Beyond the settlement: Helping Chicago’s many survivors of police torture

Curious City

WBEZ Chicago

Investigation, Chicago, Radio, Arts, Society & Culture, Public, Education, Curious, City

4.6 • 661 Ratings

🗓️ 13 November 2025

⏱️ 16 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Chicago passed a reparations ordinance 10 years ago for the survivors of police torture committed under the direction of disgraced Chicago police commander Jon Burge. As we learned in our last episode, monetary reparations alone cannot heal decades of trauma. In this episode, we take a closer look at the limits of monetary settlements and what else survivors need to heal. We also take a look at how Chicago’s reparations ordinance is looking 10 years later with Aislinn Pulley, the executive director of the Chicago Torture Justice Center, which was established as part of the reparations ordinance.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Curious City is supported by the Poetry Foundation with a reminder that Chicago is the pulse of poetry.
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0:54.5	Sources and methods, the crown jewels of the intelligence community,
0:59.0	shorthand for how do we know what's real, who told us?
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1:11.7	really happening and what it means for you. Sources and Methods, the new National Security
1:16.6	podcast from NPR. I love how WBEZ shows different sides of the story. I never feel like it's
1:23.1	too polarized. And I think the reporters do an excellent job of trying to get the full story,
1:27.2	trying to show different other sides. I'm often, when I'm listening to public radio, think in my mind, well, what about X? Or like, I have another question? Or like, have they thought about X? And most of the time, W.B.E.C. thinks about all of it, which I really appreciate. What's up, Chicago? I'm Erin Allen, and this is Curious City.
1:48.9	As a warning for sensitive listeners, this episode describes police torture.
1:54.4	Chicago has had a lot of nicknames. Here's one that nobody would want.
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