• CHICAGO PROTESTS

Live Updates: Chicago Protests and Unrest

South Shore activists call for an end to police violence and economic disinvestment

Activists gathered in Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood Monday to clean up after this weekend’s looting along the 71st Street commercial corridor. They denounced the destruction of property, but they also shared the community’s frustrations with years of police abuse and economic disinvestment.

“We shouldn’t have to destroy anything to be heard,” said activist Will Calloway. “Why we got to be destructive to be heard?

“Like [Martin Luther King Jr.] said, riots are the voices of the unheard,” Calloway continued. “Our people, the black people, do not feel heard. Not just in Chicago, but in Minneapolis, in New York, Atlanta, [Los Angeles], all across the country. We want justice for our people.”

The activists called for a comprehensive economic development plan for the neighborhood and for the Chicago Police Department to meet its deadlines under a federal consent decree.