Chicago’s Black Press Urges Mayor to Fire Officers With Oath Keepers Ties

By Erick Johnson of The Chicago Crusader Publishers and owners of Chicago’s Black media organizations have banded together, urging Mayor Brandon Johnson to keep his campaign promise and fire Chicago police officers with affiliations to extremist groups, namely the right-wing Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys. Chicago’s Black Press, comprised of area print, broadcast, and digital outlets believes the recent mass text problem is a warning of future racist behavior directed to Blacks, especially in Chicago, where the police department has a notorious history of rogue police officers who have been accused of misconduct, racial profiling and heavy-handed policing in Black neighborhoods. With President-elect Donald Trump set to take office in January, there is concern that Blacks and minorities will be more specific targets of hate groups. Hours after Trump was elected president on November 5, Blacks in colleges and offices across the country received racist text messages telling them they had been “selected” to pick cotton “at the nearest plantation.” The FBI said in a statement that it is aware of the texts, has been in contact with the U.S. Department of Justice and encourages people who receive them to report the messages to local law enforcement authorities.& It...