Groups demand officers involved in botched raid be fired

More than a dozen people gathered in front of the Chicago Police headquarters Thursday night to condemn the actions of a botched raid on Anjanette Young’s home and demand Mayor Lori Lightfoot hold every officer involved accountable.

“We want to say to Anjanette, we love you, we want you to know that we care about you and what happened to you was a travesty,” said Crista Noel. “The Chicago Police Department doesn’t protect women, it does not.”

Noel was part of a coalition of groups — including Women’s All Points Bulletin, Kenwood-Oakland Community Organization, Black Lives Matter Chicago and GoodKids MadCity — demanding each of the officers involved be fired.

The video showed Young’s front door being burst into while she was undressed, and officers handcuffed her.

“First, you are coming into the wrong house and then you don’t even treat her like she’s a human being?” Noel said. “I don’t understand the dehumanization that happened in her house. How can you be this way?”

Earlier this week, Lightfoot denied knowing about the botched raid, which was first reported by CBS. But the mayor admitted Thursday that she was aware of it over a year ago.

Noel also urged that police officers involved with breaking down the doors of homes during raids be required to fix them immediately. She said by not doing so you put families at risk.

Alycia Kamil, of GoodKids MadCity, said what happened to Young is all too common for Black women who face a constant threat from police and others. Lightfoot, she said, has done little to protect them despite claiming she would.

“Lori Lightfoot ran a progressive front, ran off of her being a Black woman, ran off wanting to protect other Black women,” Kamil said. “But just this past summer, me and three other members — Miracle Boyd, Taylor Norwood, India Jackson — all these people were brutalized and hurt by CPD, and she did nothing about it.”

Boyd was punched in the face by a police officer during a summer protest. She was 18 years old at the time and lost a tooth.

“It’s savage to raid someone’s house, to see them there naked and to act as if they are a criminal,” said Jitu Brown, president of the Kenwood-Oakland Community Organization. “Mayor Lightfoot, you promised you would ‘bring in the light,’ but what we are seeing now is deeper strains of darkness.”