But first, let’s look at some facts about the re-indictment of Smollett, a Black, gay actor who insists that he was, indeed, physically attacked a year ago by men screaming racist and homophobic insults. Initially, when the police charged two men with the attack, they were quick to reverse course and charge Smollett with staging the whole thing, letting his alleged attackers go scot-free. They then charged Smollett with 16 felony counts of making a false report to police. When Foxx’s office moved to dismiss the charges because there was no case there, it was alleged that she did so because of pressure from people associated with former President Barack Obama.

No one bothered to ask whether there was any real case against Smollett, whether the two alleged conspirators who ‘staged’ the attack with Smollett, would ever stand up as reliable witnesses, or whether anyone else might have been involved. Everyone in the mainstream media and the internet assumed Smollett was guilty, accepting the word of former Mayor Rahm Emanuel, former Police Chief Eddie Johnson, and the FOP – all proven and notorious liars about everything police. Such is the state of ‘racial equality’ in Chicago today.

With dismissal of the charges against Smollett they all went ballistic. But their target was not Smollett. It was Kim Foxx, who had been their real target all the while. Foxx has been responsible for the exoneration of almost 100 victims of frame-up and torture by corrupt, drug-dealing cops, and they hate her for that. She has turned the Conviction Integrity Unit in her office, which was a sham under her predecessor, into a unit that actually examines wrongful convictions and tries to set them right.

Retired Judge Sheila O’Brien was quick to join the fray. She petitioned the Circuit Court to name a special prosecutor to re-open the case. The court appointed former U. S. Attorney Dan Webb to that position and appointed a special grand jury. Last week, five weeks before the election, Webb announced that Smollett had been indicted by that grand jury on six misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct. Foxx compared the indictment to the announcement by FBI Director James Comey two weeks before the 2016 presidential election, that he was re-opening the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s emails.

So, Cook County has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to get six misdemeanor indictments against Smollett, when the supposed felony charges against him must have clearly been unsustainable. No court observer can recall an elephant as big as this special grand jury that has labored so hard and cost so much and produced such a small mouse.

No doubt, after the March 17 primary election, if the Fraternal Order of Police achieves their defeat of Foxx, this case will totally collapse. The FOP, the former mayor and the police chief will crawl back into their caves and forget about it. If they fail in their mission, however, they will continue with renewed energy. Maybe they’ll even support a Republican for state’s attorney in November, like happened with Bernie Epton against Harold Washington in 1983. Maybe they’ll amend their lawsuit against Smollett to add the outrageous costs of Webb’s ‘investigation’ of the case.

Who knows? One thing is clear: their shamelessness and hypocrisy are boundless.

#ChicagoIL #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #JussieSmollett

Chicago, IL – Immediately after all charges were dropped Tuesday morning, March 26 against actor Jussie Smollett and the record of his arrest and prosecution expunged, Frank Chapman, Co-Chairperson of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, addressed the media. Smollett is a star of the Fox Television series “Empire.”

“This is another example of the CPD doing what they do,” Chapman declared. “They have falsely accused people, tortured confessions and framed-up innocent people, killed people – there is no justice when it come to the CPD. The people of this city are tired of this. We need community control of the police in this city, and we’re going to get it.”

Following Chapman, Smollett and his attorney, Patricia Brown Holmes, a former Chair of the Illinois Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission, spoke to reporters.

“I have been truthful and consistent on every single level since day one,” Smollett declared. “I would not be my mother’s son if I had been capable of one drop of what I have been accused of.”

“But I am a man of faith and I am a man that has knowledge of my history and I would not bring my family, our lives, or the movement through a fire like this. I’d like nothing more than to get back to work and move on with my life. But make no mistake I will always continue to fight for justice, equality and betterment of marginalized people everywhere,” Smollett continued.

It is perhaps indicative of the inherent biases concerning Black and gay people that there has been an unquestioning acceptance of the police story about this incident by the news media and by many Black and gay activists. Many are among the same people who distrust the police on every other front.

The record of the CPD for covering up police crimes is voluminous, from the murders of at least 153 Black and brown men in the last nine years to the documented attempted coverup of the murder of Laquan McDonald.

Over 70% of the homicides in Chicago remain unsolved. Many of the homicides ‘cleared’ by the police were done so by extracting false confessions through physical and psychological torture of suspects. This means that their clearance rate is even lower than that reported. Yet the CPD was able to charge Smollett with engineering a hate crime against himself in a matter of a few days.

Thus closes the attempt by the CPD Chief Eddie Johnson to indict, try and convict Jussie Smollett in the news media. Tragically, the news media collaborated in this frame-up, as they so often do, buying the CPD line on every police crime hook, line and sinker. Smollett was convicted by them all, even before he was arraigned.

The difference between Jussie Smollett and the hundreds of other Black and brown men and women who have been framed by the CPD is mainly one of having the resources necessary to upend the CPD frame-up machine. Now we must keep going until all the victims of police torture, frame-up and killing are exonerated and free.

The campaign to enact an all-elected Civilian Police Accountability Council continues full steam, as well as the campaign for Executive Pardons of all convicted and imprisoned police torture survivors.

#ChicagoIL #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #JussieSmollett