The Daily Northwestern Tuesday, January 22, 2019
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Lawrence Crosby settles with city Former student f iled suit after a wrongful arrest By KRISTINA KARISCH
daily senior staffer @kristinakarisch
Noah Frick-Alofs/Daily Senior Staffer
Civil rights activist Benjamin Chavis Jr. speaks at an annual vigil honoring the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. Chavis said King was a leader who willingly helped others despite his high-profile status.
Activist recalls work with Dr. King At vigil, Benjamin Chavis Jr. calls for economic, political justice By JOSIAH BONIFANT
the daily northwestern @bonijos_iahfant
During a Monday night vigil honoring Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy, civil rights activist Benjamin Chavis Jr. fondly
recalled King offering to help him put up fliers, despite his high-profile status. “When you’re a leader, you never ask a follower to do something you’re not willing to do,” he recalled King saying to him. The event, an annual
tradition organized by the Alpha Mu Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity since 1980, attracted more than 100 people at Alice Millar Chapel for a night of performances and speeches. As the event’s keynote speaker, Chavis shared personal anecdotes from working with
King in North Carolina in the mid-1960s. Chavis discussed links from his past activism to the current social climate. Chavis described workers affected by the ongoing government shutdown » See VIGIL, page 6
Former Northwestern graduate student Lawrence Crosby settled a lawsuit this month with Evanston two years after the release of a video that shows his violent arrest by Evanston Police Department officers. Crosby, who earned his PhD from McCormick last June, was arrested on Oct. 10, 2015, after someone mistook him for stealing a car that he owned. EPD charged him with disobedience to police. Following the dismissal of his charges at trial, Crosby filed a lawsuit against the city and the four officers who stopped him, which was settled this month for $1.25 million. At a Sunday press conference, Crosby said he wants to spark a conversation about bias. “I want to take my experience and use it as an example
for change — change that leads to a society where what happened to me is less likely to happen again to anyone,” he said. “I have just completed a three-year journey to clear my name. But my journey is not finished. Today I am starting on the next leg of that journey.” EPD released the video of the arrest in 2017, compiling footage from Crosby’s personal dashboard camera, police dashboard cameras, audio recordings of the 911 call that prompted the arrest and conversations between police officers. The video has since been taken down from the city’s YouTube channel. On the night of the arrest, a woman called 911 to report a man was breaking into a car. That man turned out to be Crosby, who is black, and the car was his own. When he heard the woman honk her car horn at him repeatedly, he got into his car and drove away. She followed him in her own car and informed police of where he was driving. When they arrived, police pulled Crosby over. Crosby exited his car unprompted, » See CROSBY, page 6
NU reacts to Van MLK celebrations call for equality Dyke sentencing Fleetwood-Jourdain Community Center hosts performances, speeches Students, professors grapple with results of CPD case By CATHERINE HENDERSON daily senior staffer @caity_henderson
CHICAGO — As a citizen of Chicago and the adoring aunt of black children, Paula Hooper felt a mix of emotions — fear, disappointment, anger — when she heard former police officer Jason Van Dyke would serve only 81 months in prison for the murder of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald in October 2014. Last Friday, after a day of emotional testimony, Judge Vincent Gaughan sentenced Van Dyke to almost seven years in prison, three months after a jury convicted him of seconddegree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery — one for each shot he fired at McDonald. The sentencing marks the end of a long legal process, but it was not the result many people wanted. “This is a tragedy for both sides,” Gaughan said. “This is not pleasant, and this is not easy.” Hooper, a School of
Education and Social Policy professor, said she thought the judge carefully calculated the shortest sentence he could give Van Dyke without making it look like just a “slap on the wrist.” She said this gives officers permission to “dehumanize” black people without consequences, protecting the racism inherent in the police system. “(This sentence is) about recognizing why black people don’t feel protected by this legal system,” Hooper said. “People had to work so hard for so long to get this one case to have adjudication and there are hundreds if not thousands of cases similar to this that did not come to light.” Laquan McDonald’s killing reshaped Chicago and the national debate over police brutality, resulting in intense criticism of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the release of hundreds of videos of police violence, reforms in the Chicago Police Department and Van Dyke’s trial, as well as a trial for three other officers who were acquitted on Thursday for charges of covering up the murder. As for the Northwestern community, Hooper said » See VAN DYKE, page 6
Serving the University and Evanston since 1881
By SUZY VAZQUEZ
the daily northwestern @suzy_vazquez
Evanston communit y members called for equality and unity at an event on Saturday, as the city celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day with performances and speeches at the FleetwoodJourdain Community Center. The event started with a performance of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” by the Second Baptist Church children’s choir. In his opening remarks, Ald. Donald Wilson (4th) paid tribute to former Evanston mayor Lorraine Morton, the city’s first African-American mayor who served from 1993 to 2009. Morton passed away last September. Evanston Township High School junior Chloe Ann Smith delivered the keynote speech. S mith said she has attended the celebration for many years and even performed at past celebrations. Throughout her speech, she focused on King’s origin story, noting his upbringing in the church and his appreciation for Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience.” Smith
Photo courtesy of Tim Rhoze
ETHS junior Chloe Ann Smith delivers the keynote speech for the Martin Luther King Day festivities. She said Evanston still has a lot of work to do to achieve King’s vision.
also stressed the importance of unification in Evanston. “We claim Evanston as a diverse community — it’s not,” Smith said. “We may go
to school with everybody else, but at the end of the day, we are all going home to our different wards. It takes people who want to go out and meet
new people and form the type of world that Dr. King wanted where there are blacks » See MLK, page 6
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