On July 14, 2018, the Chicago Police Department (CPD), already under fire for allegedly covering up the 2014 death of Laquan McDonald, executed yet another black man, Harith Augustus, in the city's South Shore neighborhood. Augustus was leaving his job at a barbershop when he was apprehended by police which ultimately ended up in an altercation which led to his death. Protesters were quick to respond to the scene, flooding 71st Street with cries of despair and anger projected towards the police. In response, police fought back against the crowd, herding them into the parking lot of a strip mall across the street.
Harith Augustus's death is yet another addition to the list of people of color mercilessly executed by the police.
But while every injustice strikes a sense of anger within me, Harith Augustus's death, just like Laquan McDonald's, made the feeling of anger even more intimate as it happened in Chicago, a city whose communities of color are more segregated and malnourished than perhaps any other city in the country.
It's perhaps no secret that Chicago's South Side is plagued with many problems, especially gun violence. However, many do not know that a lot of these problems are due to the lack of resources that these communities face. In fact, when Mayor Rahm Emanuel took office, the city closed 6 mental health clinics in vulnerable neighborhoods. Moreover, a May 2018 report had stated that unemployment among black men in Illinois is at an astonishing 37%. After Chicago Public Schools privatized their custodial services to Aramark, a significant amount of schools were found to have been infested with rats and feces before the beginning of the school year.
I could go on and on, but you probably get the picture. You might still ask how are these issues relevant to what we saw with Harith Augustus and other gun violence problems. Nine times out of ten you're probably reading this from a relatively safe neighborhood. Now let me ask you this: are there grocery stores and many job opportunities by you? When you're feeling depressed or you know someone who's suffering from drug addiction, is there a hospital/clinic where you can go? Has your high school or college ever had a problem with rats literally pooping in the hallways? You may say no to these questions, but South Siders will say yes. With virtually no public resources at their disposal, these communities of color have no choice but to resort to violent, dog-eat-dog ways of living.
With some of these instances being said, meanwhile, the Emanuel administration is planning to build a new police academy that will cost about $95 million. Yes. Ninety-five million dollars that could have easily gone to the problems that I mentioned earlier. Furthermore, I should add that there is a police accountability council hosted by the city; they are not elected, but instead appointed by the Mayor.
So, while you judge what's happening in the South Shore neighborhood, know that Chicago's communities of color are not only suffering from malnourished communities, but their resentment of the police is rooted in the idea that the money that funds them could easily have been used to restore resources that the South Side desperately needs.
