On Sunday, Illinois Democrat Congressman Bobby Rush compared a Chicago police group to the Ku Klux Klan, saying both organizations were “like kissing, hugging and law-breaking cousins.”

Said Rush, “The number-one cause that prevents police accountability, that promotes police corruption, that protects police lawlessness, is a culprit called the Fraternal Order of Police [FOP]. They’re the organized guardians of continuous police lawlessness, of police murder and police brutality. The Chicago Fraternal Order of Police is the most rabid, racist body of criminal lawlessness by police in the land. It stands shoulder to shoulder with the Ku Klux Klan then and the Ku Klux Klan now.”

Rush knows something about lawlessness, as he is a founding member of the Illinois Black Panthers. He has said of the violent cop-killing terrorist group, “I don’t repudiate any of my involvement in the Panther party. It was part of my maturing.” Others have described the Panthers as more criminal than political, characterized by “defiant posturing over substance.” A partial list of Black Panther violence against police officers does not give the Chicago Democrat a great deal of credibility when speaking of breaking the law. When Rush was an active member of the Panthers, the following incidents took place:

On October 28, 1967 Oakland police officer John Frey was shot to death by Panther Huey P. Newton during a traffic stop in which Newton and backup officer Herbert Heanes also suffered gunshot wounds. Newton fired on the officers without provocation.

On April 6, 1968 a team of a dozen heavily armed Panthers ambushed Oakland police officers. Two officers were wounded. Though the Panthers claimed self-defense, several members later admitted that a Panther leader had led the armed group on a deliberate ambush of the police officers, provoking the shoot-out. There are more examples than these of Mr. Rush’s adherence to a strict code of obeying the law.

In a related story, during recent riots, members of the Chicago Police force spent time in Rush’s office. Rush and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) accused the officers of hiding from their duty on the streets. But since the incident in Rush’s office, it has been revealed that Rush’s staff had asked officers to sit in the office on the night of the protest to protect them from the rioters.

John Catanzara, FOP president, told the press, referring to Lightfoot, “Shame on her for even questioning their valor and the heroism and the officers of CPD to make it sound like they were letting other officers get the crap beat out of them while they sat there and slept. That is a disgusting accusation. She owes the men and women an apology for even implying that.”

Given Representative Rush’s comparison of the Chicago Police Department (many of whom are black) to the Ku Klux Klan and the recent (now disproved) accusations of the mayor, it seems anti-police bias and discrimination is sadly alive and well in the Windy City.

This piece was written by David Kamioner on June 16, 2020. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

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