For marchers, the fatal police shooting of Harith Augustus is another example of disregard for Black life
The swift release of police body-cam footage, which showed a Chicago cop fatally shooting an armed Harith Augustus in South Shore on Saturday, didn’t stop dozens of activists and community members from marching against police brutality on Sunday.
For marchers, the shooting was another example of the Chicago Police Department’s disregard for Black life – an incident they believe could have resulted in arrest with better police training instead of death.
“I understand that police violence is not our only fight. I understand that violence happens within our own communities but a lot of that is rooted in larger structural shit,” said Janae Bonsu, an organizer for Black Youth Project 100. She attended Sunday’s march.
“The problem is rooted deeper than rotten apples in the police force. The police force itself is the problem,” Bonsu added in reference to the 2017 Department of Justice investigation that found patterns of unnecessary uses of force.
On Sunday, before the march, Supt. Eddie Johnson released a body-cam video of Augustus’ death “in the interest of transparency & to dispell [sic] inaccurate information,” CPD spokesman Anthony Guglielmi wrote on Twitter. The night before, tension rose between the community and police as protesters threw rocks and bottles of urine at police, and officers hitting protesters with batons, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
According to police reports, Augustus was shot near East 71st Street and South Jeffery Avenue around 5:30 PM Saturday. Officers walked up to Augustus who was “exhibiting characteristics of an armed person,” a CPD press release said. After a confrontation between the police and Augustus, one of the officers shot Augustus. He was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.
In the audio-less video, Augustus appears to be showing his wallet to one officer while another officer reaches for his arm. As Augustus pulls away from the police, his shirt flies up, and the video freezes on an image of a holstered gun on his right hip. Augustus then runs toward the street. When he appears to reach for his right hip, an officer shoots him.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Augustus had a valid Firearm Owners ID card but no concealed carry permit.
“You can interpret the footage however you want. I saw somebody running. That’s what I saw. I saw another young man from my community shot,” activist William Calloway spoke into a megaphone on Sunday. He helped organize the demonstration-turned-protest in South Shore.
“We came out here to make noise for him [Augustus] and people like him – like, Laquan McDonald – and to make sure that we’re championing justice for them and transparency from the Chicago Police Department,” he explained after the march.
On Sunday, at least 100 people gathered at Jeffery Plaza on 71st Street near the site of Augustus’ fatal shooting. The afternoon began with speeches from concerned neighborhood residents, such as 20-year-old Shamaré Parker. Augustus’ death reminded him of Paul O’Neal who was gunned down by Chicago police in July 2016 after crashing a stolen Jaguar into two cop cars and fleeing on foot in South Shore.
“It’s the same situation,” Parker said. “I came out here to show as much support as I could, to really try to touch base with the younger crowd because the younger crowd really is our future. The youth is the one that has the most impact.”
Around 6 PM, Calloway led the attendees in a march down Jeffery Avenue toward Lake Shore Drive. Met by a wall of police blocking the entrance to Lake Shore Drive at 67th and Jeffery, words were exchanged between police and the marchers briefly. Soon, the crowd regrouped and headed west on 67th Street toward Stoney Island Avenue.
Midway through the march, two teen girls joined in. They’d heard about what happened to Augustus and wanted to support the efforts for police reform.
“I feel like if I ever get beat up and stuff by the police, who’s gonna be there for me?” said Kendra Clifton, 15. “This act is actually beautiful because it’s sad how police is just killing their own kind out here and not listening to what we have to say.”
The march later stopped at Sideline Studio, the barbershop where Augustus, also known as “Snoop,” worked as a barber, one organizer said. Everyone bowed their heads in a moment of silence for Augustus before continuing down 71st Street toward Jeffery Avenue.
Once the marchers arrived back at 71st Street and Jeffery Avenue, Calloway ended the day with a reminder about the upcoming trial for Officer Jason Van Dyke, who was indicted on murder charges in the Laquan McDonald case.
“We out here and we’re not going to stop until it’s clear that the police are actually not protecting us. They’re not serving us,” Bonsu said after the march. “The $4 million-a-day they [the police] get should be going towards the mental-health clinics that Rahm Emanuel closed, should be going towards giving us jobs, should be going towards housing – all of these things that they’re taking away.”
