“16 shots, 14 months. 16 shots, 14 months. 16 shots, 14 months.” I attended a protest rally on Black Friday that was easily attended by more than 5,000 people. The protest closed down Chicago’s “Mag Mile”, which is the high-end downtown shopping mecca. We congregated at the majestic Chicago Tribune building and proceeded north. Why the civil disobedience? Well, on Tuesday the Chicago Police Department – under court order in response to an FOIA request by the London Guardian – released the dash-cam video footage of Officer Jason Van Dyke shooting (and killing) 17 year old LaQuan McDonald 16 times in 15 seconds, 14 months ago.
Why the time lag? Mayor Rahm Emanuel faced a legitimate mayoral candidate in the approaching election last year. Shortly after the execution occurred, the “Rahmfather” quickly negotiated a $5 million settlement. Thus, the family got paid and the shooting got buried. A theory floated by various people is that the black electorate would not have supported Rahm as much as it did if they knew of the shooting.
This CPD shooting of an individual was one of nearly 400 in the last five years. The racial disparity of these shootings is stark as 70% of the victims have been African-American whereas they constitute 33% of Chicago’s population. In this connection, Chicago’s African-American community has a longstanding distrust of the CPD. Black Panther Fred Hampton, legendary rogue cop John Burge, and the recent Homan Square disclosures by the London Guardian (again…shame on the Chicago media…conspiracy?) demonstrate that communities of color are policed in Chicago more violently and aggressively than predominantly white communities.
The more learned over the last few days about LaQuan’s shooting fuels the distrust. Once the video was released, we learned that the audio contains sound from only outside Van Dyke’s vehicle. That is, there is no dialogue with his partner or with the dispatcher. The audio from within four other cop cars at the scene are also suspisciously silent. In addition, video spanning 89 minutes taken from within the local Burger King, which is where LaQuan initially flashed a 3″ knife blade, is now unviewable after being returned by the CPD. BK employees have said no hostility took place in the restaurant, but the timing of the missing video coincides with the execution.
LaQuan was shot 16 times by a late-arriving officer whose dash-cam video shows the teen walking down the street. I know that very exact street (4000 South Pulaski) because it is one block from the Greater Chicago Food Depository – I volunteered there for over 15 years and often stopped at that BK to get a cup of coffee before the volunteer activity commenced. This is an industial area and certainly not residential. Nobody is in the street except LaQuan and the cop cars. Nobody is in peril. LaQuan’s shooting smells of an election coverup and clear police misconduct. And this steaming pile takes place while Spike Lee is producing a movie about Chicago’s gun violence. City Hall is outraged at the movie’s title, Chi-Raq.
(See also, Chicago: A Third World City)
