“You’re telling all women that they don’t matter that they should stay quiet because if they tell you what happened to them you’re going to ignore them,” a crying Maria Gallagher said to Jeff Flake as he was waiting in an elevator at the Capitol. Just hours later, Flake announced that there must be an FBI investigation of Brett Kavanaugh.

On Friday, October 5th at around 1:45pm, the city of Chicago stopped. Schools were let out, people were told to stay inside and the city braced itself for riots. But instead of riots, the streets of Chicago were met with cheers. Activists carrying signs that read, “JUSTICE 4 LAQUAN,” and shouting, “Whose streets? Our streets.,” took to the streets in relief. Relief that their hard work had paid off. Since October 20th, 2014 activists have taken to the streets of Chicago to “demand justice” for Laquan McDonald, the unarmed black man who was fatally shot by Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke.

In the years following the shooting, activists have challenged the mayor’s office and Chicago Police Department regularly. It feels like every weekend there is a protest, or a die-in, or a press conference with the goal of pressing the city government about the shooting and the cover-up following by Police Chief Garry McCarthy and Mayor Emanuel.

Just weeks ago, Mayor Emanuel announced that he would not seek re-election. This may be for a multitude of reasons, but one common theory is that he wasn’t exactly looking forward to the campaign trail, a many month adventure in which he would be slammed everyday and night by his 17 challengers about his handling of the Laquan McDonald shooting. Many of the candidates were running anti-Rahm campaigns more so than campaigns to boost themselves before he dropped out of the race.

Activists have made this happen. They use their pain to invoke sympathy on others. It works, because it should. They were the ones outside, inside, and beside City Hall everyday. They were on the news making to people understand their perspective. They were so much of why every Mayoral candidate consistently bashes Mayor Emanuel, because he has been villainized.

Since the election of 2016, activism has risen in D.C., in Chicago, everywhere. People are motivated by the hate that has been thrown their way and they now believe that they are fighting for their lives. It has worked a little, not a lot, but to have a revolution you need a series of reforms.

The conviction of Jason Van Dyke and Jeff Flake call for an FBI investigation work as those reforms. But a revolution is going to take decades of Maria Gallaghers, and students like those in Chicago who held 49 press conferences at City Hall in the time between the shooting and the descent.