HUMBOLDT PARK — Humboldt Park community leaders and activists railed against Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez Wednesday night at a rally and voter registration drive.
Multiple community activists and religious leaders blasted Alvarez for her role in the handling of the Laquan McDonald police shooting in addition to the police shooting of Esau Castellanos, which is under investigation by the FBI, according to the Tribune.
The rally aimed to unify African-American and Latino voters to oust Alvarez at the polls in March.
"We have to let the city of Chicago know that Latinos and African Americans, we are together," said Pastor Eddie Colon of the Kingdom Life Christian Church. "Together we are no longer the minority, we become the majority.”
About 100 people attended the voter registration drive and rally at Casa Puertorriquena, 1237 N. California Ave.
Community leaders said that Humboldt Park and other minority communities in Chicago have been subjected to police misconduct and denied fair justice.
"Yes it's true. We have to be black and brown," said Emma Lozano, a civil rights activist and pastor of Lincoln United Methodist Church. "We have to be Puerto Rican and Mexican. We have to be Central American. We have to unify ourselves and show our numbers."
Lozano and others called on members of the community to register to vote and taken voter registration cards home to their family and friends.
"After that, pick them up and take them to vote," she said. "It means nothing if we are here with just words. If we don’t tie this to a voter registration drive, all we are is talk.”
Alvarez, she said, "doesn't believe in second chances — she wants to lock everybody up."
The case of the Esau Castellanos shooting was highlighted at the rally.
Castellanos was shot dead by police officers in March 2013 in Albany Park. Police originally said the 26-year-old fired at the officers and that there was a shootout.
Those officers story has changed over time, according to a recent Tribune report, as no gun was found on Castellanos.
The FBI is conducting a civil rights investigation into Castellanos' death.
“We can protest. We can march. We can scream. We can holler," Colon said. "We can do all of those things, but if we don’t come out March 15 then the same system is going to reciprocate itself over and over and over.”
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