CHICAGO CRUSADER 12-24-2016.qxp_Sheriff 9/8/07 2007 12/22/16 2:22 AM Page 1
www.chicagocrusader.com Blacks Must Control Their Own Community
•C•P•V•S• AUDITED BY
To The Unconquerable Host of Africans Who Are Laying Their Sacrifices Upon The Editorial Altar For Their Race VOLUME LXXVI NUMBER 36—SATURDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2016
PUBLISHED SINCE 1940
25 Cents and worth more
Taxpayers pay big for police mistakes Justice Department’s investigation into CPD set to wrap up next month By J. Coyden Palmer Just in time for Christmas, Chicago taxpayers will be hit with $27 million in judgments to be paid out to the families of three Black men—all victims of misconduct by Chicago Police officers. Last week, a federal jury awarded $22 million to Nathson Fields, who was wrongly convicted of murder in 1984. The City Council approved $2.36 million to the estate of Darius Pinex and $3 million to the estate of Cedrick Chatman—both of whom were killed by Chicago police in 2011 and 2013, respectively. City records show that in the past ten years, Chicago has paid out half a billion dollars to settle police misconduct cases. The judgments and settlements continue to cripple a city already in a financial crisis. Fields spent over 17 years in prison and several times was set to be executed for the killings of two people on the South Side. His attorneys say he was falsely arrested, in-
dicted and convicted. A judge agreed and found Fields not guilty during his re-trial in which several witnesses were discredited for corroborating their testimony with police and prosecutors in exchange for deals in their own pending cases. “When someone like Mr. Fields could have been executed twice for a crime he didn’t commit, it took the system a long time to figure out a mistake was made, and that’s a real good argument why we should not have the death penalty,” said his attorney Jon Loevy. Fields was spared by former Gov. George Ryan, who in 2000, declared a moratorium on the death penalty, and in 2003—a few days before leaving office—commuted the sentences for all of those on Death Row to life in prison. The city plans to appeal the judgment. The court ruled prosecutors intentionally withheld evidence that would have helped Fields in his case. Loevy said Fields’ case is not an isolated one and the practice by the city of keeping “street files” needs to stop. “The City of Chicago was independently (Continued on page 3)
$500 Million (2006-2016) The payout to settle police abuse cases over the past ten years has cost Chicago taxpayers a half billion dollars and continues to grow.
Pols make last ditch effort to keep Aldi open Jesse: Store closing will add to ‘food desert’ woes By Chinta Strausberg
community residents. “I understand based on the meetings we had with Aldi, why they are closing,” said Boykin. Addressing the media, Reverend Jackson said, “It appears that Aldi’s is expanding stores, but stores in Maywood, on 87th Street in Chicago, and one in Peoria, IL are closing. These stores are in the neediest communities, in Black communities. It’s adding to the food desert.” (Continued on page 2)
The announced closing of the Maywood Aldi’s grocery store brought out the big political “guns” Wednesday with Representative Danny K. Davis (D-7th) holding on to “faith” that the store will not close on Christmas Eve, to Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. saying the store’s closing will compound the “food desert” issue in the Black community. Cook County Commissioner Richard Boykin held a press conference outside the Aldi store at 215 W. Madison in Maywood, where he was joined by Representative Danny K. Davis (D-7th), Maywood Mayor Edweena Perkins, Reverend Marvin Wiley, Bill Hampton, brother of deceased Black Panther leader Fred Hampton, and
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
REVEREND JESSE JACKSON, SR. held a press conference in front of the Aldi’s store in Maywood, which is scheduled to close on Christmas Eve. Congressman Danny Davis and Cook County Commissioner Richard Boykin are among those joining Jackson to persuade the store to stay open.
R. Kelly delivers freaky Christmas show at Chicago Theatre (See page 13)