“To this mayor, black and brown lives do not matter”: 3 Arrested at Die-In at Rahm Emanuel’s Office

from In These Times:


“To this mayor, black and brown lives do not matter”: 3 Arrested at Die-In at Rahm Emanuel’s Office
Protesters demand reforms to alleged abuses in Chicago’s criminal justice system, including a discriminatory “stop-and-frisk” program and secret interrogation site.

BY YANA KUNICHOFF


A chaotic scene played out on the fifth floor of Chicago's City Hall Tuesday morning. In one corner, clergy members argued fervently with police officers amid a scrum of journalists to be allowed in to Mayor Rahm Emanuel's office to present their demands on police accountability.

Behind them, dozens of protesters looked on as 30-some activists lay on the floor in a die-in—a protest action that’s become a mainstay of the Black Lives Matter movement—belting out “We Shall Overcome.” And behind the rope separating Emanuel’s office from the protest, a slowly growing number of police officers trickled in to stand between the clergy and their eventual target: the door leading to the mayor’s office.

“We just want to talk to the mayor,” came the entreaty from the negotiating clergy.

In the end, it took three arrests and nearly an hour of testimonials and consultations before four clergy members were allowed past the rope barrier to present their demands to a member of Emanuel’s staff. The protest—led by the Community Renewal Society, a religious-based social justice organization—was the latest in a series of actions aimed at pressuring Emanuel to address alleged police abuses that have come to dog his campaign for reelection ahead of the April 7 run-off.

The day before the protest, the American Civil Liberties Union released a report showing that Chicago police stopped more than 250,000 people last summer for questioning without making any arrests—a policy that closely mirrors the “stop and frisk” program in New York City that came under heavy scrutiny before being scaled back by Mayor Bill de Blasio. And allegations that the Chicago Police Department ran an interrogation center where suspects were held without being officially booked—essentially keeping them “off the books”—have made international headlines. ...............(more)

http://inthesetimes.com/article/17786/to-this-mayor-black-and-brown-lives-do-not-matter-3-arrested-at-die-in-at-r