Posted on 05/27/2007 11:42:45 AM PDT by Chi-townChief
They came Saturday carrying photographs of their sons and daughters who were murdered with guns. Some wore the children's pictures on T-shirts or lapel buttons.
Rev. Jesse Jackson led them, almost 200 people in south suburban Riverdale, with rhetorical flourish.
"Futures not funerals!" Jackson exhorted the crowd. "Sons not guns!"
Chuck's Gun Shop, 14310 S. Indiana Ave., was the target of the protest. The protesters blamed Chuck's, which is just across the border from Chicago, for many of the guns on the city's streets.
Marching with Jackson were Tommie and Pamela Bosley, whose 18-year-old son, Terrell, was shot to death April 2006 in the parking lot of his Far South Side church before choir practice.
Next to Jackson stood Chicago Police Officer Ronald Holt and his wife, Annette Nance-Holt, a firefighter, the parents of Blair Holt. The 16-year-old honor student was shot to death May 10 when an alleged gang member boarded a bus and opened fire on a rival, police said. Michael Pace, 16, and Kevin Jones, 15, have been charged with murder.
"I feel sorry for the offenders. My heart goes out to them. They were children," Ronald Holt said.
Jackson and Revs. James Meeks and Michael Pfleger encouraged the crowd to push for stricter gun laws. They vowed that the rally was just the beginning and that civil disobedience was possible.
"We have a right to live without fear. We have the right to ride the bus without fear," Jackson said.
The Riverdale gun shop was prepared for the protest.
A semitrailer truck parked in front of the store blocked protesters' access. The store's front doors were locked.
About 30 counterprotesters stood outside the store. One man carried a sign that read, "Jesse -- How many armed guards do you have?"
jkimberly@tribune.com
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
If the gang - bangers had pushed their rivals under the bus, would there be calls to ban buses? Attack the GANGS, and fix (from within!) the hopelessly degraded social environment thet allows gangs to establish and flourish- leave law abiding citizens alone!
Kinda’ looks like it.
That's an interesting concept. How about extending that? The gun manufacturers who supply firearms to police depts and the ammunition makers should agree jointly to stop sales to entire cities or states who advocate gun bans. If guns are so evil then COPS shouldn't have them either! What do you think?
“it sank to almost nothing there...”
that’s because criminals and liberal scu&bags are afraid of an armed and free populace.
Realistically? I have to go with Lenin, here: "When it is time to hang the capitalists, they will sell us the rope."
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