MOUNT GREENWOOD — After racial strife broke out in Mount Greenwood following a police-involved shooting of a black man, activists and local residents said they have created a plan to end the ugly discourse.
Black activists sat down with Mount Greenwood residents as well as police and community leaders Wednesday at the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences, 3857 W. 111th St., for a meeting to discuss the shooting and the subsequent protests that have pitted black protesters against mostly white neighborhood residents.
RELATED: Mount Greenwood Race Relations In Spotlight Again After Fatal Shooting
The meeting — though testy at times — ended with the groups saying they have made amends and hashed out a plan to promote peace and unity.
The activists and residents denounced the name-calling and racial slurs that were shouted at the protests after the shooting. The two groups said they hope to replace that language with more constructive dialogue at future protests, including one scheduled for Sunday afternoon in Mount Greenwood.
"We stand collectively against those words," said Mount Greenwood resident Thomas Hurley.
It was the second meeting between activists, police and Mount Greenwood residents to help quell racial tensions in the neighborhood after the Nov. 5 shooting of 25-year-old Joshua Beal by off-duty Chicago Police officers.
"Never in my entire life have I seen something as tough, but also as beautiful, as what we were able to accomplish today," said Jedidiah Brown, an activist who helped plan some of the protests in Mount Greenwood. "We dealt with some hard truths, some hard realities. We have a direction ... a goal that we're going to arrive to together."
Glenn Brooks, area commander for Chicago Police, said the two groups also met Tuesday night and asked to meet again.
A Sunday protest at the site of the shooting near 111th and Kedzie will go on as planned, but the groups said they are hoping for more conversation and less shouting at each other.
After the 2 p.m. protest, a dinner will be held at St. Christina Parish that the two sides hope will defuse tensions between them.
"We're going to break bread, continue this dialogue," said Kathleen Walsh.
"We're going to allow love, peace and understanding to defeat this war," said activist Eugene Stanley.
Police and activists agreed to the meetings after officials asked black students to call off a protest at Marist High School prompted by a racist text message scandal that rocked the school.
The students agreed to call off the protest in exchange for monthly meetings with police, a set of town halls on race relations in Mount Greenwood and a vigil for peace.
St. Christina held a vigil on Saturday.
Black Lives Matter activists arriving to the scene of Beal's fatal shooting said they were harassed by neighborhood residents, which sparked protests and counterprotests that turned ugly.
For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here.
