Hundreds of other people, principally Black girls, collected outdoor Chicago Police headquarters within the Bronzeville community Sunday afternoon to specific outrage over the botched 2019 raid of Anjanette Young’s house.
Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, U.S. Reps. Bobby Rush and Danny Davis, Rev. Jesse Jackson and City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin have been a number of the notable native and state officers who attended the rally at the South Side.
A coalition of ladies deliberate this rally after Young’s tale got here to gentle previous this month when photos of the faulty raid of her house captured on an officer’s body-worn digicam was once broadcasted on CBS, over objections from the town’s Law Department.
For a few part hour Sunday, demonstrators paced the sidewalks in entrance of Police Department headquarters, not easy justice for no longer most effective Young however for all Black girls. They again and again chanted, “You have the wrong house” — the similar remark Young instructed police greater than 40 instances whilst they raided her house.
Some demonstrators carried indicators that quoted Young’s feedback to the media, together with, “They could have shot me,” and “It felt like forever.” Others held poster forums that stated, “I am #AnjanetteYoung” and “It could’ve been you.”
Many had pinned crimson ribbons to their jackets or wore crimson equipment as a logo of unity in femininity.
“We just wanted to just say, in our outrage and our anger, ‘Hey girl, we with you,’” stated organizer Mary Russell-Gardner, who wore a crimson shawl and black T-shirt emblazoned with the phrases “Black women matter.”
When the audio system took turns on the microphone, maximum males stood in the back of the ladies. Russell-Gardner described that gesture as “empowering.”
Mary Russell-Gardner joins a protest of the botched raid on Anjanette Young’s house outdoor the Chicago Police Headquarters at 3510 S Michigan Ave. in Bronzeville, Sunday, Dec. 27, 2020.Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
“That’s what we need,” she stated. “Black women… we’ve always been that foundation, that glue for the family. And so to see us all come together and respond to demand fair justice for another sister… that was great, that’s awesome.”
A dozen officials entered Young’s house in February 2019 to execute a seek warrant, despite the fact that they have been performing on unhealthy data. Young, a social employee, stood bare and handcuffed as officials searched her position regardless of her again and again telling them they have been on the incorrect house.
“We were outraged, just speechless, can’t even fathom what that woman experienced coming into her house naked,” Russell-Gardner stated. “So that’s the main reason I’m out here for this Black woman, Miss Anjanette Young, whom I don’t even know, but I felt every pain she felt.”
Demonstrators known as for the instant firing of the entire officials who participated within the wrongful raid. Mayor Lori Lightfoot introduced closing week that the ones officials were assigned to table responsibility because the Civilian Office of Police Accountability continues its investigation into the incident. The organizers also known as for police reform and extra transparency from the town and the Police Department.
Rush stated he despatched a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., not easy that he habits a listening to “on this travesty, on this invasion, on this attack.”
“I am here to let you know and inform you that I stand for Black women, my mama was a Black woman, my wife is a Black woman, my daughters are Black women,” Rush stated all over his impassioned speech. “We will defend Black women, we will place Black women on the pedestal that they deserve. Black women matter.”
Stratton known as for coverage reform that higher protects Black girls and women.
“We cannot move forward as a society if we do not firmly commit to protecting Black women and girls,” Stratton stated. “… As Black girls and women, we deserve reputation of our…