Timothy Glaze was murdered by CPD on January 3rd, 2025. This statement was given at a protest outside the 10th district police precinct which employs his killers on January 8th.
When I think of how Timothy Glaze was executed by CPD pigs and taken from his loved ones in the early hours of January 3rd, I am reminded of a part of a poem by Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer:
“[he] left in a blaze
and bid no one farewell
not even his flesh
not even himself..”
Timothy was murdered in a blaze of gun fire. He was experiencing a mental health crisis and needed assistance. But when his partner Charlotta called 911, Timothy got bullets instead. 28 shots into his 125 pound body—his cancer ridden body, which doctors suspected may have entered his brain prompting confusion—enough to walk around with a pear knife like a pen, to lash out, but not something that warranted his execution. Not something that gave officers a license to kill.
Miss me with the bullshit that officers feared for their lives; when you volunteer to have a Glock strapped to your waist at all times; when you roll with a gang of 15 officers, don’t give me or his loved one’s that bullshit excuse. While they still get to go home to their families, Timothy’s body lies cold and stiff in a morgue. Hugs and kisses have been replaced with tears and anger.
My comrade and I went to the scene of Timothy’s murder (on the 6th floor of Albany Terrace) and spoke with his partner Charlotta. As she recounted the events of Timothy’s death (standing on the spot her sweetheart lay dying), I imagined what Timothy’s last moments could have been like. He was standing in the hallway, no more than three steps between the elevator and the apartment he and Charlotta shared, then an elevator ding, police radios, shouting, then silence. Did he say a prayer? Did he bid his loved ones farewell? Did he know he was going to die? Did he see it coming?
There are no sufficient answers to these questions. Timothy should be alive, not dead. He and Charlotta should be getting burritos and tacos. They should celebrating her birthday and eating cake together. He should be with those who loved him.
But Timothy Glaze is dead. He was murdered. His life was stolen like the countless others murdered by the police—whose lives have been reduced to numbers; whose names have been smeared in the mud (as if they deserved it); memories denigrated by the false promises of politicians and non-profit grifters looking for new ways to cash checks, gain status and solidify their careers. We don’t need anymore [insert bullshit reform]. The pigs don’t kill people because they’re not well-trained or because no one’s watching them or supporting them; they kill because they are trained to kill, while we and others watch, while the oversight boards watch, while the politicians, and the capitalists pump more money and dollars to control and surveil us. So long as police operate under this system, they will kill and brutalize because that’s what keeps us in line. The pigs, the politicians, the capitalists (that strip money and exploit poor communities, pump our stolen wages into the police, jails and other state death machines) want to keep us downtrodden, so we lose our fight, so we become complacent.
They threaten people’s basic needs when they step out of line. Like the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) building manager threatening Charlotta with eviction. For what? For rendering care and compassion to a man she’s known for years; suffering from cancer, who the city and its progressive mayor Brandon Johnson left on the street homeless like countless others. They want to punish a disabled woman for something the police is responsible for, as if she’s the troublemaker. As if Timothy was the troublemaker——as if his life meant nothing.
Enough is enough.
The people victimized and brutalized by this system must take a stand, we must wage a struggle against these entities and fight for justice so that no more lives are stolen.
Timothy’s life mattered. The lives of the countless others murdered by police nationally mattered. They will not be forgotten and their deaths will not be forgiven. Not until their murderers are put behind steel bars, not until the complicity of politicians and non-profit grifters is exposed and not until those funding and lobbying this American nightmare are plucked from their alters and punished for their crimes.
My thoughts and prayers to Timothy’s loved ones.
May Timothy live on in our struggle.
No more stolen lives! Justice for Timothy Glaze!
Dare to Struggle 