Demonstrators Demanding Police Accountability Arrested Outside Mayor's Office
By aaroncynic in News on Mar 25, 2015 8:00PM
(Works from a pop up art gallery demonstration held in front of Rahm Emanuel's office in City Hall earlier this month to educate visitors on police torturer Jon Burge./ Photo: Aaron Cynic/Chicagoist)
Three people were arrested outside Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office at City Hall yesterday, after demonstrators held a “die-in” to demand reforms to the Chicago Police Department. According to Reuters, about 100 demonstrators packed the fifth floor, singing “We Shall Overcome,” demanding the mayor meet with them on the heels of a report released by the ACLU that showed Chicago Police outpace even New York City in stop-and-frisk practices.
In These Times reports the demonstration was organized by the Community Renewal Society, and is the latest in a series of actions several groups have put together to demand transformation in the Chicago Police Department. Charles Anderson, an activist with CRS told ITT:
“We have asked the mayor since December to meet with us and discuss police brutality, but [his office] still did not respond at all. We are back because to this mayor, black and brown lives do not matter. He does not care, and he has not made any effort to show us that he cares.”
The ACLU report is just the latest in a string of issues the department has had. The report showed CPD conducted a quarter million stops that did not lead to an arrest, with Chicagoans being stopped more than four times as often as people in New York City. Record keeping of the stops is sketchy and they disproportionately target people of color, most often, African Americans. Chicago police have frequently dismissed those and other allegations.
The demand for police accountability has heated up in recent months, with near regular demonstrations taking place in City Hall and throughout the loop. Over the weekend, a group of activists, along with Martinez Sutton, brother of Rekia Boyd, held a rally demanding justice for the 22-year-old woman who was shot and killed by an off-duty detective some three years ago. In the last few weeks, several demonstrations and a pop-up art exhibit were held on the fifth floor calling on the City Council to pay reparations to the torture victims of former CPD officer Jon Burge. The department’s facility in Homan Square, where more than a dozen people have alleged they were held and abused without the ability to contact legal representation or family, has also come under fire from protesters.
After an hour’s worth of testimony and the three arrests, four clergy members were allowed to present the group’s demands to a member of Rahm Emanuel’s staff. Among those include ending stop and frisk practices, reforming the City’s body camera program and creating an independent citizen oversight board which would replace the appointed Independent Police Review Authority.