Protesters attend a rally in Chicago’s Loop calling for Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez to resign in the wake of a police scandal, Thursday, Dec. 10, 2015, in Chicago.
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The pastors are circulating a petition of “no confidence” in Emanuel, and are supportive of a Chicago state lawmaker’s proposal to allow for the mayor to be removed from office, a measure that was introduced Wednesday.
The footage was kept from the public until last month and was released upon a judge’s order.
Attorneys for McDonald’s family said days ago that McDonald’s mother did not want the video made public because she was still grieving.
But the candidate expressed skepticism that a federal Department of Justice investigation into the patterns and practices of the Chicago Police Department would lead to change.
The group wants the Department of Justice to investigate not only the Chicago police department but Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Cook County State Attorney Anita Alvarez’s offices after the fatal police shooting of Laquan McDonald. The police account says that the officers feared that Cedrick had been reaching for a gun, but the object turned out to be a cellphone case.
Release of police video of the shooting and the filing of a murder charge against Van Dyke on November 24 came more than a year after McDonald’s death, and the delay, which activists blame on Emanuel and the top local prosecutor, has prompted more than two weeks of protests in the nation’s third-largest city.
“Today, I own it. I take responsibility for what happened because it happened on my watch”, Emanuel said.
Chicago-based reverend, Marvin Hunter, who is also the great uncle of McDonald, told reporters during a press conference on Friday that, “what we’re feeling in Chicago is the real feeling of America itself, and that’s injustice against people of color”.
The city had refused to release the video to a journalist, saying doing so could affect an ongoing investigation into the shooting.
The city negotiated a $5 million settlement with the family. Emanuel apologized this week.
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This comes after the mayor fired Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy and created a task force on police accountability last week. Prosecutors charged Van Dyke with first-degree murder in the shooting death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. But protests have included calls for his resignation.
