by Chelli Stanley
Many public figures recently published an open letter condemning the Chicago Police Department for lying to the public in the Jussie Smollett case. The letter was signed by many leaders including: Angela Davis, Gina Belafonte, Melina Abdullah, Ericka Huggins of the Black Panther Party, Fania Davis, Danny Glover, Gina Dent, and Gwen Carr, the mother of Eric Garner.
Though this open letter signed by these renowned Black leaders included extensive evidence of CPD’s blatant misconduct in this case, it was not widely-reported in the media, and few people heard about it.
However, every time a Black person, such as Dave Chappelle or Chris Rock, took their turns in publicly tearing down Jussie Smollett, a Black man – based solely on the words of CPD — the media splashed it in the headlines gleefully.
When CPD held press conferences and went on speaking tours saying that it had skillfully solved an open case and said two Nigerian brothers were actually the attackers, it was published on every news channel for weeks, as a kind of Pan-African embarrassment and case of utter buffoonery. It was published so relentlessly that people got tired of hearing about it.
Why was CPD so eager to push their narrative in the Jussie Smollett case? Why did Donald Trump Jr, Donald Trump, and Rahm Emanuel use the opportunity to promote their personas as truth-loving, justice-seeking leaders? Let’s look at the evidence that shows clearly the Chicago police have been lying to the public about this entire case. Let’s look at the evidence they found at the scene within three days of the attack on Jussie, rather than naively believe their words when they tell us a Black man is guilty before he even went to trial.
CPD found multiple videos of two suspects at the scene and running from the scene, and spoke with multiple witnesses within three days of the attack against Jussie. All this evidence clearly showed that there were white masked men at the scene and running from the scene. CPD documented this all in their own reports. To see the screenshots from the police reports of their extensive misconduct and understand the many dynamics involved, please watch this video: https://youtu.be/hncIt0Ldngg
However, CPD then hid all these videos and witnesses and repeatedly lied to the public, saying that they couldn’t find any video evidence at all. At this point, many in the public became confused and began to doubt Jussie’s story. Rather than doubt the words of CPD - who is known precisely for lying to the public and hiding video evidence – the public turned on a Black man who had just reported a hate crime.
After hiding this evidence, CPD were then free to arrest two Nigerian brothers and tell the public the brothers had committed the attack as part of an elaborate hoax. The misconduct that the brothers were subjected to during their interrogation is startling but not surprising in Chicago, the “false confession capital”of the country. The details of CPD’s misconduct towards the Osundairo brothers can also be seen in this video, with screenshots from the police’s reports. The brothers then became CPD’s star witnesses – and only witnesses – and had all possible threatened charges against them dropped as a result.
The role the Osundairo brothers are playing in Jussie’s case has not yet been widely-analyzed. What do we call it when someone who is a police suspect threatened with charges becomes the police’s star witness and has all charges against them dropped?
Donald Trump used the opportunity of CPD’s misconduct to publicly attack Jussie Smollett at rallies, press conferences, and through tweets, despite all the clear evidence that CPD lied and committed extensive misconduct in the case – and amazingly, documented their misconduct in their own reports.
For all of Donald Trump’s buffoonery, he has so far gotten away with a huge scandal – inciting the public against a Black man subjected to extensive police misconduct after that man was attacked by Trump supporters. If Donald Trump succeeds in this, he will have won a huge psychological coup against the country, and spread the tentacles of hatred and ridicule far and wide.