Protests Erupt in Chicago on Black Friday Over Shooting of Teenager
But one luxury store manager said the effects were “obviously bad for us” as the typical Black Friday scenes of sidewalks and stores packed to the rafters with shoppers fighting for bargains were replaced by sparsely occupied stores and protesters wandering along the middle of what became for much of the afternoon a pedestrianized North Michigan Avenue.
Demonstrators block the entrance to Victoria’s Secret as they protest the shooting of Laquan McDonald who was killed by a Chicago police officer in October 2014, Friday along Michigan Avenue. Some wonder if it is all about the political interests of Alavarez, Rahm and even Chicago Police Superintentent McCarthy. The officer, a 14-year veteran of the police department, had a history of civilian complaints of misconduct, according to data obtained by the Chicago-based watchdog group the Invisible Institute.
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.
“The protesters did take over the street for sometime today blocking stores but it seems to have been a safe experience thus far”, said John Curran, a vice-president of marketing for The Magnificent Mile Association.
The protests are placing Chicago, America’s third-largest city, in a familiar spot historically, as a hotbed for social justice movements ranging from violent Vietnam War protests and the “Battle of Michigan Avenue”, to the peaceful 2006 pro-immigration rallies that drew as many as half a million protesters into the Windy City.
The 17-year-old boy was shot by a police officer 16 times last year, and videos have recently surfaced conveying the violence involved in the incident.
“Explain to me why Tom Balanoff would be at the front of a march for a dead black child”, Maze Jackson said. “To watch this video and see that young man shot 16 times and the police said they shot him because they feared for his life?” It was the police who maintained a code of silence despite at least seven other officers who witnessed the shooting at close range. “People of all races are out here supporting this stoppage of profits over people”, said Phillip Jackson, founder of the Black Star Project, an educational and mentoring organization on Chicago’s South Side.
“A police officer is supposed to protect us”, said Deborah Lindsey, 66.
The protest began – the same as others this week – with a mass of demonstrators at the Michigan Avenue Bridge.
The video released Tuesday shows McDonald jogging down a street and then veering away from Van Dyke and another officer who emerge from a police SUV drawing their guns. They chanted, “If we don’t get it, shut it down”. “I just want to shop!”
Bishop Larry Trotter, senior pastor of Sweet Holy Spirit Church, has endorsed Alvarez’s challenger, Kim Foxx, who said Alvarez took too long to charge Van Dyke with murder.
“We’re willing to step back so they could step up”, Barclay said. “Don’t expect that to change”, he said. Van Dyke’s lawyer says the officer felt his life was in danger.