Dec. 13--A planned Saturday rally in support of Chicago police was canceled and a proposed counterdemonstration to protest police misconduct fizzled.
Instead, two groups of people from different city neighborhoods found the time and opportunity to talk, listen and get to know each other.
Christine Zanin, 37, a lifelong Canaryville resident, said the rally had been intended as a neighborhood event to show appreciation for Chicago's men and women in blue, many of whom live in the neighborhood. "It was just a way to say, 'Keep your heads up.'"
But after she started hearing from people as far away as Florida and Cleveland, police officials asked her to postpone the event to allow for better organization, Zanin said, and perhaps hold it in a larger, more accommodating space than on Bridgeport streets. She agreed and said she will probably reschedule for January. She asked supporters to drop off toy donations instead.
That didn't stop a few police supporters from gathering Saturday outside the 9th District police station at 31st and Halsted streets in Bridgeport, many walking from their homes in the neighborhood to show their allegiance with shirts, posters and picket signs that remained in their bags.
"We have more crime, more problems, more violence than ever," said Keith Knapp, 61, a lifelong Bridgeport resident. "If we don't have the police, we're all very, very vulnerable."
Mary McManus, 36, a Canaryville resident, said she has cousins and uncles who work in law enforcement.
"One bad seed, it's not the whole force," McManus said. "It's sad. It seems like everyone is throwing them under the bus."
About an hour after the rally had been scheduled to start, the small crowd grew quiet as a group of African-American teenagers and an adult approached.
"Everyone go home. Everybody," announced police supporter Teri King-Verzal, loudly, as she walked toward the teens. She later explained the slogan of the group, "Everyone goes home," emphasizes the importance of police going home safely at the end of the day.
The adult with the teens, the Rev. Omar Omar of Fernwood United Methodist Church in Roseland, shook her hand, introduced the kids and proceeded to walk over to Deering District Capt. Martin Ryczek.
"He's a man. He's a policeman. Shake his hand," Omar told the kids, eliciting laughs from both the kids and the police officer.
Both black and white faces relaxed.
Omar encouraged the teens to shake hands with others there to support police, introducing them among the crowd.
The kids hung around for a bit, laughing and joking with each other, interspersed among the handful of neighborhood police supporters who remained. While the teens mainly talked among themselves, the mood in the crowd was light.
King-Verzal of Berwyn, founder of the group People Against Cop Killers, recalled the episode later on Facebook: "Shook a few of their hands. . . . one young man wouldn't . . . but, hey, I tried."
Omar said he brought the teens to "let young people get involved with civic engagement."
Yanicee Miles, 16, of the Englewood neighborhood, said she came to voice her concern with recent police shootings, especially of Laquan McDonald, the teen fatally shot 16 times by a Chicago police officer in 2014.
"A lot of them are doing their job, and you have to respect that," Miles said. "But some of them think they have too much authority."
As for Ryczek's thoughts on the whole event, "People have shown their support in the true spirit of Christmas," he said.
gbookwalter@tribpub.com
