Rev. Johnson and Dr. Karanja are individuals of impeccable integrity and their witness can be trusted. And it is certain if such an attack took
place on the elderly, pacific Sokoni Karanja that worse is happening every minute to young black and brown people throughout the city.

Please read Rev. Johnson's moving open letter.
Thank you,


From Rev. Susan Johnson

The following "Open Letter" details injuries sustained by Dr. Sokoni Karanja at the hands of 21st District Police on Saturday, June 26. Please call your alderman and the Police Department and demand an investigation
into the conduct of the offending officers. Please pass this letter on to others.


Open Letter to the Community
28 June 2004
"Walking Your Dog While Black"


This last Saturday evening, well before sunset, a dear friend of mine - and an important civic leader and upstanding citizen - was thrown to the
sidewalk by five police officers just blocks from his home in Bronzeville. With injuries to his wrist and shoulder still being assessed, he now has stitches above one eye. Why was he attacked by the police? He was walking his dog while black.

Dr. Sokoni Karanja is a well-known community leader who has made it his mission for 32 years to educate the young children of Bronzeville and reach out to their families. He teaches self-reliance and mutual respect in a climate of compassion and generosity. He was walking his dog when stopped by police in a squad car. Initially asked if his dog's license was current
(it was), he was later asked to produce personal identification (which he was not carrying with him). He remained calm and respectful; my daughter testifies that he is the most gentle human being she has ever known. When it was obvious that he was being stopped for no reason, Dr. Karanja began to move on. To walk his dog. The officers called for backup and for blocks attempted to bait and entrap him into something they could arrest him for. Unable to pierce his dignity with harassment, they resorted to force. Five officers, claiming he was "using his dog as a weapon" grabbed him, seized the dog, and threw him to the ground. "When we say 'stop'," one of them bellowed, "this is what we mean." Had not a retired police officer and neighbor arrived on the scene, it might not have ended there. The police took Dr. Karanja to the hospital and then had the unmitigated gall to book him for assault.

Why do we tolerate police brutality and harassment in our community? Do we really believe that such bullying by authorized thugs makes us safer? Do we think that systematically terrifying local residents does anything besides destroy the mutual respect and civic pride we have worked so hard for? In its heyday, long before the Civil Rights movement, Bronzeville
elected its own informal black mayor - a civic leader whom the people could trust and take pride in. Of course, that mayor, along with every black
citizen of Bronzeville, was subject to the terror of police raids, verbal harassment, and physical violence. So many years later, some things
haven't changed.

Dr. Karanja could be elected the mayor of Bronzeville. A winner of the MacArthur Genius Award, I have even heard him introduced as "the Ghandi of the South Side." But this weekend he was just a black man walking a dog. I am outraged by this abuse of power by the City of Chicago Police. A free society that tolerates this could unwittingly agree to anything.

Rev. Susan B.W. Johnson
Hyde Park Union Church