By Frank D. Hill

photo of blurry newspaper

This erasure was created using language from pages 4 through 6 of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Investigation of the Chicago Police Department.

force practices:
an erasure

the people	of Chicago	have a right

an obligation	to protect themselves	from threats of harm

including deadly harm	which may arise	in an instant

CPD officers	engage in a pattern	of using 

force 	deadly force	that is unreasonable

CPD officers’	force practices	result in avoidable shootings

in violation of 	the constitution	routinely

officers engage in	tactically	unsound
	
unnecessary	foot pursuits	unreasonably	

shooting	unarmed	individuals
	
without justification	officers endanger 	public safety

could	be addressed	through cultural change

unreasonable force	against	children
	
people in mental health crisis	tragic shooting deaths	officers’ accounts	

of force incidents	were discredited	by video evidence

officers used	unreasonable	unnecessary

force	no accountability	helped create a culture

	force

not	be	questioned

Frank D. Hill is a freelance writer and (happily) former attorney and mediator who lives with his wife and daughter in Illinois. His poetry has appeared in Communion Arts Journal and as part of the online exhibit, Dream Geographies


Why we chose this piece: We really like the concept, minimalist structure, and execution of this poem, and it’s striking that Frank used a DOJ report to illustrate his point. This piece does exactly what it needs to do and does it successfully.

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