Black Lives Matter

In light of protests around the country, the Carbondale NAACP and city officials will be holding a policing town hall on Thursday, July 9th.

The panel will include Fire and Police Commissioner Randy Burnside, Jackson County State’s Attorney Michael Carr, social activist Michael Coleman, Chief of Police Max Grubbs, Carbondale NAACP member Nancy Maxwell, City Manager Gary Williams, and IL NAACP member Robert Moore.

Athletes of all races are supporting the Black Lives Matter movement sweeping the United States.

Beyond that, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell recently released a video where he said the league was wrong for not listening to players sooner.

Dozens of, mostly young, sign-carrying demonstrators gathered at the Pinckneyville town square on Thursday to raise awareness of racism and police brutality.

In part 2 of our report on former Saluki hammer thrower Gwen Berry's involvement in bringing light to racial inequality and police brutality, WSIU's Brad Palmer reveals Berry's thoughts on the current Black Lives Matter demonstrations and her advice to her teenage son on how to stay safe.

In part 1 of 2, WSIU's Brad Palmer has the story of U.S. Olympic and former SIU hammer thrower Gwen Berry's personal racial inequality protest at the 2019 Pan Am Games and the impact it has had on her.

Across the state, young people are bring the Black Lives Matter into small communities.

One of those is in Nashville, Illinois. 17-year-old Janisha Bailey is organizing the protest because she wants to draw attention to racism – something she said her family is all too familiar with.

“Me and my siblings all through high school and even some in middle school have experienced racism in various ways. To start out with, before my dad passed away, he received a letter from the KKK themselves,” Bailey said.

Hundreds of people gathered in Carbondale for a demonstration against police brutality. The crowd included people of all ages and races, many carrying signs demanding justice for George Floyd, who was shot by police in Minneapolis, and the names of other victims of police shootings.

Organizers led the crowd singing hymns as well as singing happy birthday to Breonna Taylor, who would have turned 27 on Friday, June 5th. Taylor was shot in her bed in Louisville, KY when police raided her apartment earlier this year.

Between 120 and 150 sign-carrying marchers demonstrated peacefully in Anna on Thursday.

More than 150 people turned out for a Black Lives Matter demonstration in Carterville Wednesday evening.

As 2016 winds to a close, WSIU InFocus takes a look back at the people and stories that made headlines here.

WSIU's Jennifer Fuller talks with Jonathon Moore, a member of Carbondale's Black Love Adjoining Communities Collectively - or BLACC - the local Black Lives Matter organization.