Overheard On Chicago Police Radio: 'Black Lives Matter, My Ass' And N-Word
By Rachel Cromidas in News on Mar 14, 2016 5:50PM
Demonstrators taunt supporters of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump as they leave a rally at the University of Illinois at Chicago which was postponed on March 11, 2016 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
[Warning: This post features racist language. The audio embedded below was not uploaded by Chicagoist, and the uploader spelled out the n-word.]
Someone, presumed to be a Chicago police officer, unleashed disturbing hate speech on the Chicago Police radio this weekend, including the n-word and a comment mocking the Black Lives Matter Movement.
Chicago police officers in the field routinely communicate with each other and dispatchers via radio, and their dispatches are frequently monitored via police scanners by journalists and other curious people. Some scanner listeners picked up on the disturbing communications Monday morning and shared it on social media. One Twitter user and regular scanner tracker said he believes the radio broadcast was originally made Saturday morning, just hours after police were stationed outside the cancelled Donald Trump rally and anti-Trump protests.
A man can be heard saying, "Typical fucking n--," over the scanner, interjected into a conversation between several cops and a female dispatcher. Another man responded "find out what radio that comment came from," and the dispatcher replied, "You know we don't get radio numbers, but I'm already hollering for my supervisor." Shortly after, a man can be heard saying, "Black Lives Matter, my ass. Fucking n--."
Police representatives told reporters they were looking into the matter Monday afternoon.
The national Black Lives Matter movement has been working in Chicago to call attention to police brutality and misconduct, and has organized or participated in protests relating to the fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald and other black Chicagoans killed by police.
The audio, which contains racist language, can be heard here: