Jay Travis has lived on the South Side of Chicago for 43 years and knows this story all too well — a young black male is killed by police and nothing is done about it.
Travis loves her city and the Bronzeville neighborhood she calls home. And that’s exactly why she says she’s out protesting.
She’s on the streets of Chicago to support the young black leaders in this community that she believes are likely the only reason a white Chicago police officer has been charged in the 2014 shooting death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald.
But she also carried outrage after city officials released a graphic dash-cam video showing an officer Jason Van Dyke, who is white, shooting McDonald, who is black. McDonald was shot 16 times by Van Dyke, who according to court documents, began firing within 30 seconds of getting on the scene and six seconds of getting out of his patrol car, according to court documents.
There’s no audio in the video, so it is unclear what is being said, but as McDonald veers away from two officers with their guns drawn, he spins and falls, writhing as shots keep hitting his body, sending puffs of smoke into the air. At least one shot hits him while he is on the ground, according to court documents. His lifeless body remains on the street.
Many in Chicago have been bracing for protests as city officials described the nature of the video and then urged calm after releasing it following a judge’s ruling.
“We love our neighborhoods, but unfortunately this has been a persistent problem in terms of excessive force being used by the police and the murder of black people with impunity by the police,” Travis says. “So we’re out of here for love for our city, we’re out of here pushing for change … and we’re out here because we value the lives of black people that live throughout the city”
At one point, a group of protesters seemed to form a circle and chanted names of those they said were also victims of police violence in Chicago.
Police officers ‘are like a gang here’
For 23-year-old Columbia College student Elliott Wills, this is personal.
He says as a black male in certain parts of Chicago, you just get used to being targeted by the police.
“Police officers [are] constantly pulling people over on the side blocks and unlawfully searching them and unlawfully detaining them, you know just doing whatever they want to,” he tells CNN. “You know, they’re like a gang here.”
It’s a popular phrase, one even chanted on the streets as protesters took to Michigan Avenue in the city.
They repeated “16 shots” as they calmly walked down the main road, and “We hear the shots bang, the police are a gang.”
Wills says he was arrested last week sitting in his car and eventually charged with simple assault. He doesn’t say it with shame. He says it’s all part of the norm.
“It’s something you get used to as you get older in the city. Honestly when you travel outside the city, you notice a big difference. It’s not like how it is here. People walk outside, and it’s a sense of tension and you really feel it in the air when you’re hear versus being in California or somewhere.”
There’s a divide he says that’s certainly noticeable when you cross from the North Side, which he describes as “a chill environment,” into the South Side, which Wills likens to “a police state.”
“It’s very unjust; we’re modern slaves out here, and there should be change so I’m very adamant about this,” Wills proclaims.
He’s proud to be out on the streets taking part in peaceful protests, and he hopes it will build awareness and stop another incident from happening
“Chicago is in a bad place right now,” he says. “I just want it to get better. This is my home.”