Laquan McDonald's family asks White House to take harder look at Chicago policing
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The family of Laquan McDonald spoke publicly Friday for the first time since video footage was released in November of a Chicago police officer fatally shooting the black teenager, Politico reports.
Rev. Marvin Hunter, McDonald's great uncle, said he supports the Department of Justice investigation into the city's police department, but also called on President Obama to hold a federal summit on community policing in North Lawndale, McDonald's neighborhood.
"What we're feeling in Chicago is the real feeling of America itself, and that's injustice against people of color," Hunter said. "Change is needed. Not just at the local level."
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Hunter, surrounded by other family members and supporters, also criticized the media for frequently replaying the footage of McDonald's death. McDonald's mother was not up to joining them, Hunter said.
"We felt the media was really insensitive," he said. "How would you feel if every day, 24 hours a day, you saw your son die? He walking and then he die. He walking and then he die."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Julie Kliegman is a freelance writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in BuzzFeed, Vox, Mental Floss, Paste, the Tampa Bay Times and PolitiFact. Her cats can do somersaults.
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