Of Kaepernick, Chicagoans, and Standing with Them

  Consider LaQuan McDonald's case as you think about Nike's endorsement deal with Colin Kaepernick.
   He wanders down the middle of the street. Police pull up. Shots are fired. He spins around and falls to the ground. Video caught the shooting of LaQuan McDonald. With tomorrow's sun comes the trial of Jason Van Dyke, the police officer charged with shooting him.
   This is the police injustice Kaepernick is upset about. This is the cause for which NFL players go to a knee. Bless them, and consider many of them just might be aware of what is going on in Chicago.
    Two thousand shooting so far this year in that city. The violence is part of the reason for protesters taking to the streets. But, it is not just what is happening, but what is not happening, that all this falls under the roof of what Kaepernick is protesting.
  From 2011 to 2015, there were 28,500 citizen complaints against police. Of them, 97 percent of resulted in no action being taken against the officers. This according to the New York Times as quoted by quoted by the Young Turks.
   "Why do you think African Americans are protesting throughout the country?" the Young Turks host asks in the 2015 video.
    Consider, again, on the case of LaQuan McDonald. Other officers were present, witnesses were present. If the officer did shoot him, he shot him with impunity. If he did shoot him, he expected he could get away with it. Note, if you will, how that would require the complacency of the other officers. Note how that would require sweeping under the rug whatever the witnesses saw.
   It would seem, you only commit such a crime if there is a history of getting away with such things, and you have reason to believe you'll get away with it.
   Consider on the case of another officer, Jerome Finigan. The Young Turks announcer says the New York Times said Finigan had 68 civilian complaints against him -- with no action being taken against him. Finigan is quoted with telling the Times: "My bosses knew what I was doing out there, and it went on and on. And this wasn't the exception. This was the rule."
    What do you do when the police become the mafia? Do Chicagoans live in such a place?
   We go to foreign lands, and on foreign soil we fight for justice for these far away people. If we have those in our own country who are suffering under parts of government that are just as unjust -- such as the police in Chicago -- should we not be just as concerned?
   War is not required here. We only need to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Chicagoans in protesting against such policing.
    And, stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Colin Kaepernick in fighting such injustice wherever it is happening. That's just my thought. Your view might surely differ. But, to me, if people are being oppressed, you step in to help them.
   That is what America is all out. In part, it is about coming to the aid of those whose governments oppress them, be it in Iraq or be it in Chicago.