Tensions flared in this Midwestern city after officials released a dashcam video on Tuesday showing officer Jason Van Dyke shot Laquan McDonald 16 times after the teenager walked away from him in October 2014.
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“Find a door! Shut it down!” protesters shouted. “Black lives matter not Black Friday!”
With Michigan Avenue largely emptied of vehicle traffic, leaving people to move anywhere they wished, the district suddenly had a festive atmosphere.
Witnesses to the shooting told Jamie Kalven, an independent journalist and human rights activist whose nonprofit called the Invisible Institute filed a Freedom of Information Act request to have the dashboard camera video released, that police tried to shoo witnesses away from the scene after the shooting instead of collecting names and other information. It’s not just the police chief. Only 10 people have been arrested in Chicago this week.
Many protesters said they believed they could garner attention from Chicago officials by demonstrating on one of the country’s major retail days and harming the city’s economy. “Not anymore though”, the protester said.
Protesters took to the streets of Chicago for the second straight night Wednesday, to rally in the city’s downtown. “We’re going to facilitate the protests”.
In the wake of the video’s release, protesters and community leaders want a Justice Department investigation similar to ones conducted into the police departments in Cleveland and Ferguson, Missouri, and one now being conducted in Baltimore. “Get a piece of paper, 8 1/2 by 11, and write “We’re open” on it and paste it on every one of your windows, letting people know you’re open”. “It’s just not going to happen”. It isn’t known yet how much the protests on Michigan Avenue will affect Black Friday sales, however, once the day is over and retailers have tallied the amount of sales and gross revenue earned in comparison to previous Black Friday sales during former years, they will report those findings.
During Friday’s demonstration, officers blocked off the entrance of the Water Tower Place.
“16 shots!” are stopping traffic as a march begins in Chicago’s Magnificent Mile shopping district.
“We have to stop business as usual until we stop police terror”, protest organizer Grant Newburger said. Milling tourists posed for selfies in the middle of Michigan Avenue, which was shut down to vehicles for hours.
“I see a lot of activity”, he said.
However, fellow shopper Keefe Powell said the protesters were in the wrong place. “Department stores have nothing, nothing, nothing to do with this”, he said.
They hope their impact will hurt Black Friday shopping and will bring about the changes they want in both the police department and the state’s attorney’s office. Garry McCarthy to resign over their handling of the case.
Also the timing of the graphic dash cam video release the same day that Van Dyke was charged with first-degree murder seems a little manipulative to many.
“See this handsome black lady?”
Police accounts of the shooting reported the teenager was acting strangely and lunged at officers with a knife. “That is your job”, Foxx xaid.
Hatch told WLS that the protests call for a change in the Chicago criminal justice system. Van Dyke had to be restrained from reloading his weapon.
“The superintendent needs to be fired, too”, he said.
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Johnny Reed, a 24-year-old Chicago native now living in Washington, D.C., said he was back in town for the holidays and “supporting home”.
