CHICAGO (CBS) — There was a
volatile protest at City Hall Thursday morning over alleged police brutality.
Demonstrators stood outside
the mayor’s office to protest police brutality, though most of the alleged
cases they cited happened in the suburbs, CBS 2’s Jim Williams reports.
“What do we have to do for
justice? Why do we have to march for justice? Why do we have to get angry for
justice? Do we have to riot? Do we have to tear things down?” Aaron Watts said.
These people should not
have been executed by police,” said Mark Clemons, of the Campaign to End the
Death Penalty.
The black community, they
said, is under siege by violent officers.
But every weekend in
Chicago, there are multiple shootings in African American neighborhoods, and
most of the gunmen are not the police. So, Williams asked this question: “What
is a greater threat to the black community, criminals and gang members on the
street or Chicago police officers?”
That sparked an angry and
emotional response from one of the news conference participants, who called it
a “stupid” question.
David Lowery of the NAACP
tried to answer it and said, “It’s not a stupid question.”
“The greater damage to the
community is black officers and white officers who continue to kill our
children because they have the position of power,” he said.
One of the protest
organizers later said it was understandable that the woman had an emotional
reaction to Jim’s question.
Her sister was killed last
month when off-duty Chicago detective exchanged gunfire with an alleged
offender. Police admit she was an innocent bystander.