What my 10-year-old son will learn about justice from Laquan McDonald’s murder
*The police shooing of Laquan McDonald in Chicago last year happened blocks from where Ray Salazar teaches, a stone’s throw from where he worked as a teenager. He wathced the video released by the Chicago PD; his dilemma is how to explain the shooting to his 10 year-old son. VL
By Ray Salazar, The White Rhino
I thought I wouldn’t watch the Laquan McDonald video. But I had to. At my kitchen counter, I asked my 10-year-old son to get me my headphones. I plugged them into my computer to silence the violence I knew I would witness inside of my own home. I turned the screen so he would not see.
Today, according to the Chicago Tribune, the shooting death of Laquan McDonald by Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke, “marks the first time a Chicago police officer has been charged with first-degree murder for an on-duty fatality in nearly 35 years.” If convicted, the officer faces a minimum of a 20-year jail sentence for first-degree murder.
At 4:30 p.m. today, the city released the almost seven-minute dashcam video that ends with Van Dyke shooting and killing the 17-year-old African American teen.
Some reports say McDonald was seen breaking into parked trucks near I-55.
The dashcam video starts a block over from the Southwest side Chicago public high school where I teach; it heads westbound on 55th Street at Pulaski Road. The cop car is just around the corner from the Burger King where I worked when I was fifteen.
From the beginning, the dashcam video is surreal. The chirps and squeaks sound like some video game, something pre-programmed. The stoplight turns green, and the police car creeps forward—as if approaching prey. The white truck in front picks up speed: fight or flight. I understand.
Even at 42, when a cop car is behind me, I make unnecessary turns and stops to get out of its way. Even without the blue lights and the sirens on, I do not want to be pursued.
This article was ofiginally published in The White Rhino.
Since 1995, Ray has been an English teacher in the Chicago Public Schools. In 2003, Ray earned an M.A. in Writing, with distinction, from DePaul University. In 2009, he received National Board Certification. His writing aired on National Public Radio and Chicago Public Radio many times and have been published in the Chicago Tribune and CNN. For thirty years, Ray lived in Chicago’s 26th Street neighborhood. Today, he lives a little more south and a little more west in the city with his wife, son, and daughter.
[Screenshot courtesy of Chicago PD]