Members of the Chicago chapter of Black Youth Project 100, an organization of young black activists between 18 and 35, are in the midst of what they pledge will be a 28-hour protest outside Mayor Rahm Emanuel's office in City Hall. The length of the sit-in, which comes in response to a Missouri grand jury's decision not to indict Ferguson, Missouri police officer Darren Wilson for the shooting death in August of unarmed teenager Michael Brown, is what organizers say is the average number of hours between incidents in America of a young black person being shot and killed by police, security officers or "self-appointed vigilantes."
The Black Youth Project is calling on Mayor Emanuel, Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy and other city officials to take a leadership role in achieving fair police treatment of black citizens nationwide. Time Out photo editor Martha Williams spoke with several of the protesters and their supporters this afternoon, and asked what brought them individually to make a stand.
UPDATE: The Black Youth Project 100 members and supporters who remained in City Hall after hours ended the sit-in shortly before 7pm after police began threatening arrest, tweeting that they'd made the decision collectively.
We made a collective decision to not take arrest tonight. We will deepen our campaign work and we will be ... http://t.co/HPF92FflvA
— BYP100 (@BYP_100) November 26, 2014