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Students Chant '16 Shots' at Rahm Emanuel During 'My Brother's Keeper' Ceremony

The kids are woke. Students at an Urban Prep Academy chanted "16 shots" at Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who was met with with protests during a "My Brother's Keeper" initiative event Wednesday, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

The kids are woke. Students at an Urban Prep Academy chanted "16 shots" at Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who was met with with protests during a "My Brother's Keeper" initiative event Wednesday, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

The demonstration comes amid push back against city officials following the video release of Laquan McDonald's police-involved death. "16 shots" represent the number of times a cop fired at the 17-year-old's body.

Emanuel is usually received with open arms by Urban Prep Academies. During the event this week, he announced a "citywide strategy" that would advance the lives of male youth of color in the city. Year after year the school makes national headlines because 100 percent of their students are accepted into college. The ceremony to celebrate the impressive stat is a positive photo opportunity for the mayor. But where did the love go? 
Many activists are currently calling for Emanuel to step down after the police department waited more than a year to release the footage of McDonald's death. In addition, police accounts conflict with what happened in the video.

The graphic footage shows police firing shots at the teen who fell onto the ground and appeared unresponsive. Then several more shots were fired into his body. None of the police on the scene appeared to help McDonald after he was sprayed with the bullets. At no point did McDonald approach police in the video. He appeared to be walking in a direction away from them the entire time.
Officer Van Dyke was indicted for the shooting and is charged with first-degree murder. 
The Windy City mayor apologized to the family of the victims and admitted that the city's police department had failed the people. He fired Chicago Police Superintendent Garry F. McCarthy. He is also complying with Justice Department's current review of the CPD's patterns and practices to renew community and police relationships.  
View a video of the protests below from NBC Chicago.
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(Photo: Joshua Lott/Getty Images)

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