The protest drew the attention of several high-profile figures who have previously campaigned for the movement. The Rev. Jesse Jackson, former mayoral candidate and Cook County Commissioner Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, and U.S. Reps. Bobby Rush and Danny Davis walked with the throng.
Advertisement
There was an element of the surreal throughout the day.
Shoppers on the second and third floors of a Crate & Barrel could be seen lining up along windows taking pictures with their phones of throngs of protesters in the streets. North Michigan Avenue merchants haven’t said how the protests hurt their bottom line. So the Black community wants to know has Alvarez thrown us under the bus again?
The Chicago Sun-Times’ initial reports had Laquan McDonald as a threat to the safety of the police officers on the scene. A few stores simply locked their doors.
Thousands have protested on Chicago’s main shopping street against the killing of a black teen by a police officer.
Not everyone was enthusiastic about the tactic.
Van Dyke’s lawyer has said the officer opened fire because he feared for his life and the lives of other police officers when he saw McDonald had a knife. “I feel sorry for him, and what they did is wrong, but don’t take away other people’s freedom”.
Marchers carried signs calling for the creation of a community police accountability council.
Cook County State Attorney Anita Alvarez described the dashcam video after Van Dyke appeared in Court. She also added that they wanted to make sure they were following all the rules so the indictment would not be dismissed due to tainted evidence.
When evidence from the police dash camera was released, things did not exactly encourage a peaceful march from the mob. Two of them were arrested because of traffic-related offenses and one was detained because of battery.
“Don’t shop on Black Friday, and go down to Michigan Avenue and sit down in the street and block the street on Michigan Avenue with civil disobedience peacefully, and say, ‘Business as usual can’t go on while our children are dying, ‘” Rev. Michael Pfleger said during his sermon November 22, according to DNAInfo Chicago.
That’s particularly true in Chicago, where one “bad apple” too often has signaled a bushel of cover-ups and other problems underneath.
“I’m outraged”, said Gabriel Sheridan, a teacher at Ray Elementary School in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood.
“In commerce terms you can think of this as a snow day”.
“The path forward is to keep people united, to keep people watching out for each other, to try to teach people to treat each other with respect and kindness”.
“The police leadership has to change as well as its infrastructure”, Jackson said moments before Friday’s march. The union’s vice president, Jesse Sharkey, did take part.
Some of the officers say they are concerned the city’s police force has become a political football and is not getting enough support from Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and police chief Garry McCarthy.
McDonald, said to have been carrying a folding knife, was shot while walking away from Van Dyke, who fired every bullet in his gun, including several after McDonald had fallen to the ground.
Laquan McDonald died in a hospital after Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke allegedly shot him 16 times previous year.
Emanuel and McCarthy described the shooting of McDonald as an unusual and tragic incident and called on the public to protest peacefully, with the mayor noting that McDonald’s family had asked people not to resort to violence in the teen’s name.
McCarthy said the officer, who had been on desk duty while the shooting was investigated, is no longer being paid.
Advertisement
Citizens have filed between 17 and 20 complaints against Van Dyke over the course of his 14 years with the CPD, for issues ranging from excessive force to improper use of a weapon to racial slurs. Water Tower Place has a very close working relationship with the Chicago Police Department.
