On Saturday family and friends of police shooting victim Walter Armstrong led a march starting at 49th and Drexel, the scene of his October 10th killing by Chicago police. Family members were angry that police had apparently cleared away a makeshift memorial placed at the site just a few days previously

As the 25 block march went past the home of a Nation of Islam (NOI) leader en route to Chicago Police Headquarters, community leaders bluntly denounced the absence of Operation P.U.S.H., NOI and Alderman Toni Preckwinkle from the event. Preckwinkle's ward office is just 2-1/2 blocks from the scene of the shooting.

Jackson’s white media promoted image of being the foremost "leader" of African Americans was strikingly at odds with his lack of leadership concerning the police shooting that took place one block away from his headquarters, the 30th shooting, and 10th fatal shooting by Chicago police this year. Community spokesmen drew the connection between Preckwinkle- and Daley-promoted gentrification and police efforts to control poorer Blacks in rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods like Kenwood.

As people began to disperse following a short closing rally at police headquarters, police began to deploy many more officers, creating an unnecessarily menacing atmosphere. As a much smaller group of demonstrators dispersed down 35th Street, an officer allegedly slugged one of the women protesters, and other officers standing within a few feet of her refused to intervene. There were no arrests of either demonstrators or police.

For previous indy media articles on the police killing of Walter Armstrong, see chicago.indymedia.org/newswire/display/64438/index.php and chicago.indymedia.org/newswire/display/64438/index.php).

The October 13th edition of the Chicago Defender remains by far the best mainstream press account of Armstrong's killing. The first Tribune and Sun-Times accounts read like police department press releases, full of false claims by police department spokesman Pat Camden, who rushed out a statement justifying the killing by saying that Armstrong was shot in the chest as he ran towards them with a gun. Later, both the coroner and the family who viewed Armstrong's body reported that he had been shot in the side underneath the arm, a wound that suggested that he had his arms raised in a surrender mode when police shot him.

Following the Chicago police murders of African Americans Latanya Haggarty and Robert Russ a few years ago, in an apparent attempt to "spin" the news, police spokespeople rushed out false statements about the facts of the killings before they had done any reasonable investigation. They were roundly condemned for this by many mainstream media outlets, and pledged to never do it again in the future.

The police department's spinning of the news immediately following Armstrong's killing, and the gullible accounts in both the Tribune and Sun-Times which followed, shows very little has changed. The City continues to lie to its residents. Protests like that which took place on Saturday are necessary in order to get out the truth of the matter, let alone bring the killer cop to justice. The police department continues to conceal the officer's name from the family, preventing a public examination of his or her record, while police spokesmen are given free rein to continue to besmirch the reputation of the deceased, Walter Armstrong.

For the Sunday Tribune and Sun-Times accounts of the march, see chicago.indymedia.org/otherpress/display/3042/index.php and chicago.indymedia.org/otherpress/display/3043/index.php, respectively.

CAPTION FOR TOP PHOTO:
Sign reads: "The Chicago Police Are Killing Black People -- LaTonya Haggarty, Edward Lucas, Walter Armstrong"

PHOTO CAPTIONS for pics below:

1. On the march near Operation P.U.S.H.

2. Grandmother of Walter Armstrong leads the march.

3. One of Armstrong's cousins leads chants.

4. On the march.

5. On the march, by 47th Street el.

6. Passersby applaud the march.

7. March for Walter Armstrong.

-- More photos to follow in a few moments --