We Charge Genocide was a far-left community organization based in Chicago, Illinois, that advocated for defunding police and claimed police target minorities in their enforcement efforts. The name We Charge Genocide was inspired by a United Nations petition in 1951 which alleged that police were committing racially motivated murders and “human rights abuses.” ¹

The organization sent a delegation to the United Nations Committee Against Torture in 2014 to protest the Chicago Police Department and persuade the committee to label the department as “a source of torture in the United States.” ² The organization also criticized then-President Barack Obama for wanting to increase police funding, saying that police funding should be reduced in favor of education and public health spending. ³

The organization stated that it operated “intentionally outside of the nonprofit industrial complex,” which We Charge Genocide alleged “has sometimes silenced community advocates from being able to propose radical ideas and solutions.” ⁴

Activities

Delegation to the United Nations

In November 2014, We Charge Genocide sent eight people to the 53^rd session of the United Nations Committee Against Torture to “increase visibility of police violence in Chicago and call out the continued impunity of police officers who abuse, harass, and kill youth of color in Chicago every year.” ⁵

The organization’s representatives walked out during the second day of the proceedings and engaged in what it called “a historic protest inside the United Nations during the presentation of U.S. Government representatives.” ⁶ We Charge Genocide hoped the United Nations Committee Against Torture would issue an official statement which would say the Chicago Police Department was “a source of torture in the United States.” ⁷

Support for Defunding Police Departments

We Charge Genocide opposed President Barack Obama’s call to increase police funding and community policing. We Charge Genocide wrote a report on the issue, and its report claimed that “Chicago’s ‘community policing’ program is used to provide political cover for aggressive enforcement of so-called ‘quality of life’ crimes–and even for the physical displacement of people of color from gentrifying neighborhoods.” ⁸

The organization claimed that meetings which the Chicago Police Department held as part of the Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy were “permeated with racially coded language, where police officials inappropriately encourage small groups of self-selected residents to harass young people of color and target low-income housing.” ⁹ We Charge Genocide criticized President Obama for his stance, saying “the solution is not, as President Obama suggests, renewed commitment to community policing and further investment in law enforcement.” ¹⁰ The organization claimed, “the appropriate response is to reduce funding for police agencies and reinvest that money in social services like education and public health that will meet real community needs.” ¹¹

Closure

We Charge Genocide lasted for two years before closing in 2016. ¹² The organization claimed that it “worked in solidarity with our comrades and co-strugglers across the city to support the ongoing mobilizations against police violence.” ¹³

We Charge Genocide said its most important accomplishment was providing “a space and container at a critical time in Chicago for disparate people to learn, grow and build together,” claiming that “evidence of this success exists in the current interventions that were born out of relationships that were built through WCG.” ¹⁴

Organization

We Charge Genocide was “not a 501c3” and said that it does “this work intentionally outside of the nonprofit industrial complex” because the nonprofit industry “has sometimes silenced community advocates from being able to propose radical ideas and solutions.” ¹⁵

1. “About.” We Charge Genocide. Accessed October 30, 2023. http://wechargegenocide.org/about/.
2. “We Charge Genocide Sends Delegation to United Nations.” We Charge Genocide. Accessed October 29, 2023. http://wechargegenocide.org/summary-of-we-charge-genocide-trip-to-united-nations-committee-against-torture/.
3. “Community Policing is Not the Answer.” We Charge Genocide. Accessed October 30, 2023. http://wechargegenocide.org/press-release-community-policing-is-not-the-answer-countercaps-report/.
4. “About.” We Charge Genocide. Accessed October 30, 2023. http://wechargegenocide.org/about/.
5. ^[1] “We Charge Genocide Sends Delegation to United Nations.” We Charge Genocide. Accessed October 29, 2023. http://wechargegenocide.org/summary-of-we-charge-genocide-trip-to-united-nations-committee-against-torture/.
6. “We Charge Genocide Sends Delegation to United Nations.” We Charge Genocide. Accessed October 29, 2023. http://wechargegenocide.org/summary-of-we-charge-genocide-trip-to-united-nations-committee-against-torture/.
7. “We Charge Genocide Sends Delegation to United Nations.” We Charge Genocide. Accessed October 29, 2023. http://wechargegenocide.org/summary-of-we-charge-genocide-trip-to-united-nations-committee-against-torture/.
8. “The Community Engagement Arm of the Police State.” We Charge Genocide. Accessed October 30, 2023. http://wechargegenocide.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/CAPSreport-final.pdf.
9. “Community Policing is Not the Answer.” We Charge Genocide. Accessed October 30, 2023. http://wechargegenocide.org/press-release-community-policing-is-not-the-answer-countercaps-report/
10. “Community Policing is Not the Answer.” We Charge Genocide. Accessed October 30, 2023. http://wechargegenocide.org/press-release-community-policing-is-not-the-answer-countercaps-report/.
11. ^[1] “Community Policing is Not the Answer.” We Charge Genocide. Accessed October 30, 2023. http://wechargegenocide.org/press-release-community-policing-is-not-the-answer-countercaps-report/.
12. “Sunsetting We Charge Genocide.” We Charge Genocide. Accessed October 29, 2023. http://wechargegenocide.org/sunsetting-we-charge-genocide/.
13. “Sunsetting We Charge Genocide.” We Charge Genocide. Accessed October 29, 2023. http://wechargegenocide.org/sunsetting-we-charge-genocide/.
14. “Sunsetting We Charge Genocide.” We Charge Genocide. Accessed October 29, 2023. http://wechargegenocide.org/sunsetting-we-charge-genocide/.
15. “About.” We Charge Genocide. Accessed October 29, 2023. http://wechargegenocide.org/about/.