Group to move ahead with protest on expressway, plans O'Hare ‘shutdown'

CHICAGO (FOX 32 News) - For the third time this summer, protesters will disrupt traffic in Chicago to bring attention to violence in the city. 

In July, Father Michael Pfleger led thousands onto the Dan Ryan.
           
Weeks later, Reverend Gregory Livingston led a separate group onto Lakeshore Drive before walking to Wrigley Field.
          
Each group shared a vital message, bringing attention to city violence, and Livingston wants it done again.

“We march for those who cannot march for themselves. We march for the thousands in Chicago who have been shot,” Rev. Greg Livingston said. “It is a sacrifice to make others uncomfortable. It is a sacrifice to be disliked and misunderstood.”

The shutdown is scheduled to take place Monday around noon on the Kennedy Expressway with participants walking into traffic at Cumberland Avenue before blocking access to the O'Hare airport at East River Road.

“I don't think this tools gives us the gains that it once gave us in the 50s and the 60s,” said LaVont’e Stewart, founder Lost Boyz, Inc., who said he has been working as an organizer in the South Shore neighborhood for more than a decade.

Stewart started Lost Boyz, Inc, using sports to re-shape the lives of children in South Shore.  Stewart believes the best way to help combat violence is to work with the groups already in neighborhoods needing help.

“I believe at this point, we just begin to agitate people. People who could have been early adaptors or people who could empathize with the social issue that's occurring and want to get involved -- now you've run them off,” said Stewart.

The state patrol has legal jurisdiction over the Kennedy.
            
A spokesperson would not discuss specific information about how they'll respond to the protest, only saying traffic will remain uninterrupted.
            
In addition to anti-violence initiatives, the group is calling on Mayor Rahm Emanuel to resign.