Vol. 79/No. 39 November 2, 2015
The Independent Police Review Authority recommended in September that the veteran officer be fired — a first in the board’s history. Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy has 60 days left to accept or reject the agency’s recommendation.
After McCarthy told the hearing he needed more time, speaker after speaker detailed their own experiences with police brutality and called for Servin’s immediate firing.
“You had three years,” said Aislinn Sol, a leader of BlackLivesMatter Chicago. “You don’t need another 60 days.”
“Stand up or step down, McCarthy,” said LaCreshia Birts, a member of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and Black Youth Project 100. “Stand up and hold police who commit crimes against civilians accountable.”
“The only reason for the decision to recommend Servin’s firing is due to the people sitting behind me who have organized march after march for Rekia Boyd,” said Dan Fein, representing the Socialist Workers Party. “The police do not ‘serve and protect’ working people. The role of the cops is to defend this system of exploitation and to put working people in their place. Fire Servin now!”
A contingent of young activists from Fight for $15 attended the hearing, including Solo Littlejohn, a worker at Kentucky Fried Chicken in Cicero, who is African-American.
“Fight for $15 supports the Rekia Boyd struggle,” Littlejohn told the Militant, “because both are about justice for workers.”
“It’s been over three years since my sister got killed,” Martinez Sutton, Boyd’s brother, told the rally. “I didn’t get an apology from the mayor. The police superintendent didn’t apologize to us. She is just dead. This decision should have been made back in 2012.”
On Oct. 12 Sutton spoke at a protest to mark the one-year anniversary of the police killing of Ronald Johnson, 25. He was killed near Washington Park in south side Englewood, where the vigil was held.
“We can’t do this fight by ourselves, but united as one we are powerful,” Sutton said, turning to Dorothy Holmes, Johnson’s mother, and her family.
The Cook County medical examiner’s office said Johnson died from multiple gunshot wounds and ruled his death a homicide. But the cops claim Johnson was shooting at them and they fired in self-defense. Holmes has been fighting for the release of the cops’ dash-cam video that she is sure would show that Johnson was unarmed and shot in the back.
Related articles:
DC rally reflects rise in Black rights struggle
1995 march, 2015 rally point to fights to come
‘We want truth about what happened to our son’
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home