Roy Exum
On “Black Friday” night, I saw television footage of what was said to be about 2,000 people marching in protest in Chicago. The very vocal mob descended on the toniest street – Michigan Avenue – to spew its rage over a police officer who shot and killed a 17-year-old, this over a year ago in October of 2014. The just-released tapes of the incident embroiled the blacks who insist they are targeted by the police.
Led by the Rev. Jesse Jackson and a handful of local politicians, the protesters have the Constitutional right to lawfully assemble, but when they locked arms on the “Miracle Mile” and shouted down shoppers who wanted to enter such stores as Neiman Marcus, Tiffany’s and other famous stores, it was wrong. I believe that an unruly group that forces its will upon innocent people are not “peaceful."
The police should have stepped in and arrested all who refused to disperse. We have gotten too far in letting what is wrong trump was is right. Those stores have an American right to sell their wares and law-abiding people should not have to knock on store-front windows and ask permission to leave. They should also not have some racist shout vulgar obscenities at them as they Christmas shop.
The fact there were no arrests shows Chicago is a city with no backbone and, while some criminologists will certainly disagree with my heavy-handed stance, it is time to demand Jesse and his crowd cease and desist. The policeman in question has already been charged with first-degree murder but the hypocrisy that it represented by the protesters is now where the nation’s eyes should be drawn.
On the very same “Black Friday,” it was announced Corey Morgan, “a documented gang member and convicted felon" (who was out of jail on bail for another crime), had been taken into custody for the murder of nine-year-old Tyshawn Lee. The nine-year old was lured into an alley before Morgan and two other gang members brazenly killed the kid in a gang retaliation. The autopsy said the child’s thumb was blown off when he attempted to shield himself.
You see, three weeks earlier Morgan’s brother was shot and killed while riding in a car with his mother, who was also shot but survived. According to papers filed in court this week, in an effort to keep Morgan from obtaining yet another bond, it is believed Morgan stated that since his brother was killed and his mama was shot, he was going “to kill grand mamas, mamas, kids and all.”
So where are Jesse, the elected officials and the protesters on behalf of nine-year-old Tyshawn Lee? Police superintendent Garry McCarthy said the nine-year old’s slaying was “targeted and calculated” because it was believed the child’s father was a snitch. “He (the father) hasn’t helped the police at all. This is a crime that shook our city. It was an act of barbarism.”
Even the newspapers decried the act. It was said to be the “new low” in a city where, since 1912, more than twice as many Americans have been killed than U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. Thus far there have been 2,728 shootings in Chicago in 2015, with 405 dead. In the whole year of 2014, there were 2,649 shot and 460 of those were killed.
Conversely, there have been 21 police-involved shootings in Chicago this year, seven of them fatal.
So Jesse Jackson is ignoring the fact that about 80 percent of the shootings in Chicago are black-on-black and instead is demanding the police superintendent, the district attorney, the mayor, and goodness knows who else step down. They want a federal investigation and demand changes in the police department. Are you being serious? Black-on-black shootings this year alone are easily over 2,000 but the police have only shot 21 people, and now over 2,000 – ironically just as many blacks who have been shot --protest teenager Laquan McDonald.
I fully believe Laquan’s death should be thoroughly vetted in our court system. If a policeman is found guilty, let’s remember he is an authority figure and should be sentenced to the full extent of the law. I’m all with you there, yet in Chicago as well as Chattanooga, police are begging for help from the black community to stop the killing of blacks by other blacks and getting zilch in return.
It is long past time for Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and protesters in every city to do what Dr. Martin Luther King so magnificently did – love people. It is time for our black leaders to go where our white leaders struggle and to deliver our country from the deaths of our brothers.
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“BAN THE BOX” (CONT.) – One of my favorite readers misinterpreted part of a recent column “Why We Can’t ‘Ban The Box.’ I know from first-hand experience that just because someone had a DUI six years ago or a reckless driving citation in their past should in no way keep them from getting a job. I know the vast majority of employers feel the same way, especially those of us who got monstrous speeding tickets and such. But when an applicant checks the “Box,” that enables a potential employee to talk with them about what happened, how they handled it, and what they learned. “Checking the Box” isn’t a bad thing but not knowing everything about a potential employee you must trust to do the right thing and represent your company in public, most certainly is.
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THE BLACK DOG (CONT.) – I received this email after I admitted I suffer from depression in an effort to let fellow strugglers know that not only is it okay to count yourself among 350 million of us, but there is excellent help available. Here is what he wrote: “Roy, I read your stories every day. You just told about what would be called mental disorder. Are you aware in states with close back ground checks (California comes to mind), the police would come out and take your gun? That’s how close we are to the government taking away our guns. One mistake like this story would cost you your right to own your gun. Something to think about…”
Yikes, he’s right. I never thought about it. Wow. Oh, this nation in which we live…
royexum@aol.com