George Floyd

The murals, which were painted on plywood from boarded-up storefronts, have been turned into a permanent installation at the Sounding Boards Garden.

The store at 9400 S. Ashland has been fully remodeled and upgraded after closing in June 2020.

"I'm tired of these bars on North Halsted dragging their feet on things we have told them they need to improve on to make their businesses better for everyone," said one organizer. "It still feels like the same old Boystown."

"Black Creativity: Art and Activism," a new exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry, features work by photographers Vashon Jordan Jr. and Chris and Zachary Slaughter.

The city sent Streets and Sanitation workers to "protect" businesses from potential looters in the wake of the Derek Chauvin verdict. Wicker Parkers, kept up for days by the trucks, wondered, "What is a guy in a recycling truck going to do?"

Mayor Lori Lightfoot requested the guardsmen. Chauvin is the former Minneapolis police officer who kneeled on and killed George Floyd last summer.

"We were trying to understand the mindset of why this would happen," said Ralph Hopkins. "We attribute it to a lack of understanding exactly who we are as a people, our culture."

"If there is a need, and that need is justified, I'm not going to hesitate to use any tool that is necessary to keep our residents and our businesses safe," Lightfoot said.

Investigators face "enormous" obstacles in trying to look into police misconduct from the unrest because so many officers hid their identifying information or didn't wear body cameras, violating policy.

There was no advanced planning around raising the bridges, officials testified. And officers beat protesters, escalating violent clashes, the report found.

The investigation found the Police Department's response was "marked, almost without exception, by confusion and lack of coordination."

The virtual events will be a series of frank conversations about what racism is and how it still impacts Black people in Chicago.

The city is encouraging residents to have candid conversations and virtual healing circles about race as part of its Together We Heal campaign.

The lawsuit includes graphic photos and video screenshots of the alleged abuse. A city spokesperson said "these are allegations at this stage and not proof."

Police data shows few people who are arrested are granted their constitutional right to an attorney.

What happened to Gus Safi's stores wasn't a betrayal, but a plea for change, he said. When people told him to leave Chicago, he scoffed. "This is the city that raised me. It taught me everything."

Photographer Vashon Jordan Jr., who took 17,000 photos at protests over the summer, said we are living in a historic time. "They’ve been comparing this to 1968 ... We have to get out here, boots on the ground, and document what’s happening."

The city shut down the CTA multiple times this summer, and it hasn't promised to keep it open if there are Election Day protests. But activists said that disproportionately impacts Black and Latino travelers.

Rami Nashashibi, executive director of Chicago's Inner-city Muslim Action Network, created the album with Drea d'Nur. Their work culminated in an album that's a call to action and an act of defiance, the two said.