McDonald Family Wants White House Summit On Police Brutality
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Relatives of Laquan McDonald on Friday thanked activists who have been marching and protesting in support of the late teen, and called on President Barack Obama to convene a White House summit in gun violence and police brutality in Chicago.
"He was a teddy bear, he wasn't a gangster," said McDonald's great uncle, Marvin Hunter, who said he wants the world to know his nephew was not the troubled teen police portrayed him to be.
McDonald's shooting death in October 2014 has prompted more than two weeks of protests across Chicago, after video of the shooting was released earlier this month, just hours after Officer Jason Van Dyke was charged with murder. Van Dyke was caught on police dashboard camera as he shot the 17-year-old McDonald 16 times.
"He didn't fit in his personality; the profile that Jason Van Dyke had of him – and all black boys – in his mind," Hunter said.
Hunter said his nephew's death was a tragedy, but it symbolizes a much larger problem.
"Laquan McDonald represents thousands of Laquan McDonalds; same black skin, same poverty, same social and economic injustices," he said.
Surrounded by other relatives of McDonald's – some wearing shirts saying "Rahm Failed Us" – Hunter also called for a federal summit in the North Lawndale neighborhood where McDonald lived.
"Mr. President, I want you to send a representative to convene a White House summit on gun violence, and urban poverty, and police brutality," he said.
McDonald's family thanked the community for speaking out, and marching in his honor.
"These people are marching because time and time again black people and people of color and poor people are being mistreated," he said. "It is America's and Chicago's chickens coming home to roost."
Hunter called for Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez to resign, but didn't go so far as to say Mayor Rahm Emanuel should step down.
Many protesters have said Alvarez should resign after waiting more than a year to charge Van Dyke. Many also have said the mayor should go, because he fought for more than a year to keep the McDonald video out of the public eye.