WE Black Women of Chicago are appalled over the case of Ms. Anjanette Young. AN ACT OF TERRORISM, RACISM AND SEXISM.
It’s the end of 2020 and we have a Black woman sitting in power on the 5th floor of the City of Chicago’s Mayor’s office. Kamala Harris is just days away from entering the White House, as the first and only Black woman to serve as Vice-President. In this day and time, we cannot allow Black women to be abused as was Anjanette Young in the privacy of her home. The police entered her home the evening of February 21, 2019 thinking and assuming she was someone to be arrested. She is a social worker with expertise in trauma. How ironic.
This is totally unacceptable behavior from the City of Chicago, the Mayor’s Office, and the Police Department. We are taxpayers, we are voters. We are the ones who make the Democratic Party work. We are the ones who voted and advocated for Lori Lightfoot as she ran for mayor. We know in Black culture, tradition is that we cannot be like Whites, we have to be better. We realize there is a different standard of judgment. Bring it because here we are.
Twelve, a dozen, of armed police officers raided the wrong home. They arrested and handcuffed the wrong person. The warrant was intended for her next-door neighbor. Ms. Young was criminalized, victimized, and humiliated.
The social worker was changing her clothes as she was retiring from the day. When the police officers invaded her home, she told them 43 times that they were in the wrong place. The policemen were white males, with one white female officer present. They did not listen to her pleas. She was naked, and as policemen watched, they looked like they were at a slave auction, a page from yesteryear. They did not offer her clothing to cover up as they gawked at her for nearly two minutes. Eventually, she was given a jacket, then a blanket, and then they allowed her to dress. They were looking for a man, 23 years-old, who lived door with a leg monitor.
This was an act of terrorism, and racist to the core. The elephant in the room is RACISM and we need to call it out. This activity was under the watch of then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel in 2018. Eddie Johnson was the Superintendent of Police. This is an act of BRUTALITY, we as Black women can no longer tolerate, no matter who the mayor is.
Mayor Lightfoot said her staff kept this information from her and she was outraged as she saw it. She should be so outraged that she should fire every staff member who participated in the cover-up. The cover-up is worse than the crime. This raid was akin to rape and recalls the case of Breonna Taylor, another Black woman whom a police gang entered her apartment and shot her to death. They too were in the wrong home.
If Lightfoot has staff so irresponsible, insensitive, and reckless and participated in a cover-up, none of them are worthy of their jobs. Corporate counsel tried to prevent the tape from being released to _CBS-TV, right up to broadcast time. He should be fired, for being irresponsible. Staff names should be exposed to the public. They do not need to be on the city’s payroll. If the Chief Legal Counsel tried to prevent the body camera from coming to light, he should be dismissed. This is yet another criminal cover-up from the same department that held on to the horrific tapes of Laquan McDonald. The cover-up was exposed only after the mayoral election. WE cannot continue to play politics with these matters. It has to stop. This is a case of raw racism and sexism and if Black Lives Matter prove it.
As the Black Caucus has noted, Chicago Police have raided the homes of families on the South and West Side with impunity for far too long. The homes that have been most wrongly raided are in the Englewood, Austin, North Lawndale, and Garfield Park communities. This is a direct target of poor African American homes. Police mistakes are costly and intolerable. These neighborhoods were identified in the superb research done by _CBS_ reporter, David Savini. He has worked diligently for two years to document wrongful raids. The special report made you cry as he interviewed children who had guns pointed at them. The terror will be with them forever.
It is time for new laws. The ‘NO KNOCK’ and ‘JOHN DOE’ warrants need to be reconsidered. The racist laws of the past that support and evoke racism and sexism are not relevant. Mayor Lightfoot can change the law. She has power. It is outrageous that an anonymous person, an informant, can influence a police raid. This sounds like the terror acts of the deep south reserved for Black people.
Black women expect more understanding, compassion, and sympathy from a Black Mayor, especially a female Black mayor. Black women demand safety for Black women in our homes at work and on the streets of Chicago. WE cannot tolerate this type of behavior. Lightfoot campaigned on reform. Well now is the time to “walk the walk” Madame Mayor. WE await the changes in the consent decree. Did it get lost or is it on the back burner?
I WONDER OUTLOUD, in this day of Black Lives Matter, if Ms. Young was a White woman living in the Lincoln Park area if this would have happened. Is this police behavior reserved for Black women in Chicago, with a Black Mayor and Black police chief at the helm? Really.
It’s time for Black women to come together to address this issue in the name of SISTERHOOD. Ms. Young deserves our love and support. For the sake of God, there go I.
Ms. Young pointed out that Lightfoot visited her church at election time. She voted for her and encouraged others to do the same. Young has suggested that Lightfoot return to the church and explain this terrible situation. I think it’s an excellent idea.
Women of all stripes and all gender types need to respond to this matter. This is unacceptable behavior. We deserve better and more. You should be able to be naked in your home if you want, without fear of a police raid.
Mayor Lightfoot, please take dismissive action far beyond an apology. The incompetent people in your administration need to be fired. The policemen need to be fired. They let you and the citizens of Chicago down. The police did not serve and protect. They acted like terrors (like members of the Ku Klux Klan) when Black women were raped and abused by White men and Black men could not protect them. TODAY WE STAND UP TO PROTECT OURSELVES. WE elected you and we expect you to serve our purpose.
And please note, it is not a good idea to use Ms. Young’s tape as a training tape for CPD. This further exploits Ms. Young’s body. What we do recommend is that police take READING CLASSES, SO THEY CAN KNOCK ON THE RIGHT DOOR. This SOUNDS SIMPLE ENOUGH.
We hope you hear us loud and clear. WE hope you take heed and that you do have an opportunity to talk to Ms. Young about that horrible night, face to face. Perhaps you should have lunch. We hope you use your mayoral powers to stop this type of incident from ever happening again.
WE are free Women. We are voting Women. We are Tax paying women and we expect more and better.
We are sick and tired of the insult. The abuse of police behavior has gone on far too long. ENOUGH. Black women are sick and tired of the abuse, and their children being shot in the street by policemen. It’s time for real change and I hope LIGHTFOOT IS up to the task.
