Isadora Lilly- 12 arrested in anti-violence protest in Chicago

This Monday, about 100 people participated in an anti-violence protest designed to shut down an expressway leading to the O'Hare International Airport. The protest was meant to raise awareness to the lack of investment in neighborhoods of Chicago where a grand majority of shootings have taken place. Although as activists attempted to make their way onto the Kennedy Expressway, state troopers stated that any protesters that continued would be arrested. The leader of the march, Rev. Gregory Livingston, did not turn back, but instead told police, "Arrest me." He was then placed in handcuffs, along with a line of protesters behind him. They were then given $120 citations as consequence for being "pedestrians on the highway", and were processed and released on the same day.

This is the third anti-violence protest in Chicago since this summer, as the number of shootings in Chicago has only subsided by 15 percent since last year, with 1,026 people having been shot since Memorial Day. This has led inhabitants of Chicago to seek solutions to increased gun violence. Some say that the resignation of Mayor Rahm Emanuel in next year's reelection will bring solutions. Although leader Livingston does not believe in waiting for the change, yet rather says that it is the time to create the change themselves. He stated, "This violence is like a fire. We can either fight it together, or we can let it burn and eventually burn us all. We don't have to wait on leadership. We are the leadership." I believe that this is the sort of thinking needed to spark unity within the people of Chicago, and encourage them to stand for their beliefs today. For as Mahatma Gandhi once said, "Be the change you wish to see in the world."