Protesters took to the streets today, bringing their message of police reform to one of the city’s most powerful politicians, to the ward office of long-time Alderman Ed Burke, who is pushing for a controversial new bill that would make an attack on a cop a hate crime.
(WGNTV)- Police reform activists view that as a needless provocation during a time of high tension.
More than 50 people attended a rally on the South Side to demand police reform one day after the release of police video showing the confrontation that led to the killing of 18-year-old O’Neal, an unarmed black man who died of a gunshot wound to the back. Police say O’Neal had been suspected of stealing a car.
O’Neal’s death struck a chord with 19-year-old Nicholas Meekins, who says he’s afraid of the police.
“I’m just tired of what’s going on, and I’m here to fight for my people. I’m here to fight for myself,” Meekins said.
Ja’mal Green is a spokesman for the O’neal family. He says the killing has reopened wounds in the city that were beginning to heal after the Laquan McDonald scandal.
“One step forward, and we always take 10 steps back,” Green said. He led a march several blocks to the office of Ald. Burke.
Burke is pushing a so-called “Blue Lives Matter” bill, which would make an attack on police officer a hate crime, and carry stiff penalties.
Some protesters see a false equivalency between the Black Lives Matter movement, which grew out of a community that feels it is under constant threat, and the Blue Lives Matter, which is a slogan used to support police.