The Nick Ward campaign affirms our commitment to eradicating white supremacy, dismantling racial and ethnic oppression, and practicing antiracism. We are not only fighting for racial equity through our campaign’s platform of repairing harms caused by racial and socioeconomic segregation and oppression in Chicago. We are also committed to instituting antiracist practices in our campaign and future aldermanic office. 

Here are the steps that I will take, within my office and City Council, to further the cause of anti-racist practices at the personal, interpersonal, institutional, and systemic levels.

*Anti-Racist Staff Trainings. All staff and volunteers will be trained on how to best maintain a workplace committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion. My 48th Ward office will welcome all neighbors, but especially our most vulnerable community members, to ensure that everyone who walks through our doors receives treatment that reflects the dignity and respect we all deserve. I will meaningfully engage with at least three antiracist learnings, from resources such as Cauleen Smith's: Human Reading List 3.0 (2015). I will lead an annual anti racist training for my staff in addition to current commitments. 

*Restorative justice practices. Restorative justice practices seek to make amends for harm-caused by bringing all participants through a process of repair and accountability. I admire the work that other organizations, like the 33rd Ward Working Families, have done to institute restorative justice into their organizing work. Once in office, I will work to invite restorative justice practitioners into our workspace to help train all staff and volunteers on how best to introduce these necessary processes.

*Coalition building. No one person can represent the rich socio-economic, cultural, and racial diversity of the 48th Ward by themselves, which is why it’s important that our next Alderperson has a proven commitment to advocating for and collaborating with communities of color, LGBTQ+ people, low-income communities, and other marginalized populations.

*Pursuing policies and platforms that address legacies of anti-Black racism within housing, education, jobs, and the environment. These policies include Bring Chicago Home, Treatment Not Trauma, Human Services Workforce Advancement ordinance, re-constituting the Department of the Environment, and One Fair Wage, among others.