Responding to the recent New York and Missouri grand jury decisions not to indict police officers in the killings of Eric Garner and Michael Brown, more than 200 Christians, Muslims and Jews of all ages and races from communities across Chicago converged at Water Tower Place in the early afternoon Dec. 7.
Three days earlier, during an interview with CBS Chicago, activist Father Michael Pfleger issued a call to communities of faith to unify and speak out. Members from St. James Episcopal Cathedral, Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago Sinai Congregation, Holy Name Cathedral, LaSalle Street Church and Shambhala Center responded by holding signs declaring Black Lives Matter, while engaging in a solemn reading of the names of Black men who have been killed as a result of excessive police force and prayer.
This followed a peaceful march across a one-block radius of the Magnificent Mile all under the eyes of Chicago Police Department ( CPD ) officers.
This was just one of many similar protest events held around Chicago, some faith-based, and others more independent.
"We are here as people of faith gathered to raise our voices with and for those who are not being heard," Associate Pastor for Mission at the Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago Rev. Vicki Curtiss asserted. "We are not here to vilify or confront the police. We are here to protest the killings of Black unarmed males that has become sanctioned violence in our country. We're responding to a justice system that is not working, to the inequalities of our times, to the plight of those in poverty, to the fear that our brothers and sisters of color deal with every day."
Rabbi David Levinsky of the Chicago Sinai Congregation told Windy City Times that prejudice against all groups of peopleincluding the LGBTQ communityneeds to be highlighted. "It's both overt and subliminal," he said. "If the events of the past two weeks draw attention to the fact that this kind of prejudice is still very much a part of our society, generating violence and that there are groups of people who want to respond to it, I think that's a small step forward."
Fourth Presbyterian Church elder Betty Hutchison had a response to those using more overt generalities in order to defend police violence. "I have heard that some people say 'well, Blacks are engaged in crime so naturally they're getting arrested all the time, so they're the ones who get shot'," she told the crowd. "In my immediate family, starting with my father over 70 years ago and continuing with my husband, sons, my grandsons; every single one of them has had an encounter with a white policeman. It is not a crime problem. It is a perception problem."
Joining the demonstrators was 7th District Cook County Commissioner and 2015 Chicago mayoral candidate Jesus "Chuy" Garcia.
"There isn't a relationship between community residents and police; there's lots of distrust," he told Windy City Times. "I think there's also a structural problem in terms of the criminal justice system and that's why these incidents have occurred all over the country. We should not let Eric Garner's death end with a grand jury's incomprehensible decision not to file charges. I think the people gathered here from across the city and in cities all over the country [say] there's a better way and we need to struggle for greater justice and equality in the treatment of people everywhere."
Garcia also leveled criticisms at incumbent Mayor Rahm Emanuel. "The strategies to reduce violence in the city have been a failure, the police are also understaffed," he said. "The critical part of it is that there needs to be an improved relationship between community residents and police. There's a lack of trust and incidents like [this] will continue to happen unless you have authentic community policing."
Other rallies held across the city, including in and around downtown, have been held daily since the Garner decision in New York.