Shooting by Police Ignites Racial Tensions in Illinois Town - washingtonpost.com: ROCKFORD, Ill., Oct. 3 -- National civil rights leaders and local parishioners packed a church here Saturday, praying for peace and demanding justice in the Aug. 24 fatal shooting of an unarmed African American man by two white officers in the church's basement, in front of a dozen children.
The shooting has ignited long-simmering racial tensions in this struggling northern Illinois town, 80 miles from Chicago.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson has made multiple visits to Rockford since the incident, and hundreds of black and white residents have marched for racial unity and reforms in the police department.
On Saturday, Benjamin Todd Jealous, NAACP president and chief executive, demanded greater accountability for police, saying, 'We are all human, and police officers need to treat us as human.'
