Julia Kline
Nominating Committee
To look at me, some might assume I’ve never experienced police violence firsthand. But when I was 15 and got caught smoking weed, I was almost raped by those two police officers.
Many people have unfortunately experienced much worse; but I nonetheless have a visceral understanding of the kind of reverberating trauma that is inflicted when bad cops abuse their power and authority.
It is therefore my dogged mission, in allyship with dozens of community groups engaged in similar efforts, to identify the most significant weaknesses in Chicago’s labyrinthine police accountability system,
pressure lawmakers to overhaul those weaknesses with legislation, and finally create real police accountability. My ultimate goal is a right-sized police department that serves and protects ALL the residents of Chicago.
In addition to this work, I am a self-employed sales, marketing & fundraising consultant and serve on the Board of the League of Women Voters of Chicago. For fun, I play board games and go to the theater; and I keep active with basketball, yoga and swimming in the lake. Plus you can find me riding my pink beach cruiser all year long in Hyde Park, where I’ve lived since 2019 with my cat Smoky.
