Controversial rapper and Chicago native, Kanye West has joined the public outcry for police reform and justice for George Floyd and other African Americans killed by police brutality. The performer appeared in Chicago Thursday night at a “Justice for George Floyd/CPD out of CPS” rally on the city’s South Side.
Alycia Kamil, 19, and Jalen Kobayashi, 19, co-organized the protest in the city’s Bronzeville neighborhood to call for Chicago to invest in schools, not police. Hundreds turned out, carrying signs that said “black lives matter” and chanting “We are tired.”
After a brief appearance West appeared to depart and protesters continued their planned march.
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The protesters planned to march to Chicago Police Department headquarters. Invoking Laquan McDonald, who was shot 16 times by a white police officer in Chicago in 2014, protesters chanted “16 shots and a coverup!”
West contributes to college and legal funds
A representative for West, says that the rapper has established a college fund for the 6-year-old daughter of George Floyd , Giana.
Floyd was murdered on May 25 by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin who held his knee on Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes. Threes of those minutes Floyd was unconscious. His final words of “I can’t breathe” has now become a rallying cry for protesters globally.
Chauvin, originally charged with third-degree murder, which is killing without intent, saw those charges upgraded to second-degree murder Wednesday and the three other cops – Alexander Kueng, Tou Thao and Thomas Lane are also in custody.
West has also offered to pay the legal fees for the family of slain ER technician Breonna Taylor in their civil lawsuit against the Louisville Metro Police Department. Taylor would have been 27 today. She, was shot by officers at least eight times in her South End apartment March 13 while police were serving a no-knock search warrant.
West’s reps also confirmed to Variety that he has donated $2 million to various charities associated with Floyd, as well as Ahmaud Arbery, Eric Garner — also African-American citizens that have died in incidents assumed to be racially-motivated.
SOURCE: USA Today
