Members of the Englewood community are participating in a Press Conference and Protest against Police Brutality, Thursday, December 14th 2006 at (2448 W. 63rd St. 11:00 a.m.). Englewood residents and community activists are speaking out to protest the arrest, harassment and attacks on Englewood leaders such as Shawn Essex and William N. Burch--as well as to speak out against the police continued assault on Englewood's youth via unconstitutional police actions. This serves notice to the local law enforcement that the Englewood community will not sit idly by while their liberties are under attack.

William N. Burch is Banking and Finance Chair for the Englewood Black Chamber of Commerce and a Candidate for 15th Ward Alderman. Shawn Essex is Vice President of Englewood Black Chamber of Commerce and COO of Unitec Worldwide. Mr. Essex the driver and Mr. Burch the passenger were on their way home on Monday December 4th 2006; when they were pulled over by a CPD Squad car that immediately turned into four (4) squad cars. Mr. Essex was taken into the 7th district police station and Mr. Burch who previously had never had a brush with the law or a criminal record of any kind was charged with Disorderly conduct. Both men were verbally abused and Mr. Burch was physically assaulted. Mr. Burch filed a report with the Office of Professional Standards on Wednesday, December 6th, 2006 and later that evening the young men were pulled over again by the same officers that pulled them over on Monday and were asked if they were going to file a complaint against them. Clearly, it is law enforcement, which is breaking the law, not these citizens. The attacks on Shawn Essex and William Burch are one more example of how local law enforcement breaks the law and suppresses dissent in Englewood.

William N. Burch is the eldest of three children born to Debra Burch. William attended Chicago Public Schools and graduated Alexander Von Humboldt Elementary and Ronald Amundsen High School. Thereafter, William received a Bachelor of Science degree, with a concentration in Business Management from Robert Morris College. Inspired by his belief that a well-informed community is a thriving community, William founded the Chicago Family Foundation in 2003, with the mission of "Making a Difference in Today's Community, While Reaching Tomorrows Future." In 2004 William served as President of Black Community Foundation located in Chicago's Lawndale community. He is a dedicated advocate of job training and workforce development, and believes that the foundations first responsibility is to help young men and women become active members of the economic mainstream, with a secondary goal of assisting in the growth of the business community. Most recently William has been the project coordinator for the 2006 Englewood safe playspace project held March 21, 2006. William is also an active member in Morrill Elementary Local School Council. William was also the recipient of the 2006 Blacks in Government (BIG) Community Service Award and the 2006 National Leadership Award. William also serves as co-chair for TEAMwork Englewood's Strategy Taskforce.

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