Chicago actions protest cop killings, cover-up

Justice Dept. announces probe of city police

Militant/Alyson Kennedy

Arrest of cop who killed Laquan McDonald and firing of police chief have not stopped protests as city is forced to release videos showing more cop killings. Above, Dec. 6 march of 400.

BY JOHN HAWKINS
AND ALYSON KENNEDY

CHICAGO — More than 400 demonstrators chanting “16 shots and a cover-up” marched here Dec. 6 as part of almost daily protests against the police killing of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, efforts of other cops at the scene to falsify their accounts and the city government’s fight to cover up the killing.

McDonald was shot and killed Oct. 20, 2014, by Chicago cop Jason Van Dyke. Video footage shows McDonald walking away when Van Dyke shot him 16 times, 14 when he was already lying on the ground. Van Dyke was arrested and charged with first-degree murder Nov. 24, more than a year after the killing.

Under pressure from the wave of protests, the city has released additional previously suppressed videos. They show police using Tasers and brutally abusing Philip Coleman in a city jail, leading to his death, and the shooting of 25-year-old Ronald Johnson in 2014.

The protest, called by Rev. Jesse Jackson, president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, and a number of Black church leaders, demanded: prosecution of all the cops at the scene of McDonald’s killing, appointment of a special prosecutor to replace Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez to prosecute Van Dyke, and a Justice Department investigation of the police department.

“We cannot trust the Chicago Police Department to investigate itself. Nor can we trust Anita Alvarez to prosecute herself. She is a person of interest in this,” Jackson said. “We’re going to continue dignified and disciplined non-violent protest until we see some action on these demands.”

Mayor Rahm Emanuel fired Police Chief Garry McCarthy Dec. 1 and then appointed a five-member “task force” on police accountability.

That day Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan announced she had “requested the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division to initiate an investigation to determine whether practices by the Chicago Police Department violate the Constitution and federal law.”

The Justice Department announced Dec. 6 it would begin a “far-ranging” investigation into the Chicago cops, expected to last for months.

On Dec. 4, the city released the statements of the other cops on the scene when Van Dyke shot McDonald. All repeated the story Van Dyke fabricated to justify the shooting — that McDonald was walking toward him in a threatening manner — a story clearly contradicted by the video.

Significant numbers of Caucasians, Asians and Latinos joined the majority Black crowd at the march.

“I’m out here because I have a son and a daughter. I remember how the police treated me when I was coming up,” Greg Norris, an African-American respiratory therapist, told the Militant. “All the cops who were there and did nothing to render aid to Laquan and instead participated in the cover-up should be prosecuted. They are accessories to murder.”

“I’m here today for justice and to push for real accountability in policing,” said Brett O’Brien, a Caucasian teaching GED classes at the Cook County Jail. “You can’t stand by when you see an injustice done like what was done to Laquan. An injustice to one is an injustice to all.”

“It’s time for Black people and all who support us to take a stand. It’s what we had to do during the Civil Rights Movement,” said Willie Johnson, a retired cab driver. “I was involved in all kinds of actions in Baton Rouge [Louisana]. I took part in the march from Bogalusa, where the Deacons for Defense were based, to Baton Rouge. We have to do it again.”

“This is the first protest I have been to,” computer programmer Robert Grider said. “I came because of the corruption and lack of accountability at City Hall. It is clear to me that the mayor covered this up to help win re-election.”

Speakers at the Thompson Center rally included representatives of the Service Employees International Union, Black Lives Matter Chicago, clergymen and state and city elected officials. “If we don’t get action on our demands we will march again next week,” Jackson said.

New videos swell protests

After months of fighting to keep the video of the killing of Ronald Johnson hidden, City Hall released the tape Dec. 7 showing Chicago cop George Hernandez shooting Johnson in the back as he was running away. County prosecutor Alvarez gave an hour-long press briefing concluding that she “could not establish beyond a reasonable doubt that the actions of officer Hernandez were not reasonable and permissible,” and said no charges would be filed.

“I’m not going to stop until I get what I want for him, and that’s justice,” Dorothy Holmes, Johnson’s mother, told the press after Alvarez’s announcement. Holmes has filed a lawsuit in the killing.

That evening protesters in Washington Park on the South Side where Johnson was killed demanded Hernandez be indicted.

Related articles:
Baltimore: First cop on trial in killing of Freddie Gray
Attacks on right to free speech are blow to the working class
Fight cop brutality, defend free speech!

Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home