November 5 protest to commemorate birthday of Rekia Boyd, an unarmed bystander killed by off duty CPD officer Dante Servin in 2012.
Chicago, IL—(ENEWSPF)—November 3, 2014. On Wednesday November 5, families and loved ones of people who have lost their lives at the hands of Chicago Police will rally with supporters outside police headquarters at 3510 S. Michigan. Those speaking out will include Martinez Sutton, representing the family of Rekia Boyd, Cynthia Lane, the mother of Roshad McIntosh and Panzy Edwards, the mother of Dakota Bright.
Dante Servin, the off duty CPD officer who killed Rekia Boyd, is scheduled to be tried for shooting a civilian. The trial is set to begin on December 3rd. He is charged with involuntary manslaughter, reckless discharge of a firearm and reckless conduct.
The families of those killed by police say they want the officers who shot their loved ones to be held accountable. Cynthia Lane, speaking at a press conference about the officer who killed her son, said, “I don’t know age, nothing. I don’t know what he looks like. But, if it was the other way around and somebody had killed the police officer, their name, their age, their address, their nationality, everything, where they’re from, their whole history would have been on the news.”
Organizers of the demonstration say on the event’s facebook page that Rekia Boyd’s family needs support not only commemorate her life, but to bring attention to the often unrecognized violence against women at the hands of the police.
The event description states, “Though the crimes of police brutality and sexual violence against women of color have been committed systematically in Chicago and throughout the U.S., these stories remain unheard… Please join them to protest the ways in which the Chicago Police Department obstruct, rather than uphold, the rights of women of color to raise their children in safe and healthy environments without the constant threat of senseless violence.”
At the demonstration family members and loved ones of those killed by police, along with their supporters, will make the following demands:
1. We advocate for an end to all beatings, sexual abuse and torture of women of color by the police and demand an end to the impunity given to police officers for their crimes.
2. We demand that Dante Servin’s charges be raised from Manslaughter to 2nd Degree murder and that he be convicted in court.
3. We demand that the Chicago Police Department’s disproportionate use of deadly force against black residents be investigated by the State’s Attorney for Cook County, Illinois Anita Alvarez.
4. We demand an investigation into the deaths of all individuals killed by CPD by the Department of Justice.
5. We demand for an elected Civilian Police Accountability Council (As called for by the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression) to serve as a democratically elected committee that oversees the actions of the Chicago Police Department to ensure true justice is being carried out, and the community is involved in matters of hiring, firing and the accountability of the actions of those in the force.
