“I still don’t understand what happened,” says WY alumnus Rachel Brown, ’15, in response to the protest that happened on Dec. 10th.  Brown is a freshman studying film at New York University.

Brown was sitting in her dorm, creating fake Facebook events, one of which that was in response to the lack of responsibility from Mayor Rahm Emanuel and District Attorney Anita Alvarez pertaining to the delayed video footage release of Chicago police shooting of 17 year-old Laquan McDonald.

The event, which was called “CITY WIDE WALKOUT!  rahm emanuel and anita alvarez’s resignation party!” looked authentic to any Facebook user. Nearly 3,000 people accepted the invite, but it wasn’t meant to become a real event, only a viral joke.

Chicago activists saw the page and decided to act on it, contacting Brown to spread the word that the event would actually become reality. On Dec. 10th, protesters met in the Loop and rallied against the Mayoral administration.

Although it might seem that it takes a lot of action to make change, Brown voiced that, “Just because you feel like you can’t have an effect, it doesn’t hurt to try.”