Chicago activists and residents are moving forward with their fight to force Mayor Rahm Emanuel to resign after the fatal police shooting of Harith “Snoop” Augustus on Saturday, July 14.
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Emanuel, who Chicagoans have protested against for several years because of the Chicago Police Department’s troubling history of brutality, made himself look even worse during a visit to a city cafe Thursday. The mayor, who was there to meet controversial Illinois gubernatorial candidate J.B. Pritzker, was caught on video ignoring mothers of police shooting victims, a Black Lives Matter Chicago video posted to Facebook revealed. Several mothers were at the unnamed eatery to meet Pritzker to talk about police shootings.
The video isn’t the only way that Emanuel has been called out this week. Chance the Rapper’s purchase of the Chicagoist news site put eyes on several of his songs that mention the mayor. Chance has also called for Emanuel to get his walking papers.
“And Rahm you done, I’m expecting a resignation, and open investigation on all these paid vacations for murderers,” the rapper said in the song “I Might Need Security,” which was released overnight Wednesday (July 18), CBS Chicago reported.
The video and songs came as an estimated 100 protesters put Emanuel on blast at his home in Ravenswood Thursday. The CPD’s handling of Augustus’ fatal shooting had the community on edge after another Black life was senselessly taken with no substantial audio or video released by cops, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
An edited body camera video clip was made public to keep the peace between protesters and cops, Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said. However, activists are not buying that. They are also not letting Emanuel forget the embattled department’s history of oversight, as well as his own.
“There is no reason that Rahm Emanuel should get to sit in his ivory tower, unscathed and unbothered by this moment,” Tanya Watkins, an organizer with Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation, said.
Activists demanded several things after Augustus’ shooting: transparency in the investigation and court proceedings; the release of all camera footage from body-mounted cameras; and the names of all officers on the scene at the time of the shooting. The protests will continue until their demands are met, they said.
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They Have Spoken: Black Chicagoans Keep Snatching The Wig On Mayor Rahm Emanuel was originally published on newsone.com
