Jesse Jackson calls for resignations over Chicago police shooting

The Tribune reported that Cook County Commissioner Jesus “Chuy” Garcia and U.S. Reps. Bobby Rush and Danny Davis walked with the throng, which pushed off from just north of the Chicago River and parked itself in the street in front of the iconic Water Tower about a mile north. Police kept their distance from the protesters and blocked traffic from entering Michigan Avenue.

Listen to robo call from Rev. Jesse Jackson ” Join us Friday, the day after Thanksgiving at 11 a.m., MI and Wacker Drive to march down the Magnificent Mile to express our outrage and our sense of dignity”, the message said. “Let them just feel the empty cash registers”, the speaker shouted. The police tried to use the two vehicles to box him in against a construction fence on Pulaski Road.

Chanting “Stop the cover up, 16 shots” and “Black power”, demonstrators marched through rain and mist along Michigan Avenue, shutting down the avenue’s northbound lanes and partially blocking the southbound lane as shoppers stood in the sidewalks.

Thousands of people of all races descended upon Michigan Ave.

Marchers carried signs calling for justice for McDonald and for the creation of a community police accountability council.

“We need bold comprehensive change in the police department and the criminal justice system”, Jackson said during a news conference at his Rainbow PUSH headquarters.

Judge Peggy Chiampas said the state’s attorney’s office recommended dropping the charge against 22-year-old Malcolm London and told London he was free to go. He noted there’s a lot of energy in the aftermath of the video being released but wondered whether protesters will be able to maintain their momentum.

Jackson said his group is planning on protesting on State Street on some unspecified future date. “We’re building on those, and we’re trying to revamp anything that’s negative”.

In a statement in May, a spokesman for the IPRA said, “We have no credible evidence at this time that would cause us to believe CPD purged or erased any surveillance video”. She also added that they wanted to make sure they were following all the rules so the indictment would not be dismissed due to tainted evidence. “The officer went into the Burger King, and he erased all seven of those files”, Futterman said. People laden with shopping bags paused to take in the scene and to wait for a chance to cross the street. The demonstrations, which at times blocked some of Chicago’s busy Interstate highways, were largely peaceful, some turned confrontational during the night.

“And if people peel away the onion on what’s happening right now in the policing world, you’re going to find a police department that’s doing an exceptional job”, he said.

“Police departments and police unions have used this support to their advantage by creating the narrative of such controversial events and by counting on the support of colleagues who were eyewitnesses as well as the mass media”, said Themis Chronopoulos, a lecturer in American history and culture at the University of East Anglia. The union’s vice president, Jesse Sharkey, did take part in the march. This week, police, under the Freedom of Information Act, released new footage of the shooting, including four dashcam videos. Van Dyke, who had been on administrative duty since the shooting last October, was charged with murder on Tuesday. In a dash-cam video, released hours after Van Dyke was charged, however, McDonald can be seen walking away from the officer before his body strikes the pavement as he is shot.