{"id":32875,"date":"2016-02-25T16:24:19","date_gmt":"2016-02-25T22:24:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=32875"},"modified":"2016-02-25T16:24:19","modified_gmt":"2016-02-25T22:24:19","slug":"protests-plague-anita-alvarezs-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/protests-plague-anita-alvarezs-campaign\/","title":{"rendered":"Protests plague Anita Alvarez’s campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Aryn Braun<\/a> and Meggie Morris<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

At a community forum on gender-based violence in Chicago on Wednesday, Cook County State\u2019s Attorney Anita Alvarez was hounded on all fronts, on stage by competitor Donna More, and in the audience by protesters confronting her at all three of her campaign appearances this week.<\/p>\n

The event started smoothly as Alvarez returned to her alma mater, Chicago-Kent College of Law, to take her seat on stage next to Kim Foxx, whom the Cook County Democratic Party endorsed last month. <\/p>\n

Halfway through the forum, protesters stood one by one, counting to 16 to signify the number of times Chicago teenager Laquan Mcdonald was shot<\/a> by former police officer Jason Van Dyke in 2014. Alvarez\u2019s decision to wait 400 days before charging Van Dyke with first-degree murder has plagued her campaign for reelection.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

[soundcloud url=”https:\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/248911169″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” \/]<\/p>\n

Protestors shout “16 shots” to signify the fatal shooting of Chicago teenager Laquan McDonald by former police officer Jason Van Dyke in October 2014. (Aryn Braun\/MEDILL) <\/div>\n

The protesters said their aim was not to endorse a particular candidate. \u201cWe want white people to be educated about who they are voting for,\u201d said Veronica Morris-Moore. \u201cWe want black people to understand that we can\u2019t be silent on political issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Audience members largely responded negatively to the brief protest, yelling at and forcefully shushing demonstrators as they took the stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are selfish,\u201d one man yelled. \u201cYou are being unfair to the group.\u201d<\/p>\n

Police were on hand, though event organizers said they weren\u2019t sure what to expect from the crowd. The protestors were eventually asked to leave by campus security.<\/p>\n

The demonstration was the third against Alvarez in 24 hours. The coalition of local advocacy groups that organized the repeated disruptions, including Assata\u2019s Daughters, Black Lives Matter Chicago and Black Youth Project 100, said they hope to keep up the pace until election day on March 15. <\/p>\n

Despite Alvarez\u2019s attempts to emphasize initiatives she has taken to address gender-based violence and sexual assault since her appointment in 2008, including extensive training for her assistant state\u2019s attorneys and a revamped campus sexual assault program, Donna More continued to attack her tenure as State\u2019s Attorney.<\/p>\n

Over the course of the 90-minute forum, More repeatedly targeted Alvarez, citing a lack of public trust in the state\u2019s attorney\u2019s office, \u201cbecause of cover-ups, because of failed charging, because of wrongful convictions that aren\u2019t brought to the attention of the public.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anita Alvarez has not fulfilled her duty of prosecuting crimes, including cases of gender-based violence, no matter who commits them, More said. The state\u2019s attorney\u2019s office has failed to preserve victims\u2019 testimony, forcing prosecutors to dismiss cases when victims are reluctant to appear in court, she added.<\/p>\n

\u201cDifficult rape cases, the difficult he said-she said cases aren\u2019t being prosecuted,\u201d More said. \u201cJust today, the office of Anita Alvarez dismissed a case against a member of clergy because they failed to preserve the victim\u2019s testimony.\u201d<\/p>\n

In reply, Alvarez said the victim\u2019s wishes are always considered first and foremost, but acknowledged the complexities of prosecuting sexual assault cases. \u201cVictims many times don\u2019t want to follow through on the charges,\u201d Alvarez said. \u201cThat\u2019s frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n

The forum was co-sponsored by several Chicago organizations working to combat gender-based violence, including Chicago Foundation for Women, Center on Halsted and Rape Victim Advocates.<\/p>\n

Photo at top: State’s attorney candidates Anita Alvarez, Kim Foxx and Donna More look on as protesters take the stage Wednesday night shouting, “16 shots!” (Meggie Morris\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Aryn Braun and Meggie Morris At a community forum on gender-based violence in Chicago on Wednesday, Cook County State\u2019s Attorney Anita Alvarez was hounded on all fronts, on stage by competitor Donna More, and in the audience by protesters confronting her at all three of her campaign appearances this week. The event started smoothly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":187,"featured_media":32882,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,585],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-election-2016","category-winter-2016"],"yoast_head":"\nProtests plague Anita Alvarez's campaign - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/protests-plague-anita-alvarezs-campaign\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Protests plague Anita Alvarez's campaign - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Aryn Braun and Meggie Morris At a community forum on gender-based violence in Chicago on Wednesday, Cook County State\u2019s Attorney Anita Alvarez was hounded on all fronts, on stage by competitor Donna More, and in the audience by protesters confronting her at all three of her campaign appearances this week. 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