about.

(contemplative music) - Communities across the nation are facing a whirlwind of obstacles designed to disenfranchise, dismantle and disrupt their livelihoods.

- [Camille] The podcast that we did was geared towards Black feminism and how does that influence politics and media and how as Black women, we need to be in this space when we're talking about feminism.

- And so one thing I think about when I think about Black feminist politics, like you mentioned, like, fighting and I think it's like very much rooted in struggle.

And so it's like I think about Black feminist politics as the struggle against these things that oppress us and on our path to liberation, - [Camille] Our wants and needs and how our bodies are being managed is also a part of, like, what's happening in democracy and civically.

- We're working on a piece of legislation at Chicago Votes called the RACE Act, where we're looking at restoring voting rights for people who are incarcerated.

And this issue is so important for women, especially Black women who are way overly represented in the prisons in Illinois and also just like across the nation.

They're mothers.

They have family members.

You know, they should be able to vote on, like, their kids' school board.

So a way that you can get engaged and people can engage with the work is, you know, figure out who's organizing around issues and get plugged in, go to- - Whether it's through social media, through the podcast, a happy hour, we trying to bring creativity and community together at the intersections of the civic process.

- And that's all, period.

(audience cheers and applauds) (gentle music) (bus engine chugs) (passengers murmur) - Going down to Springfield is a powerful experience.

It's the state capital and this is where all the legislation is happening and this is how to find elected officials and hold them accountable and ask them for their support for people in prison to have the right to vote.

Before we went to the capital, we had a training.

Hello, Ms.

Betty.

- Hey.

- How you doing?

There was civil rights leader like Ms.

Betty Magness, who is able to get any elected official to stop for her and to hear what she has to say.

There was students, there were teachers, there were Chicago Votes staff.

- My brother not having a mom and a dad and, like, a support system, so he went to the streets looking for like a family, a sense of family, and- - [Camille] I was excited to see Grace on the trip and to show her that like there is community and we are here for you.

- 'Cause I never write to my brother, so I was writing down like in my journal what I wanted to say to him and what I wrote was, "You're still, like, what you did, your actions, is not who you are.

Like even though you're in there, like you can still have dreams, you know?"

We're all human.

We all have dreams.

- I think for her to go down to Springfield and to see how Advocacy Day works will hopefully encourage her to continue to come and to also bring people from her community with her so they can advocate for not only themselves but for other people within their community better.

- Okay, so I'm gonna go over our targets right quick and I'm gonna explain why they're targets.

If you see them in the capitol, you just wanna, you know, say, "Hey, can I talk to you right quick?

I'm here with the Unlock Civics Coalition to talk to you about our voting and prison bill, the RACE Act."

You can hand them a fact sheet.

- When we first talked about it, we were told the Constitution doesn't allow it.

But then we had a meeting at the Chicago Lawyers Committee's office and read the Constitution and it says, "A person convicted of a felony or otherwise under sentence in a correctional institution or jail shall lose their right to vote."

And that part of the sentence is what the whole logic around this being unconstitutional was built on.

But there's a comma, not a period.

"Which rights shall be restored not later than upon completion of his sentence."

So, if I were to say we are going to get on the bus no later than six, it means that you could go to the bus sooner than six.

That "not later than" was then debated in the 1970 Constitution when they actually wrote this language.

They decided to keep "not later than" for the purpose of allowing the legislature to decide when somebody's right to vote shall be restored.

So after this was all done, they passed a law in the Corrections Code and they passed the law in the Elections Code that says the whole time you're in prison, you can't vote.

What we're trying- - Right now, nothing has happened.

It's just waiting.

- So we have the whole RACE Act, which is voting in prison and expansion of civics inside prison.

The voting in prison part of it, the Senate legal staff don't like it.

- Yeah, and you already know that most of the people in House of Representative is in favor, are in favor.

- Yes, yeah.

We got the governor's in favor.

The Speaker of the House is in favor.

- The majority is there.

- The majority is there.

It is just the Senate president.

Nothing gets voted on in the Senate without his approval.

(inspirational music) - We're here representing thousands of people whose voices have been silenced.

Women are the fastest growing prison population, so they should be able to affect the laws that are impacting their children and their community.

Your vote is your voice, so let's go pass SB 1733.

(advocates cheer) - It's a fact.

- Pass the RACE Act.

- It's a fact.

- Pass the RACE Act.

- It's a fact.

- Pass the RACE Act.

- I have a lot of hope in making sure that this bill is passed because one, it's important to me, but it also will affect the lives of everyone in my community.

Senator Michael Hastings, so 121C is on the other side.

- Okay.

- It's like you're looking for like find Waldo.

121.

Because you have to find these people.

Is this a Senate office?

In the time that you have to talk with them, sometime you are met with empathy, but a lot of the time, you're met with like, "What do you want?"

Hi, are you Senator Hastings?

- Hey, guys.

- Hi.

- Please don't do that in here.

- We did get to talk to Senator Hastings.

We were met with a little bit of combativeness.

- [Hastings] Is this about voting, too, it looks like?

- Yes.

- Yes.

- [Hastings] I'm gonna have to review this, guys.

Do you have a card or something?

I can get back to you guys after.

- [Camille] And then he said that he needs to review the bill.

He's been saying no, but we really need him to say yes.

- [Hastings] I appreciate you guys.

- Hi, is Senator Castro available.

- Yes.

- He's in committee.

- Yes.

- She's with me.

- Can we leave some information about the RACE Act?

Senator Harris, we need him to co-sponsor.

I'm Camille.

I'm with Chicago Votes and we're here to lobby for the RACE Act.

Everybody know Ms.

Betty?

- Right?

- Right.

I know we asked you before to co-sponsor the bill, but we wanted to see if you're still interested in doing that, which will be the RACE Act.

- I already co-sponsored it.

- Oh, okay.

Well then, we good.

- Keep doing that.

Keep doing it.

Keep doing it.

- This is great.

We got you as a question mark.

- We need you to co-sponsor.

- I got you.

I got you.

- Okay.

- How are you doing today?

- I'm good, how are you?

- I'm good.

Is Senator Cunningham in?

Yes, there is committees happening, but even our interactions with some of the receptionists was also very eye-opening.

- [Receptionist] She's in a meeting right now.

- Like we can't come in or we can't leave any literature for an elected official or as if we're bothering them.

Hi.

And that can be a little discouraging.

But at the end of the day when you leave, it's like, hey, I did my duty as a stakeholder and as a eligible voter to ask an elected official, "Hey, can you say yes or can you support this bill?"

We're going to Patrick Joyce.

(melancholy music) So we didn't get our bill passed, but I'm not discouraged because there is a chance that it can be revisited in the spring.

Pass the RACE Act.

So then we basically start all over making sure we get more support for the bill.

Bye, Springfield.

(contemplative music) The way that I keep pushing forward when leaders stand in the way, keep showing up, meet them with a smile, meet them with grit, meet them with resilience because giving up is not an option.

(contemplative music) (contemplative music continues and fades)