Following George Zimmerman's acquittal in Florida teen Trayvon Martin's shooting death, demonstrators in Chicago took to the streets in protest of a decision they felt was unjust.
Late Saturday night, shortly after the decision was announced, a small group held an impromptu candlelight vigil at Daley Plaza.
On Sunday, that group expanded to hundreds who marched through the Loop in a peaceful demonstration. According to the Associated Press, the crowd numbered about 200.
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Chicago Rallies After George Zimmerman Ruling
The Chicago Sun-Times reports that among that crowd was Airicka Gordon Taylor, the cousin of Emmett Till, whose murder in Mississippi in 1955 helped spark the civil rights movement. Taylor described the verdict as a sign that "we need a new civil rights movement."
"I believe this is the case that will ... anger black America to do what’s necessary to obtain those rights that we’re being stripped of, just like when Emmett Till was murdered and there was a movement and we made progress," Taylor told the paper.
"We know driving while black, walking while black, Trayvon Martin was killed because he was existing while black," demonstrator Marilena Marchetti told Fox Chicago.
Meanwhile, faith leaders in Chicago are continuing to urge peaceful activism in response to the verdict.
The Rev. Ira Acree of Greater St. John Bible Church told the Chicago Tribune the decision was "a punch in the mouth by the judicial system" to many.
"We will fight back. Not with violence but with our voice. With discipline, with dignity and with restraint," Acree continued.
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