The curious case of Jussie Smollett—first, the alleged victim of a racist, homophobic assault and then slapped with charges by the Chicago Police Department (CPD) for allegedly staging the attack—is one that has been greedily followed by the public.
Smollett, an actor best known for his role in the television show Empire, was allegedly attacked by two Donald Trump supporters in January. Sympathy and righteous outrage was highly visible for Smollett—until the CPD charged him with staging the attack and he turned himself in.
Smollett faced up to 16 counts of felony disorderly conduct until the CPD dropped all the charges. The judge allowed for the case contents to be sealed and he was allowed to walk free. Many have argued that this is a case of class privilege, saying that without his fame and wealth, Smollett would have never been able to walk out without facing justice.
But, what is justice in this case? When the details of the charges that were laid against Smollett emerged, many people—including several prominent figures—came out in the news and on social media with vindictive derision towards the alleged attack.
They pointed to the charges as proof that there should never have been such hard belief or sympathy towards Smollett and his case, and that we should be suspicious of every other hate-crime allegation until all the facts are laid out. Of course, these are the same people who are outraged that the charges have been dropped against Smollett.
It would be wise to remember that among all of this media outrage is the CPD, which laid these charges against Smollett. The CPD has a history of police brutality, and is the same department that has made headlines for misconduct, assault on civilians, and the covering up of police brutality.
This is well-documented, especially through high-profile cases such as the police shooting of Laquan McDonald. Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel has spoken out against the dropping of the charges against Smollett, claiming that it is a black mark against the city.
It is telling that there seems to be no evidence of Emanuel speaking out against the brutality of his city’s police force with the same indignation.
The people calling for Smollett’s imprisonment—who agreed with the remarkably harsh charges—are missing the point. By crucifying Smollett’s alleged crime—a non-violent one at that—these same people, the city of Chicago, and the media can focus on the case of one celebrity while ignoring the fact that historically, Black gay men are far more likely to be the victim of a hate crime than straight white men.
The media was frenzied with stories about Smollett when the charges were laid against him. But, it seems that not as many are questioning the sudden dropping of the charges, or the fact that the case will be sealed from the public.
Of course, this is not to say that Smollett is completely innocent of the charges that were previously laid against him. But, the disproportionate outrage towards this particular case is interesting to note. This is especially true when comparing Smollett to, say, the recent university bribery scandal which exposed the practice of wealthy parents bribing university officials to unfairly advantage their children.
Public outrage is still high over the university bribery case, but no governors are calling to pass laws against it. In this case, it seems that—regardless of Smollett’s alleged or real crimes—the public was happy to eat up the story of a Black, gay man abusing the system. Perhaps the reason behind this is that it is the story our society quietly thinks of as true.
