Posted on 11/07/2014 7:51:18 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
While Chicago has been portrayed as a city that has been overwhelmed with violence in the Black community, a group of protesters gathered in front of the Chicago police headquarters on Wednesday night to charge that in fact the Chicago police department is systematically targeting African Americans in the city, leaving far too many dead at the hands of Chicago police officers.
A group of noteworthy attendees at the rally was the families of young people killed by the police, who publicly recounted the circumstances of their deaths and described how they have been trying to get answers and justice for their family members.
One of the organizers was Jason Ware, with works with an organization called We Charge Genocide in Chicago. Ware accused the department of systemic racial profiling of black and Hispanic youth. Ware pointed out that much national attention has rightly been directed at Ferguson, Missouri, after the police killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown, but he said the police in Chicago were also guilty of murdering Black youths.
“The Chicago police department has a disregard for black life and officers have impunity for the crimes they commit against black residents,” he told the Guardian in an email after the rally.
The date chosen for the rally wasn’t random: November 5 was the birthday of Rekia Boyd, who was killed by an off-duty police officer two years ago while she was hanging out with friends at Chicago’s Douglas Park at around 1:00 a.m. on March 21, 2012. Boyd, who would have turned 25 on Wednesday, was an innocent bystander when Detective Dante Servin, responding to a disturbance call, arrived on the scene, though he was off-duty.
Servin exchanged words with Antonio Cross, who was also in the park. After turning away, Servin, who was in his car, claims he saw Cross pull out a gun—but it was actually Cross’s cell phone.
Servin fired five shots “blindly” over his shoulder from his unregistered gun, hitting Cross in his thumb and striking Boyd in the head. She died the next day at Mount Sinai Hospital.
“lt’s a sad day when charges are warranted against a police officer, but we feel very strongly that in this particular case Ms. Rekia Boyd lost her life for no reason and that this defendant’s actions were reckless in shooting in that alleyway that was occupied,” the state’s attorney, Anita Alvarez, said of the case.
The city settled a $4.5 million wrongful death lawsuit with Boyd’s family this past March. When Servin was charged with involuntary manslaughter, it was the first time in more than 15 years a Chicago police officer was criminally charged. But many in the Black community wanted him charged with second-degree murder since he fired into a crowd over his shoulder.
Servin’s trial starts in December and is sure to be a tense and closely watched proceeding.
At Wednesday’s rally, demonstrators led a list of demands in front of local news TV cameras.
Among them was a demand that Cook County state’s attorney Alvarez investigate the department’s “disproportionate use of deadly force” against residents in predominantly black neighborhoods of Chicago.
“We need more transparency from our local police department,” William Calloway, one of the organizers, said, according to The Guardian. “The police department needs to be more accountable to the community.”
Calloway said tensions between the police and Black communities were high across the country, but especially so in Chicago.
“There are certain black neighborhoods in Chicago that are targeted by police,” he said. “And there’s a lot of frustration starting to boil inside of these neighborhoods because we are not receiving justice for the wrongdoings of the police force.”
‘The Chicago police department is systematically targeting African Americans in the city.’
Who do they think they are, Planned Parenthood?
The number of youths killed by the police is less than one-percent of the number killed by gang members.
You know, it’s only reasoned when Black youth kill others.
When the police kill them, it just isn’t fair.
(perhaps in instances it isn’t, but I’d have to review case by case)
So, all the hundreds of dead black youths can be attributed to the cops and not to their black neighborhood thugs?
Looks to me like its the black “youth” themselves killing each other, rather than the police.
Yeah, cops shooting black yutes is the problem.
dollars to doughnuts......Chicago’s GOING to be the “next” Ferguson.
‘The Chicago police department is systematically targeting African Americans in the city.’
Is that just the white cops? Or are the black cops systematically targeting African Americans in the city.’
And the Hispanic cops? are they systematically targeting African Americans in the city.’
what about the Asian cops? Them too?
has Sixty Minutes heard about this? Or jesse or rrev al?
SSS
There is a lot of Bad Craziness afloat in black America, and the belief in genocide-by-cop when they are actually killing each other by the thousands annually is just another example of that Bad Craziness.
After the many billions of dollars black criminals cost the country in trying to keep them semi under control, these black activists have a galactic-sized gall to blame cops for their problems. Their vision of reality is 180 degrees opposed to the rest of the country.
With the advent of the internet, we now get full exposure for every whack-job group that crawls out into the sunlight to display their idiocy. Still not sure if it’s good or bad. It is amusing.
This way they can ignore the REAL problem and blame it all on bad old rasis crackers.....
I noted how when Oscar Grant was killed by the cop in Oakland, there was massive protests, lawsuits, even a Hollywood movie...but the other 300 murders seems to not cause any rage.
I noted how when Oscar Grant was killed by the cop in Oakland, there was massive protests, lawsuits, even a Hollywood movie...but the other 300 murders seems to not cause any rage.
Dint do nuffin’. Turning his life around. Aspiring rapper. Loved his fambly. Gentle giant never hurt no one.
Stop raising thugs and they won’t be shot dead.
Most of the deaths are by the hands of their own horrible neighbors but they want to focus on the cops.
Why is are neighborhoods such as these in denial of where the main problems are?
Is it too demoralizing, embarrassing, or doesn’t allow excuses if they faced the truth?
They mostly have to clean up their own houses it seems to me.
News from south of the border:
‘Mexican police kidnap 43 students, then give them to gangsters who kill them and burn their bodies.’
Jus’ keepin’ it real.
That my be true, but I was watching a black conservative on Fox News, that said blacks had told him that they didn't care if blacks killed each other. They just did not want cops doing it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.