Chicago Protesters Support Laquan McDonald On Black Friday

Bernie Sanders said the death was a reminder of the need for criminal justice reform. He didn’t give details.

“These activists in Chicago have been active, savvy people, unlike in Ferguson, where there’s not as long a history of protest activity around police matters”, says Michael Kazin, an expert on social movements at Georgetown University in Washington.

The Laquan McDonald shooting video, which shows a Chicago police officer firing on the teenager 16 times, was released Tuesday, sparking heated protests across the city the same day the officer involved was charged with first-degree murder.

“People listen to economics”, protester Chris Lewis said as he joined others blocking the door to the Ralph Lauren store. Some stores along MI voluntarily locked their doors as the march went past. Protesters blocked the entrances to dozens of high-end stores, turning a handful of customers away by force and dissuading many more simply by their presence.

Cook County Commissioner Chuy Garcia, who forced Emanuel into the first-ever mayoral runoff, thinks there would have been a different outcome for that election had the video of Laquan McDonald being shot 16 times been released sooner. “Black lives matter not Black Friday!”.

A group of protesters cut off the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s speech on Laquan McDonald’s deadly shooting short Friday when they pulled the leader’s microphone and stormed the podium while he spoke outside the historic Water Tower.

Several detectives barged into the Burger King demanding the password to access surveillance footage that would have captured the crucial minutes before and after Officer Jason Van Dyke opened fire on the 17-year-old, killing the black teen, the Chicago Tribune reported. The video’s release has set off days of largely peaceful but angry protests by young activists in Chicago’s downtown that has drawn national attention. Mark Carter, a One Chicago organizer, is exhorting the crowd to, “Stop watching the show”.

Others took a more draconian line. The officers are not responding. “Justice for Laquan. Which side are you on?” and “16 shots” were still more. A visitor from Fort Dodge, Iowa, 35-year-old Monica Rentz, was taking photos to send to friends as she stood outside her hotel on Michigan Avenue.

“I’m totally, totally sick of these kids getting killed”, she said, “but that has nothing to do with me using the bathroom at the f– Crate and Barrel”.

Jackson, who’s president of the Chicago-based Rainbow PUSH Coalition, noted how the city opposed the release of the video until a judge finally ordered its release under a reporter’s Freedom of Information Act request. The protesters, many holding umbrellas and plastic-wrapped signs, took to the streets in the steady rain instead.

He says his organization, the Chicago Alliance Against Racism and Political Oppression, is pushing for an elected, civilian police accountability council.

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.

The dashcam video showing McDonald’s death is painful to watch.