Highland Park Ignore Shootings to Continue Bud Billiken Parade

Shootings
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Shooting
Courtesy of City Year (Flickr CC0)

The Bud Billiken parade is set for August 13 as Highland Park heals by pretending a shooter didn’t commit acts of violence a few weeks earlier. The Bud Billiken parade celebrates 93 years of the annual gathering.

Shooting
Courtesy of David Ellis’ (Flickr CC0)

The president of the Bud Billiken Parade, Myiti Sengstacke-Rice said, “We’re moving forward. The thing about Bud Billiken is safety and security has always been our priority. We probably have the most security compared to a lot of other parades because of the climate that we’re in. We have our own security firm that we’ve doubled up with, we have all the city agencies involved, and of course the police. I haven’t heard anything negative from anybody worrying about anything happening. I feel the incident in Highland Park was a somewhat isolated situation.”

The shooting in Highland Park is not an isolated incident. If it was isolated, there wouldn’t be school shooting drills. Sengstacke-Rice also says that she is concerned about reactions by the people who were at the shooting a month ago, at a parade of similar quality.

Even still, the “incident in Highland Park was a somewhat isolated situation,” according to Sengstake-Rice. Dorri McWhorter, CEO and President of YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago, stated, “For me, this is a way to let folks know that we have to continue to come back and be unified in that comeback and don’t let people who wish to do harm win at the end of the day.”

Roughly 300,000 people are estimated to attend. Even as Sengstacke-Rice boasts its security; it took police hours to find the rooftop shooter. “It’s such a shared experience between all of us…everyone just knew that this is a big deal, It doesn’t matter that I’ve got an honorary doctorate. I’m a Bud Billiken honorary grand marshal! This literally will be one of those best life experiences because it’s Bud Billiken.”

McWhorter is adamant about running the Bud Billiken Parade just a month after the last parade ended with bullet holes.

Written by Malachi Brown
Edited by Sheena Robertson

Yahoo News!: As healing from the Highland Park parade shootings continues, the 93rd annual Bud Billiken Parade is set to launch Aug. 13.; Darcell Rockett

Inset Image Courtesy of David Ellis’ Flickr Page – Creative Commons License

Featured and Top Image Courtesy of City Year‘s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License

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