Family members of victims of alleged police brutality gathered at City Hall last week to protest police brutality in Chicago.
Rosalind Morgan, wife of retired cop Howard Morgan who was shot at over 60 times by Chicago Police Officers, was adamant about her commitment to the fight for an appeal.
“I will not stop until there is justice for my husband and other victims,” said Morgan.
Her husband, Howard Morgan, a former eight-year Chicago police officer, was heading home after his shift at the Burlington Northern Sante Fe Railroad on February 21, 2005. He was stopped by four officers after heading the wrong way down a one-way street, according to reports from the Chicago Defender. Police told Morgan to exit his car. Not long after that, he was shot at over 60 times– though only 28 of the bullets hit him.
Morgan was acquitted of the four aggravated battery charges against the officers in 2007. But he was then retried this year and convicted of four counts of attempted murder. Earlier in April, Morgan was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
Joe Allen, author of the book “People Wasn’t Made To Burn,” came to the press conference to support the families who have lost their loved ones and to hear about what progress, if any, has been made.
“What does all this say about how a city favors black life?” said Allen. “Are they not as important if they live on the West or South sides of Chicago?”
Brit Schulte, an activist with the International Socialist Movement and member of the Occupy Chicago Movement, has been heavily involved with the families in these cases and wants to see the four cops prosecuted.
“We are demanding justice. That means arrests need to be made, the cases and the cops need to be investigated further, and there need to be indictments,” said Schulte.
