By Chinta Strausberg, Chicago Crusader William Calloway, the activist whose persistence led to the release of the infamous Laquan McDonald police video, has started a fundraising drive to prevent violence and raise awareness in the Black community. Calloway is executive director of Christianaire, a not-for-profit organization geared towards violence prevention,
By Jessica D’Onofrio , Leah Hope and Tanja Babich, abc7chicago.com Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez asked Thursday to be recused from the Laquan McDonald murder case and for a special prosecutor to be appointed. Dashcam video released in November 2015 shows the black teen was shot 16 times by
By Chinta Strausberg Pastor Marvin Hunter, from Grace Memorial Baptist Church who is the great uncle of Laquan McDonald, Wednesday voiced concern over the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) reportedly hiring McDonald’s murderer, former officer Jason Van Dyke as a janitor. “It looks like a conflict of interest in hiring
By J. Coyden Palmer, Chicago Crusader Citing recent criminal trials against Chicago police officers and a general mistrust of Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez, a group of civil rights attorneys are asking for an independent prosecutor in the Laquan McDonald case. The request was made on March 23 before
By Sarah Karp, bettergov.org The videotaped shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald by a Chicago police officer was a criminal act, according to prosecutors who have charged the cop with the teen’s murder. But the death represented something else: The culmination of a series of failings by other taxpayer-funded systems that
HUNGER STRIKERS SPARKED local activism as they persuaded city officials in August to keep Dyett High School in Washington Park open. Social injustice, disparities shows need for Black activism They represent a variety of organizations and believe the key to their ultimate success is by having small egos, no official
Andrea Kersten Months after raising concerns about Chicago police officers’ conduct in the shooting death of Dexter Reed, Andrea Kersten, the head of the agency that investigates police misconduct, resigned under pressure just days after Mayor Brandon Johnson promised to clean up City Hall by firing “disloyal” department heads. Kersten
Mayoral recall campaigns are being threatened in Chicago, Los Angeles and elsewhere as voter dissatisfaction and media criticism mounts. However, for Democratic voters, the “recall movement” appears to be a backdoor attempt by conservatives or “dark money operatives” to circumvent voting rights and part of a campaign to undermine Black
The top 25 individual funders of Eileen O’Neill Burke’s bid to be Cook County’s top prosecutor include no African Americans and no women, a WBEZ analysis of her Illinois campaign filings has found. Those 25 donors — venture capitalists, investment managers, traders, real estate developers, upscale restaurant chain owners, personal-injury
Body worn camera screen shot showing the moments before Dexter Reed was shot by Chicago Police who fired upon him 96 times in 41 seconds. Disturbing videos of Chicago police officers killing 26-year-old Dexter Reed after firing 96 shots at him sparked protests and ripped open new wounds in the
Julianne Malveaux It has not yet been sixty days, but in two scant months the 47th President has upended business...
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