Hundreds of people, mostly young people, filled McCormick Boulevard on June 4, the line of marchers stretching at one point from near Dempster Street to Golf Road. Their message was familiar, agony and anger at the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, by white police officers, but that did not lessen the passion.
“No justice, no peace; no racist police,” some chanted. Others chanted the names of Mr. Floyd and Brionna Taylor, two recent examples of racial violence. Although these were mostly youth, they echoed the cries throughout the country from wounds still raw from injustices that have existed in this country since before this generation was born.
This protest march, like the one on May 31, was solemn, and, as on May 31, marchers wore masks and did their best to maintain a social distance. Members of the Skokie and Evanston police departments blocked off McCormick Boulevard from Main Street to Golf Road, entrances to McCormick Boulevard from Main, Dempster and Church streets and Golf Road.