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NEWS & LETTERS,
January-February 2003
We came, they ran!
Chicago--The first Police Board meeting of the year was
held Jan. 9. President Demetrius Carney called the meeting to order and said,
"I will call all those who called to speak." Mr. Larry Marshall, with
family members standing beside him, gave a moving speech for his 11-year-old
granddaughter beaten by three white male police officers. Then, like a hurricane, around 30 brothers and sisters
from the Chicago Public Housing complexes came in, not waiting to be called on
to speak. The procedure is that one must call before 4:30 pm the day before. The
brothers stated that they "wanted the procedure in writing." The
Police Board didn't have it in writing. So the brothers said they were "going to speak
anyway tonight." President Carney and the rest of the Police Board members
began to shake. They adjourned the meeting. The entire Police Board and
Superintendent Terry G. Hillard ran out through the back door. But the brothers
and sisters from the Public Housing complexes spoke, as well as anyone else who
wanted to, for more than 40 minutes. You must remember this: it occurred at the Chicago
Police Headquarters. When Superintendent Hillard and the Police Board members
ran out of there, there were more than 30 police officers in and around the room
before they called for their backup. That happened Thursday. Friday Governor George Ryan
pardoned four men. Saturday Ryan gave clemency to 160-plus. What a way to start
a new year. --George Wilfrid Smith Jr. |
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