The Chicago Police Department is the second largest of America’s police departments, and unfortunately it’s also one of the most notorious for systemic racism. Mayor Rahm Emanuel appointed a task force to explore to what extent racism pervades the city’s police force, as the African American community has complained for years about the way that police officers treat them, ranging from racial profiling on the streets to unnecessarily violent punitive measures. The task force’s report, which came out Wednesday, found that those complaints are completely valid, according to The New York Times.
During its investigation, the task force found some pretty shocking indicators of the CPD’s persecution of the black population. In Chicago, African Americans represent one third of the population, yet they make up 74 percent of Chicago residents shot by the police between 2008 and 2015. And when considering the number of street stops that did not lead to arrests, black people made up 72 percent. In three out of four cases, African Americans are the ones who were Tasered between 2012 and 2015. Seeing a pattern here?
The good news is that this report comes at a time when the CPD is undergoing major changes. After a white police officer fatally shot a black teenager and spiked protests in Chicago streets, Mayor Emanuel replaced the previous police superintendent with Eddie Johnson, a longtime CPD officer who also happens to be black.
Nothing brings the systemic racism among the police force to life more than interviews with black members of the community by the task force. Many expressed concern and recalled the losses of community members who crossed paths with police officers. The key is that deep distrust exists betwen the community and the police department, which creates a barrier to communication. The report states, “The task force heard over and over again from a range of voices, particularly from African-Americans, that some C.P.D. officers are racist, have no respect for the lives and experiences of people of color and approach every encounter with people of color as if the person, regardless of age, gender or circumstance, is a criminal.”
We can only hope that this report will lead to a change in the actions of the police department’s attitudes and actions.