Protesters Call For Rahm's Resignation At U.S. Mayors Conference

By aaroncynic in News on Jan 20, 2016 10:57PM

A demonstrator interrupted a speech during the U.S. Conference of Mayors to call for the resignation of Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

April Goggans, a member of the group Black Lives Matter in Washington D.C., spent about ten minutes standing silently in front of a podium holding a sign that read “16 shots & a cover up #LaquanMcDonald #ResignRahm” during a speech by Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. Emanuel was scheduled to speak later at the event on a panel discussion about reducing violence. Goggans was joined by a handful of others standing behind a media pool, at least one of which held a sign reading "Black Lives Matter."

“Elected officials need to know that we are everywhere,” Goggans told CBS2 in an interview after she left the podium. “We are going to disrupt them. Black people are still being killed by police as these mayors keep investing in the police and not divesting from them to invest in black communities.”

According to CNN, Emanuel’s office didn’t remark on Goggans’ protest, but later during the panel Emanuel said:

“Every encounter between law enforcement and a resident is a teachable moment. The trust factor is not just a goal, it is a key ingredient to effective community policing, which is what you need for safety."

In a statement, organizers with the group BYP100’s D.C. chapter, along with Goggans and other Black Lives Matter activists, said that Emanuel speaking on the panel was an insult.

“The presence of Mayor Emanuel on a panel about Reducing Violence and Strengthening Policy/Community Trust is horrifically audacious,” read a letter directed towards the U.S. Conference of Mayors. “It is slap in the face to the Black people who have survived years of documented police torture in Chicago, currently live under police terror, and have seen repeated cuts to areas that are critical to violence reduction and strong communities, such as education and community health.”

The group also reiterated its call for divestment in the Chicago Police and investment in “the futures of Black Chicagoans.” Additionally, they issued a list of demands for other U.S. mayors attending the conference. Some of their demands include the removal of all monuments to white supremacists in New Orleans, that the Baltimore officers who shot and killed Keith Davis Jr. be suspended, Washington, D.C. refuse to provide any municipal services to federal buildings until it’s granted statehood, and justice for many victims of police violence in several cities.