Adam Toledo Complied, He Should Not Have Died
Another indelible image of police murdering an unarmed person of color leaves us perplexed. Chicago Police Officer Eric Stillman shot 13-year-old Adam Toledo less than a second AFTER Adam dropped the gun and had BOTH hands up. In other words, the young man complied.
CRS and supporting organizations will be joining a peaceful community protest in Logan Square Park on April 16, 2021 demanding justice for Adam and all victims of police violence.
Police misconduct-induced terror and trauma destroys families. The Chicago Police Department and other authorities’ lack of accountability erodes trust.
Brutalization coupled with the lack of transparency, in the cases of Laquan McDonald and Anjanette Young, adds to the terror and trauma. That disregard for Black and Brown lives fuels fear and rage. This fury and frustration has inspired neighborhoods across Chicago to demand change.
Chicaogans know what’s best for their neighborhoods. The Empowering Communities for Public Safety (ECPS) ordinance provides localized solutions that empower the community to respond to police abuse and misconduct.
The ECPS ordinance will transform how Chicago approaches public safety. It has gained two aldermanic caucuses’ support. The ordinance is slated for a City Council Public Safety Committee vote. Chicago residents demand the City Council pass the ECPS Ordinance.
We’ve arrived at an historic moment in a long struggle for police accountability in Chicago. However, everyone’s clear that lack of police accountability is a national issue.
Keyboard warriors’ exhaustive defense of some police officers’ deadly decisions nearly always declare, “Well, he should’ve complied.”
Adam Toledo complied. He stopped, dropped the gun, and put both hands up. Yet, he still died--at the hands of police. LaQuan McDonald was murdered while walking away from police. Philando Castile was complying, but a Minnesota police officer still killed him.
Castile’s murder prompted Minnesota to invest $12 million in law enforcement training. That money didn’t save George Floyd or Daunte Wright’s life. There’s no question that there are two different judicial systems for Black and white people.
Black and white people are also policed differently. Policing techniques for Black people and other people of color are based on slavery era codes that controlled the movement of Native Americans and enslaved Africans.
No new approaches to policing have erased the differences between policing Black and white people. White mass murderers survive arrest more often than Black people accused of nonviolent crimes.
Interestingly, non-compliance doesn’t equal death for most white suspects. When death did occur, as in Justine Damond’s case, a Black officer was held accountable for killing the white Australian woman, also in Minnesota. The officer was sentenced to 12 years for her death.
A tale of two cities isn’t just a Dickens novel or an apt description of Chicago. It’s a vivid description of life in America for people of color. Despite propaganda peddling contrary messaging, Black and white people live different lives.
Getting police officers to stop treating Black people like three-fifths of a human is a good first step toward creating a better Chicago and a better nation. Training police officers to stop seeing certain people of color as enemy combatants and holding them accountable would help make that dream come true.
Chicago residents, we encourage you to learn more about the Empowering Communities for Public Safety Ordinance and contact your Alderman.