Jussie Smollett Hate-Hoax 'Whitewash' Is A Black Day For Justice In Chicago

Justice isn’t blind in Chicago. It’s just black, as in invincibly racialized, with dark implications for fair and equal application of the law. So while you're pondering today's news about Chicago dropping all charges against racial scam artist Jussie Smollett,  meet Cook County State’s Attorney Kimberly M. Foxx. Hailed as Chicago’s first black female district attorney, Foxx recused herself from the Jussie Smollet hate-hoax case a full month ago, not long after she consulted with former Michelle Obama chief of staff Tina Tchen and declared that she had a personal conflict of interest, which Foxx left unspecified. In the last few days however, Foxx seems to have came back into the case, and her office decided to drop charges against Smollett. The decision has ignited a furor, with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel fuming that nothing about his decision is “on the level,” implying official corruption in a variety of forms for which Chicago is famous. Rubbing salt in the wound, Foxx declared that the Smollett case file is sealed and that his record has been cleared. Like nothing ever happened. 

Read Foxx’s bio, below. I’ve added bold in places that deserve particular derision. The bottom line is that Foxx is a politician who thinks she’s going to go places politically by refusing to put black men in jail, no matter what their crimes have done to tear at our mutiracial & multicultural social compact. Calling Kamala Harris: Maybe you should call Foxx about becoming your running mate? So much in common, especially in terms of social justice, at least the racialized variant of it. 

Kimberly M. Foxx is the first African American woman to lead the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office – the second largest prosecutor’s office in the country. Kim took office on December 1, 2016 with a vision for transforming the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office into a fairer, more forward-thinking agency focused on rebuilding the public trust, promoting transparency, and being proactive in making all communities safe. 

More than two years into her term, Kim has undertaken substantial reform. She has revamped the office’s Conviction Integrity Unit, resulting in overturned convictions in over 60 cases, including the first-ever mass exoneration in Cook County for 15 men whose convictions stemmed from misconduct by a Chicago Police Officer.She has been a leader in bond reform, instructing prosecutors to agree to recognizance bonds where appropriate, and reviewing bond decisions in cases where people are detained because they are unable to pay bonds of $1,000 or less. Kim has taken the lead on prioritizing resources away from low-level offenses to focus on violent crime, including raising the threshold for approving felony charges for retail theft to $1,000, and declining to prosecute misdemeanor traffic offenses for failure to pay tickets and fines. 

Kim is the first and only prosecutor in the country to make felony case-level data available to the public.The open data portal provides unprecedented access and transparency into the work of a prosecutor’s office. Her goal is to make the Cook County the most transparent prosecutor’s office in the country. 

Kim served as an Assistant State’s Attorney for 12 years, and was also a guardian ad litem, where she worked as an attorney advocating for children navigating the child welfare system. Prior to being elected State’s Attorney, Kim served as Chief of Staff for the Cook County Board President, where she was the lead architect of the county’s criminal justice reform agenda to address racial disparities in the criminal and juvenile justice systems. 

Born and raised on Chicago’s Near North Side, Kim is a graduate of Southern Illinois University, where she earned a B.A. in Political Science and a J.D. from the SIU School of Law.