Activism
Alpha Kappa Alpha Member Whose Brother Was Killed By Amtrak Police Officer In Chicago Speaks Out
On February 8th, Chad Robertson, an unarmed Black man was fatally shot by an Amtrak police officer just outside of Chicago’s Union Station train terminal.
According to reports, the 25-year-old father of 2 was traveling by bus from Memphis to Minneapolis and was standing outside of the train terminal.
Robertson and two other people were stopped by officer Laroyce Tankerson for smoking marijuana outside while waiting for the bus to continue its journey to Minneapolis and according to court documents, they stopped when the officer asked them to and left the area.
Robertson was later stopped and searched by Tankson and his partner but ran. According to the documents, Tankson pulled out his weapon and fired once at Robertson from about 75 to 100 feet away hitting unarmed Robertson in the back of the neck.
Robertson was rushed to the hospital and later died as a result of the shooting.
Since the death of Robertson, his older sister, Nina Robertson has been making her voice heard.
Nina (a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., who was initiated at the University of Minnesota) recently spoke passionately about her brothers shooting and police brutality at a press conference.
“Chad was one of the most beautiful souls I am fortunate enough to call my baby brother. He was extremely friendly, caring, and giving thus, loved by many,” Nina said in a social media post.
“Chad was a dedicated father, son, brother, uncle, and nephew. He was one of the most funniest people you could ever meet. He loved life and lived it to the fullest. I personally admire him more than he could have ever known.”
As “The Voice of Black Greekdom” we at Watch The Yard are doing as much as we can to use our platform to help the Robertson family and this sorority sister in this extremely challenging time. We recently published the article, Let’s Talk About Chicago…Again: 3 Ways To Ensure Victims of Police Brutality Receive Due Process and Justice an op-ed written by a member of Kappa Alpha Psi who is close to Nina about ways to work for change.