Yesterday white Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke was charged with the first-degree murder of black 17-year-old Laquan McDonald after shooting him 16 times on Oct. 20, 2014. After the charges were officially announced Chicago police finally released the unnerving dash cam footage of the fatal shooting after waiting for more than a year. Appalled by the graphic images and the blow of another black life disregarded, protests began in Chicago last night and are already springing up in other places tonight. Chicago native President Barack Obama released a statement tonight via Facebook on the footage, saying it "deeply disturbed" him. He implored people to pray for those affected by loss and asked people to give thanks for the uniformed officers protecting communities.
Last but not least, Obama thanked protesters for assembling peacefully. Unfortunately, protesters haven't been treated with the same kind of courtesy, as evidenced in the recent Minneapolis protests.
