Any Jussie Smollett discussion must include the Chicago PD too
If you want to keep talking about Jussie Smollett, brush up on Chicago politics and the Chicago Police Department’s misconduct record.
On Jan. 29, TMZ broke the news that Empire star Jussie Smollett had been hospitalized after a racist homophobic attack in Chicago. Smollett was then accused of and indicted for staging the attack himself and falsely claiming he was the victim of a hate crime. On March 26, the Cook County prosecutors office announced they had dropped all charges against Smollett.
What happened in between was a matter of on-and-off lurid fascination, outrage politics and mass confusion. What happens next calls for a lot more nuance and knowledge.
In any case, this is, this should be, the end of Smollett’s chapter. The timeline — from the initial report, to the Chicago Police Department announcing Smollett was first a person of interest and then a suspect in the crime, to his indictment and now the dismissal of all charges — is indeed wild.
That it played out largely through CPD leaks and viral tweets — with subsequent snap social-media-speed judgments — is perfectly, problematically of the times. We will likely never know exactly what happened on Jan. 29, at least not until a definitive investigative report and/or true crime podcast and/or docuseries drops. Smollett allegedly agreed to forfeit his $10,000 bond and already completed community service, but even this is disputed by his defense. Smollett’s team successfully appealed to have all the records sealed. That is, for the time being, that.
The most likely explanation, as it often is in Chicago, is that everyone involved is up to something shady and/or lying.
But this isn’t, necessarily, the end of this story for Chicago, or anyone with a socio-political interest in the story. It will, it should, have a bearing on the city’s mayoral run-off election on April 2. It will continue to inform residents’ trust or lack thereof in Cook County and the CPD. It’s no coincidence Kim Foxx, Eddie Johnson and Laquan McDonald’s names were trending alongside Smollett’s on Tuesday.
There are reasons, including significant alleged evidence, to be suspicious of Smollett’s account. Something convinced a grand jury to indict him on 16 counts of disorderly conduct. There are just as many reasons — reasons that are a matter of extensive reporting and public record — to be suspicious of the CPD, Cook County prosecutors and Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration. The most likely explanation, as it often is in Chicago, is that everyone involved is up to something shady and/or lying.
And yet after prosecutors dropped the charges, which apparently came as a surprise to the CPD and mayor’s office, Emanuel called the decision a “whitewash of justice,” declared “from top to bottom, this is not on the level” and asked, “where’s the accountability in the system?”
Whatever did or did not happen with the Smollett case does not come close to topping the list of what is “not on the level” or lacking in accountability in Chicago politics and policing. That Emanuel has never said so many words about any of the other far graver cases that put the CPD in the spotlight, and, many believe, actively engaged in the McDonald cover-up, matters too.
Everything about this case is bizarre and confusing, but this should not be the hill on which anyone dies as far as demanding celebrities face justice. We certainly do not need to take seriously indignant statements about wasted public resources from a police department currently paying out $662 million in misconduct reparations.
It remains to be seen what happens next, whether this goes back to being a largely local concern, or if we’re in for future rounds of Twitter reactions with a Jussie Smollett hashtag. If the latter, it would behoove anyone who needs to to brush up on their Chicago characters and context.