*The City of Chicago’s top corporate counsel resigned Sunday after it was revealed that he was in charge of the city’s efforts to block the video of a botched raid from getting released. His name is Mark Flessner. He was the top attorney in charge of the City of Chicago’s law department. That means Flessner would be the person in charge of defending any action done on behalf of the city of Chicago. Whether it was the police department, the fire department, a school teacher, or a janitor: If they worked for the city and committed an act on behalf of the city then Flessner’s department would be in charge of defending those actions if anybody decided to sue.
That’s what Ms. Anjanette Young is doing. She is suing the city of Chicago over something that happened to her in February 2019 – almost two years ago. But the video of what happened to Ms. Young, a Black woman, was just released last week. Chicago police broke into her home trying to serve a no-knock warrant. She was naked when about twelve white, male cops burst in. They did little to try to shield her body while their cameras recorded. They were at the wrong location. Ms. Young told them they had it wrong at least 40 times. The person they were looking for was a neighbor who wore an ankle monitor at the time. Had these cops taken the time to track the man’s ankle monitor before they burst in on Ms. Young they would have known they were at the wrong location. They acted with total disregard of the possibility that they could be wrong.
But they get it wrong a lot. Throughout the United States, 8 times out of ten when the cops get it wrong and burst into somebody’s house under the guise of serving a warrant, it’s at the expense of somebody Black or Brown. The wrong people find themselves with a cop’s gun pointed at them, their homes and possessions are damaged during the raid and sometimes innocent people are killed in the process. And if that’s not egregious enough, most of these bully, liar, killer cops are not held accountable for their legalized bullying and genocide.Â
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Here’s where attorney Mark Flessner comes in: When Ms. Young tried to get copies of the police camera video by filing a Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) request the city’s law department blocked her from getting a copy. So she hired her own lawyer to file a lawsuit. That’s when attorney Flessner, representing Chicago’s legal department, finally released the video to Young. When a Chicago TV station planned to air the video, Chicago’s legal department, run by attorney Flessner at the time, tried to get a federal judge to block the station from airing it. The judge denied their request and that’s the only reason the video aired last week, almost two years after it happened.
Now let’s talk about Lori Lightfoot, the mayor of Chicago. A few days ago when Lightfoot was asked if she was going to fire Flessner, since he was the person in charge of the legal department and was assisting the police department’s efforts to cover-up what they did to Ms. Young, Lightfoot said she would consider it. At that time Lightfoot said she too had just seen the video when everybody else was seeing it. Then news came earlier today that Flessner resigned. Unless you think Flessner is a good guy caught in a bad situation consider this:
Last year around this time it was revealed that Flessner wasn’t above hustling the system for his own benefit. He owned at least two homes, one in the city and one in a Chicago suburb. Flessner was claiming homestead tax breaks on both homes. In order to qualify for a homestead property tax break, you have to claim a home as your primary residence. For at least two years Flessner claimed the tax breaks for both homes, which is not possible to have two primary residences. That’s illegal! He’s an attorney. He knows that’s illegal. So Flessner is a liar and a cheater. Lightfoot required Flessner to repay $2,500 for the tax break, but he was not fired.
It’s been revealed that the mayor knew about the botched raid and the video evidence a year ago. So she lied when she claimed she just learned about it. If you live in Chicago don’t allow the mayor to scapegoat Flessner by claiming the issue is handled, because he is gone. She knew about them trying to cover it up. This is another reason why you need to pay attention to local politics. Hold your local politicians accountable.
The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is supposed to protect people and their property from unreasonable searches and seizures. That’s supposed to include busting in your house to serve no-knock warrants. Yet police claim these no-knock warrants are necessary because the person they’re looking for could be violent and they want to surprise them. Oftentimes the opposite effect happens and innocent people – mostly Black and Brown – die.Â
Police make the decision to either use a no-knock warrant or to serve a warrant peacefully. Statistics prove eighty percent of the time they choose to enter by force when it’s dealing with a Black person! White people rarely – if ever – have to fear no-knock warrants. When they have warrants they get pulled over on the side of the road or they’re allowed to walk outside and they get served without guns drawn. It’s another example of how most cops have a reckless disregard for the lives of Black and Brown people.
No-knock warrants are handled by police departments on a local level. Make it your top priority in your community to hold every local official responsible for outlawing no-knock warrants in every city everywhere. Find out if no-knock warrants are used in your city. If they are, let your council representatives know you want them outlawed today! In the next local elections lead the questions by asking candidates if they are for or against them. Let them know legalized bullying by cops won’t be tolerated. Black people in America need a nation-wide agenda moving into 2021, starting with abolishing no-knock warrants. Community policing should be a part of that agenda. If you need help with how to move forward email me today. The life you save might be your own or somebody you know.
Steffanie Rivers is a freelance journalist living in the Dallas-Ft. Worth metroplex. Email her at [email protected] with your comments, questions and speaking inquiries. Follow her at TCBStef on Twitter and Instagram.
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