http://themilitant.com/2015/7939/793905.html
The Militant (logo)
Vol. 79/No. 39 November 2, 2015
(front page)
Chicago protest demands: ‘Fire
cop who killed Rekia Boyd’
BY ALYSON KENNEDY
AND DAN FEIN
CHICAGO — More than 150 people turned out for a Chicago Police Board
hearing here Oct. 15 to demand that detective Dante Servin be fired for
the shooting death of 22-year-old African-American Rekia Boyd on March
21, 2012. Protesters have been at every monthly board hearing since
Servin was acquitted six months ago on charges of involuntary
manslaughter, reckless discharge of a firearm and reckless conduct.
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