Thousands Attend Daley Plaza Rally Demanding Return Of Kidnapped Nigerian Girls
CHICAGO (CBS) —Thousands of people filled Daley Plaza to support the missing schoolgirls in Nigeria and call for their return, reports WBBM's Bob Roberts.
The signs read, "Boko Haram is not Islam" and "Bring them back, every single girl."
Organizers say the expected 100-200 people at the rally and march. Instead, they filled the plaza in front of the Picasso. The crowd was composed of women, children, families and even Rev. Jesse Jackson.
"The terrorists in Al Qaeda struck in Kenya and Tanzania before they struck New York, so we ignore African policy at our peril," said Jackson.
Although he is pleased with the current response, Rev. Jackson says the U.S. is late to the game and needs to put more intelligence on the ground more quickly.
Rally organizer Lande Sanusi says it is clear to anyone who studies what happened that Islam is not the central issue in the kidnapping.
"Well it is very obvious it has nothing to do with religion. The girls that were kidnapped were Christian and Muslim, so it doesn't have anything to do with religion. It has a lot to do with greed, and terror, people trying to incite fear in the minds of this small town and all over Nigeria," said Sanusi.