THE LOOP — Protesters chanting, "One down, two to go," called on Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez and Mayor Rahm Emanuel to resign Thursday.
Protesters presented Alvarez's office with a petition they said was signed by 35,000 people demanding that she resign. They added calls for Emanuel to resign as well after he fired Police Supt. Garry McCarthy Tuesday in fallout from the Laquan McDonald case.
The Rev. Michael Russell, president of Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation, called the McDonald case and the police dashcam video of his shooting by officer Jason Van Dyke, released last week, "the tip of the iceberg of how [Alvarez] has failed in her role."
Katelyn Johnson, executive director of the community group Action Now, cited what she called "a history of scandals" in Alvarez's office, including the botched prosecution of officer Dante Servin in the shooting death of Rekia Boyd.
The ruling on that case by Judge Dennis Porter cleared Servin on charges of involuntary manslaughter, reckless discharge of a firearm and reckless conduct when he shot and killed the unarmed Boyd near Douglas Park three years ago.
The Rev. Wendy Witt, of the First United Methodist Church at the Chicago Temple, believes that Servin was intentionally mischarged by Alvarez's office.
"This office no longer has the community trust and has a demonstrated lack of accountability to its citizens," Russell said outside Alvarez's offices in Cook County's Dunne Building Downtown.
"Anita, resign," protesters chanted.
Amisha Patel, executive director of the Grassroots Collaborative, led calls for Emanuel to resign as well, with the chant: "One down, two to go."
Emanuel said this week he has never considered resigning, while Alvarez said she had no apologies for taking the necessary time to weigh charges against Van Dyke.
Cook County Commissioners Jesus "Chuy" Garcia (D-Chicago) and John Fritchey (D-Chicago) followed Thursday by calling on Alvarez to appear before the county board's Criminal Justice Committee to face grilling on the over yearlong delay in charging Van Dyke with McDonald's murder. Fritchey said that "smacks of political opportunism."
Garcia has already called on Alvarez to resign, and Fritchey acknowledged he has endorsed Donna More in the race against Alvarez in the upcoming Democratic Primary in March. Kim Foxx is also running.
Fritchey added that, if he had his preference, Alvarez would not be in office during next year's budget hearings for the state's attorney.
"This is not an inquisition. It's an invitation," Fritchey added. "We're not bullying her. We're inviting her."
He called it "her chance to give us the facts we don't know" and explain the delay in charging Van Dyke.
"We're already known as the murder capital," Fritchey said of Chicago's murder rate. "We don't want to be known as the cover-up capital as well."
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