Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR)

The Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR) condemns the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) targeted anti-Black racist campaign against Kim Foxx.

The Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) attack on State's Attorney Kim Foxx has nothing to do with moral outrage and everything to do with humiliation. Foxx, an elected Black official brought to power by a movement for racial justice, has been exposing and undoing the decades-old work of the Chicago Police Department's falsely imprisoning and torturing Black and Brown men.

The FOP's rage at Jussie Smollett's release and the work of the State's Attorney's office more generally stems from a simple fact: the mere word and presumed authority of the CPD are no longer enough to secure their terrorizing grip on Black, Brown, queer and working-class communities in Chicago. Accustomed to clearing case after case through the expedience of torture, extorted confessions and dubious eyewitness testimony – including for the 70 wrongfully convicted prisoners of color who have been released by Foxx in the past two years – the FOP is enraged at the thought of a Black prosecutor who dares to say no to their false assertions and instead demands evidence. In a show of force that served only to highlight their blatant refusal to represent all communities, they even brought in only white police chiefs from the Chicago suburbs to condemn the State's Attorney.

But for confirmation of the FOP's underlying racist ideology, one need look no further than their refusal to DENOUNCE the involvement of known white nationalists at their recent protest against Foxx, as reported by the Chicago Sun-Times on April 27.

When asked by the Sun-Times about the presence of white supremacists at their April 1 rally, including the American Guard, American Identity Movement, and the Proud Boys, the president of the FOP had only one comment: he did not know who these groups were.

Significantly, neither he nor FOP Vice-President Martin Preib (when asked separately by WBEZ) have come out to publicly denounce the attendance and existence of groups who are fighting for a United States free of non-Europeans. It is hard to believe that the union representing the second largest police force in the United States, which touts its intelligence capabilities, fusion centers, and partnerships with federal law enforcement, has never heard of white supremacist associations, amidst an alarming national uptick in racialized hate crimes perpetrated by such groups. Graham's statement is either a bald-faced lie or a stunning admission of incompetence on the part of the FOP.

The FOP already supports the blanket criminalization of Black and Brown citizens through a “gang database”; the unjustified murder of people of color, including children; the framing and subsequent deportation of wrongfully convicted immigrants; the denial of well-documented cases of police torture of Black and Latinx men; and resistance to any type of police reform that would curb such racist abuse of power. While all of these activities help further the white nationalist cause, the Sun-Times' chilling photo of American Guard members at the April 1 FOP rally with a veiled death threat reading “Foxx permanently must go” spells a dangerous escalation in the support of this racist agenda. We demand that the FOP unequivocally denounce these groups and prohibit the involvement of white supremacists at its rallies and in Chicago.

The attendance of known white nationalists at FOP rallies should perhaps not be surprising, given that Chicago FOP Lodge 7 police officers unanimously voted to support a racist, Donald Trump, for U.S. president. It is nevertheless alarming and raises the inevitable question of how many FOP members are also members or associates of such hate groups. Communities of color have the right to know who is policing them just as they have to right to democratically determine who is policing them. We therefore call on the FBI, COPA and the press to investigate this question and make their findings available to the public as soon as possible.

Taken together, these facts highlight the FOP's direct role in making Chicago unsafe for residents of color and immigrants. This is the reason we continue to fight together with communities across Chicago for an all-elected Civilian Police Accountability Council (CPAC) with the power to protect residents from the CPD's racist attacks. This is the reason why 17 incoming city council members support the CPAC ordinance. And this is the reason we will be protesting on Monday, May 6, 2019 at 4 p.m. in Union Park (in front of the FOP office) — to exercise our constitutional right to oppose the FOP, and to amplify our collective voice to pass #CPAC now.

We demand that the FOP heed the call for justice that saw McCarthy, Alvarez, and Rahm Emanuel ousted before they could inflict more harm on Black and Brown communities through neoliberal policies of disinvestment. We demand the FOP stop its racist attacks on Foxx. And we call on all progressive forces and all communities in Chicago to continue their fight for an elected Civilian Police Accountability Council (#CPACnow). All Power to the People!

#ChicagoIL #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #Antiracism #CAARPR