Vera Love’s voice shook and her eyes filled with tears Saturday as she told an audience about how a Chicago police officer shot and killed her son in June, former Northwestern student and football player Robert Russ.
But her voice grew stronger as she spoke about her efforts to protest police brutality, efforts that include a recent trip to the U.S. Justice Department in Washington, D.C.
Love said she has been looking for information about her son’s case but was told by officials that she could not access files because the FBI is still investigating.
“It was news to me that there was an FBI investigation,” Love said. “I will be returning to D.C. if they don’t tell me anything.”
Love was just one of about 25 people who gathered Saturday at Something Wicked Bookstore, 816 Church St., to protest police brutality and sign the book “Stolen Lives,” which documents 2,000 instances of police killings in the United States.
The book signing — which was sponsored by the October 22 Coalition/Stolen Lives Project, the Evanston chapter of Amnesty International and the bookstore — was the first in a series to promote the book and the Chicago-area rally against police brutality, which will take place Oct. 22.
The book is composed of personal stories written by people who have lost loved ones because of alleged police brutality.
Members of the project say “Stolen Lives” is necessary to make people aware of police brutality. Family members who attended the book signing said they were unaware of the problem before their relatives were killed.
Love said police brutality stems in part from racism. “It is not a crime to be black,” she said. “It is God’s gift to us. We shouldn’t be made to pay a deadly cost because of it.”
Chicago police officers were not present at the signing. They have said that Russ’ shooting was not an act of police brutality — Russ appeared to reach for a gun when they pulled him over for “erratic” driving, according to officers.
But the officer who shot Russ did not lose his job because he did not act recklessly or intentionally disobey police procedures, police spokeswoman Laurie King said in February. The officer was suspended for 15 days and required to undergo training in handling weapons and pursuing vehicles.
Even though it’s too late to help her son, Love said she would continue to fight for supervision of law enforcement to protect her grandson.
“I will fight for this one so I know he can walk down the street without being murdered because of his race,” Love said.
Edward Ali III, who suffered from schizophrenia, also was killed by police. Ali’s brother, Rachman, saw a flier for the book signing and thought he should become involved in the project. His brother’s name appeared in the book.
“I think the project is just what other families and I have been looking for,” Rachman Ali said.
But some people said the Chicago police officers were not portrayed fairly. Bernard C. Parks, chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, wrote a letter to members of the project criticizing the book.
“It is shameful that you and your colleagues resorted to blatant inaccuracies, convenient omissions and misrepresentation of facts in the publication,” he wrote in the letter.
But the Stolen Lives Project organizers said the information, which they gathered from local police, media, family friends and witnesses, was accurate and fair.
As a means to decrease brutality and foster understanding between civilians and police, Love supports a petition by Amnesty International that would ask Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley to create and fund an independent citizens review board that would monitor police conduct.
Currently the Office of Police Standards investigates the Chicago Police Department but is not independent of the Department or the city.
“We need citizens on patrol with cameras of our own to monitor the police,” Love said.
