In her despicable attempt at public redemption, disgraced Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx reviles Chicago's entire criminal justice system for putting Jussie Smollett on trial and finding him guilty. If you read her self-serving opinion piece and you remember the Smollett case at all, then you might conclude, as I did, that Foxx now plays the race card AND the victim card, when there is little to no evidence that Smollett’s prosecution was racially motivated or that either Smollett or Foxx was unfairly victimized.
Foxx writes that “In Smollett’s case, the mob was relentless, organized and effective.” Really? A mob? Foxx further claims that “Black women elected prosecutors around the country have faced the same mob mentality.”
In this case, the “mob” that revealed Smollett’s fraudulent claims included then-Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department, Eddie Johnson, a black man. And the “mob” that condemned Jussie Smollett’s dishonest behavior and validated the verdict included Chicago's mayor, Lori Lightfoot, a black woman.
Foxx does a huge disservice to the reputation of the criminal justice system by falsely condemning “the damaging, costly, and disingenuous criminal prosecution of Jussie Smollett” and by claiming that “Smollett was indicted, tried and convicted by a kangaroo prosecution.” And then she tries to depict herself as a martyr, claiming that the “playbook” sought to “attack and marginalize anyone fighting to create a more just system…” What exactly was “disingenuous” about prosecuting Smollett? And what basis is there for claiming Smollett was “tried and convicted by a kangaroo prosecution”?
Fox further asserts that “Given the reputational price Smollett paid, the $10,000 bond we held, and the fact that he’d never been accused of a violent crime, my office made the decision not to further pursue a criminal conviction. This story should have ended there, as thousands upon thousands of non-prosecuted cases do every day.”
Really, after all the damage done to race relations, both locally and nationally, by Smollett’s false accusations, should his story have ended without a criminal investigation or trial, even in the face of his refusal to admit deceiving the entire country?
Bernie Madoff, when his Ponzi scheme was finally revealed, paid far more than $10,000, and he was never accused of a violent crime either, nor was he guilty of a violent crime. He was guilty of fraud. He defrauded people! And for that crime he was sent to prison. Jussie Smollett defrauded the people of Chicago and lied to the whole country. And for his crimes he will be sent to the Cook County jail for 150 days.
Just systems are not built on the back of lies. Smollett’s lies came back to bite him in the ass. And now Foxx is lying about Chicago’s justice system, which she supposedly represents and is a part of.