This Tuesday, December 1, 2015, Mayor Rahm Emanuel of Chicago asked for the resignation of Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy. This happened at a press conference that was heavily attended by protestors that were unsettled by how the city was handling the murder of a black teenager by the Chicago Police.
At this press conference, Mayor Emanuel also described a new task force he is hoping to implement; the task force will be dedicated to reviewing “how the city trains and oversees its police officers, and consider input from victims’ rights representatives, law enforcement organizations, and youth and religious leaders.”
The unrest in Chicago is not unlike what is being protested by Black Lives Matter campaigns across the country. More and more American cities are beginning to speak out against police brutality aimed at African Americans. New York City, Ferguson, and Baltimore have been key cities to the movement, as well as cities with the most instances of police brutality targeted predominantly at black males.
Chicago joined the list of affected cities in October 2014 when teenaged Laquan McDonald was shot repeatedly to death by an officer who spotted the young man carrying a knife yards away with his back turned to the officer. The footage of the incident was released recently after a journalist claimed in court that the video is public record.
Seeing the murder on tape brought even more protestors of brutality to the streets of Chicago, and landed the officer with a first-degree murder charge. The officer, however, walked out of jail on bond and is merely suspended from the force.