Austin Weekly News 101018

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AUSTIN WEEKLY news ■

Vol. 32 No. 41

October 10, 2018

Arlene Jones on Laquan McDonald,

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Wh t about What b t th the other th Laquans? Page 10

Anxiety, a verdict, and then relief

Still shaken by ’68 riots, West Side braced for fallout from Van Dyke verdict By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor

After a period of heightened anxiety in the hours and days leading up to a verdict in the trial of former Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke, many people on the West Side and across the city are breathing easier — even as longstanding tensions between the police and black residents continue to simmer. On Friday, a jury found Van Dyke guilty of second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery with a firearm — four years after fatally shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, who was holding a knife while walking away from the officer in a street on the city’s Southwest Side. Van Dyke, who was also found not guilty of official misconduct, is currently being held without bond. He is the first Chicago police officer in roughly a half-century to be charged with murder for an onduty shooting. As the verdict was being announced, a crowd of local protesters — including West Side activist Mark Carter, Chicago mayoral candidate Ja’Mal Green, and community activist Jedidiah Brown — huddled near the steps of the George N. Leighton Criminal Court Building. Seconds after it was announced that Van Dyke would be taken immediately into custody, the crowd erupted into chants of “Justice for Laquan!”

SEBASTION HIDALGO/Staff

JUSTICE DELAYED: Almost immediately after Jason Van Dyke was found guilty of second-degree murder and detained without bond, a crowd of activists outside of the Cook County courthouse erupted into chants of “Justice for Laquan!” McDonald was murdered four years ago. More photos on pages 4 - 6.

A slow buildup Just a day earlier, Carter was seething during a community meeting convened by the Westside Black Elected Officials at Malcolm X College, where, in front of a bevy of local TV news cameras, and black politicians, anticipating the fallout from a possible not-guilty verdict,

urged residents to remain calm regardless of the case’s outcome. “We want to make sure we create unity and that we don’t destroy our communities,” said state Sen. Kimberly Lightford (4th), chairwoman of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus, “and that we find a way to bring calm and peace, and instruct

our young people to utilize their voice in a different way instead of violence, crime or retaliation.” Ald. Emma Mitts (37th), chairwoman of the Westside Black Elected Officials, said the group of leaders was “asking for a deep breath,” before urging residents to “talk it out.” “One devastation doesn’t re-

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quire us to create another devastation,” Mitts said. Congressman Danny K. Davis (7th) said that while he understood the anxiety and anger many black Chicagoans were feeling (“there is no calm inside of me”), he urged See VERDICT on page 4

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