Chicago Monitor

In this week’s Monitor Minute, Sufyan Shaltaf and Monitor Contributor Mary Norkol talk to Nasir bin Zakaria and Laura Toffeneti of The Rohingya Culture Center. In the podcast, they discuss the plight of the Rohingya and the ethnic cleansing they're facing in their Burmese homeland, the foundation for the Rohingya Culture Center, and hopes for their future in Chicagoland.

In this week's Monitor Minute, Sufyan Shaltaf talks to Alia Bilal of IMAN-Chicago. In the podcast, they discuss the organization's beginnings, their various projects, and how the community can help make a difference in its success.

In The Chicago Monitor's new podcast, The Monitor Minute, host Sufyan Shaltaf introduces a new series, "Meet Chicago." In the first episode, he interviews Choya Webb, the program manager for Peer Health Exchange, Chicago.

Comic by Saadia Pervaiz

Muslim women: usually always spoken for without being included in the discussion. How many news segments have we seen about whether or not the hijab is appropriate, without the consultation of a single actual hijabi? How many panels on women's health have we seen in countries around the world (yes, even western nations) without the input of a single Muslim woman? Too many....

By Aislinn Pulley and Frank Chapman Early on in the Police Accountability Task Force Report a democratic principle is set forth, namely, that “The police need to know who they work for — the community. The authority that they have belongs to the people.” Yet nowhere does this report address the fundamental democratic right of the people to control the...

By Frank Chapman and Aislinn Pulley Recently ten members of the Black Caucus of the Chicago City Council challenged Mayor Emanuel on his nomination/selection process for appointing a Superintendent of Police. Here is our response to this mockery of democracy. Mayor Rahm Emanuel has done what the law says he’s supposed to do – appoint the Superintendent of Police. In rejecting...

By Gerrit Hatcher During a winter marked by painful revelations of violence at the hands of the Chicago Police Department (CPD), Chicago’s Community Renewal Society has finally found the momentum to push its FAIR COPS Ordinance (FAIR COPS). As a representative of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, an organization dedicated to stopping police crimes and impunity, I have...

By Omar Alzein Bombs fall from the sky on the Syrian town of Daraa. A mother loses a son, a little girl loses her brother, and a child loses an untold future. The hopeful faces of those who marched in the massive demonstrations are now plagued with anguish, because for them home no longer exists. Their cities have been gutted,...

By Sarah Chambers As the image of Barbara Byrd-Bennett pleading guilty and apologizing to the surrounding cameras is broadcast across our city, the realities of our Chicago schools flash through my mind. I see classrooms packed to the brim, wall to wall, 40-50 kids in a classroom with the fire code waived, since these classes far exceed state law. I see roaches...