Bishop Travis Grant, National Field Director for the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, and supporters to hold press conference
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, August 1, 2022
Bishop Travis Grant, National Field Director for the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, and supporters to hold press conference today on behalf of teenager allegedly beaten by Oak Lawn police
Chicago, IL – Bishop Tavis Grant, national field director for the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, and supporters are holding a 3:30 p.m. press conference today, Monday, August 1, 2022, at the Advocate Christ Medical Center, 4440 W. 95th St., Oak Lawn, IL, to give support to Hadi Abutella, who was allegedly beaten by Oak Lawn police even though he was face down on the ground.
Bishop Grant said Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. supports the teenager and denounces the beaten he took after he fled a traffic stop.
They are calling for the Illinois Attorney General to assign a special prosecutor to the case as well as the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division to open an inquiry into the incident.
“The beating caught on video left the teenager with multiple injuries requiring him to be hospitalized with internal bleeding,” Grant said.
Bishop Grant is meeting with Abutella’s mother, Dena Natour, today at the hospital. “People of color deserve and must expect equal protection under the law,” Grant said. “This teenager was outnumbered and surrounded on the ground as they repeatedly beat him in the face and the head. This was excessive and a blatant abuse of power.”
Rainbow PUSH Coalition is a multi-racial, multi-issue, progressive, international organization that was formed in December 1996 by the Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. through merging of two organizations he founded Operation PUSH People United to Serve Humanity (estab. 1971) and the Rainbow Coalition (estab. 1984). With headquarters in Chicago and offices in Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, New York and Oakland, the organization works to make the American Dream a reality for all citizens while advocating for peace and justice around the world. RPC is dedicated to improving the lives of all people by serving as a voice for the voiceless. Its mission is to protect, defend and gain civil rights by leveling the economic and educational playing fields while promoting peace and justice around the world.
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