Chicago’s “Civilian Office of Police Accountability” Says Two Pigs Were “Reasonable” in Murdering Joshua Beal

June 24, 2019 | revcom.us

 

On June 18, the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) in Chicago declared that two cops had acted in a “reasonable” manner and “within department policy” when they killed Joshua Beal, a 25-year-old Black man, in November 2016 in the South Side Mt. Greenwood neighborhood. Yet more murdering pigs allowed to walk scot free—just days after Memphis authorities announced they would not charge the cop who killed Terrence Carlton, an unarmed Black man, last year…and, in the same city around the same time, federal marshals gunned down 20-year-old Brandon Webber. Just days after authorities in Vallejo, California, released a report saying that the firing of 55 shots in 3.5 seconds by their cops in murdering Willie McCoy, as he slept in his car, was “reasonable.” And on and on with outrage after outrage. This shit MUST STOP!

On November 5, 2016, Joshua Beal had come into Chicago from Indianapolis for his cousin’s funeral. He and others in the funeral procession were driving through the mostly white Mt. Greenwood, a notoriously racist enclave and home to many cops. An off-duty pig in plainclothes tried to run a 17-year-old driver in the procession off the road, and then he pulled a gun and threatened her. Beal and other family members got out of their cars in concern for her safety. Then another off-duty cop on his way to work jumped out of his car. This pig fired off 18 shots and killed Joshua Beal. When Joshua’s brother tackled one of the off-duty maniacs in an effort to save his brother’s life, he was arrested and held for days.

Joshua’s aunt, speaking to members of the Revolution Club in Chicago who had rushed to the neighborhood to stand with the family, said, “He just graduated from college, Ivy Tech College in Indianapolis. He was so happy in the graduation. And he was a father of two. Two young boys. He was a dedicated father.”

That night, and at least twice after that, hundreds of white racists from the neighborhood gathered to mock and threaten Beal’s grieving family and others who came to support them and protest the murder. Some in the racist mob wielded firearms and baseball bats. Many spit out racist slurs of the vilest kind. They carried signs like “Go back to Africa.” The only thing that distinguished them from a lynch mob of the Jim Crow era were chants like “Trump! Trump! Trump!” (this was right around the time of his election) and “CPD! CPD!” (Chicago Police Department).

The two pigs who killed Joshua Beal have never been charged. And now they have been officially cleared by COPA, the “civilian” body that has been touted as a key part of the “reforms” in the Chicago police following the crisis that rocked the city after exposure of the official cover-up—involving top levels of the CPD all the way up the mayor—of the pig murder of Laquan McDonald.

No, throwing around words like “civilian” or “accountability,” or putting body cams on pigs, or any of the other reforms don’t mean a damn thing when it comes to changing the real role of the police—which is to serve and protect the oppressive system that rules over the people. It’s going to take an actual revolution to overthrow the rulers and put an END to this and many other crimes of this system. And thousands of people need to be part of working, right now, to bring that revolution closer. The national Revolution Tour is getting people organized to do just that—and after starting in Los Angeles, the Tour will soon be in Chicago. Learn about, follow, and support the Tour here.