feature: “young, black activists emerge amid repeated police controversies in chicago”

Since the death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald last year (shot and killed by Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke), young, black activists have been at the forefront of frequent protests in the city – described by the Chicago Tribune in a recent article as “a younger generation taking the baton from activists who fought racism and police violence throughout the 20th century.” The Tribune adds: “For the past four weeks, activists — overwhelmingly black and mostly in their teens and early 20s — have marched down the middle of busy streets during rush-hour traffic and lain down in intersections. They have rushed the Magnificent Mile on the year’s busiest shopping day, locking arms and blocking store entrances […] But protests are just one facet of the young activists’ work. They research and write reports on sociological issues, mapping out reforms to revitalize black communities. They organize voter registration drives and urge people in their neighborhoods to work within the system and help elect politicians who will further their causes.” One of these activists, 20-year-old Ja’Mal Green, tells the Tribune: “Not everything we do is exactly new, but we’re bringing a fresh look to protesting. We look at Martin Luther King’s way of peaceful protesting, which is pretty much taken for granted, and Malcolm X’s saying, ‘By any means necessary,’ and put those two together.”

By Alexander Aplerku, AFROPUNK Contributor