CWBChicago is posting the complete Chicago Police Department investigative file on the Jussie Smollett “hate crime” investigation that we have received in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.

These files were provided by the Chicago Police Department in response to a FOIA request that CWBChicago submitted upon learning that the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office had reached a sealed agreement to resolve Smollett’s criminal exposure in the case.
— CWBChicago, 3/27/19

We now know why Smollett’s files were “sealed” from public view.

About an hour after the department released the files, the Chicago Police reportedly became subject of a court order that barred them from releasing further files even though they were widely available online.
— Fox News, 3/27/19

As you read through the files for yourself, see how much the media DIDN’T share with the public and how their tune may have been different after the dropping of charges against Smollett.

UPDATE

During the 2019 so-called NAACP Image Awards, Chris Rock let the world know not all black folks were supporting Jussie.

…

IF there is justice, this is only the beginning.

There were numerous stories that echoed the media narrative that the election of Donald Trump was the beginning of racist hate in the United States: one of particular note was a “noose found by tourists” at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

However, not ONE media story included the word “alleged”. The discovery of the “noose” was reported as a factual, corroborated incident; not one that required any verification with physical proof.

David J. Skorton, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, said in an email announcement that he had to share “deeply disturbing news” that the rope was found in an public exhibition space Wednesday afternoon. It was in the Segregation Gallery on the second floor of the history galleries.
— Washington Post, 6/1/17

Under Skorton’s leadership, a new strategic plan has been developed with a focus on convening critical conversations about topics of vital public interest.
— Smithsonian

Looks like we have a conversation and it turns out this was the second such incident that occurred on Smithsonian grounds.

Note Lonnie Bunch‘s intentional use of the word “deplorable“, a pejorative prominently used by Hillary Clinton and her supporters to describe Americans who supported presidential candidate Donald Trump.

The disturbing incident comes only four days after a noose was found hanging from a tree outside the Hirshhorn Museum. The investigation into the noose found at NMAAHC is ongoing, but the public and staff have been assured that the museum is safe.
— Smithsonian Magazine, 5/31/17

If at first you don’t succeed….

Not being one who immediately accepts a media or activist action line, especially when one story concluded with,

… one museum official to Fox 5 they have “no interest in sharing the video”….

I filed a Freedom of Information Request with the Department of the Interior of which the museum falls under its jurisdiction.

Submitted on Tuesday, February 27, 2018 – 12:20pm

Bureau/Office: National Park Service (NPS)
Relevant park, refuge, site or other location: Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture

Request Description:
I respectfully request an electronic copy of the surveillance video surrounding the events of a “noose” being hung at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture on May 31, 2017.

According to media reports, “There have been reports that surveillance video was recorded inside the gallery, but officials have yet to release any details on what might have been captured on tape. On Monday afternoon, a museum official told FOX 5’s Kristyn Leon they have “no interest in sharing the video,” but didn’t say why. Earlier in the day, another museum spokesperson said it’s part of protocol to turn over any surveillance video that might exist to police as part of the investigation process. In this case, the spokesperson also said they’re not even sure that video of the person or person who hung the noose inside the museum’s gallery even exists, and the couldn’t talk about what was on the video that has been turned over to U.S. Park Police.”

To assist in determining my requester category to assess fees, you should know that I am: a representative of the news media and this request is made as part of a news gathering effort and not for commercial use.

Affiliated Organization:
My website: black-and-right.com

The back-and-forth began….

Despite the numerous emails with government officials since the initial filing through the end of September, the determination was “completed” on March 26, 2018.

Still no video from the Department of the Interior. Yes, over the phone with a very polite federal employee I was told that the faces of children had to be blurred from the video segment in question, but I know this doesn’t take seven months and I can only guess that if a supervisor high up in the federal government requested a blurred piece of video, it could be done in an afternoon. As someone there may have assumed I was a video production illiterate, I could have suggested the whole video be blurred except for the “noose” in question. That could have also been done easily in hours, not months.

Museum director Lonnie Bunch claimed he didn’t know who left the “noose” but was quick to condemn whomever left it as having a problem “of an America they didn’t agree with”. In the above interview, Bunch didn’t seem to be all that motivated to seek out and identify whomever supposedly left the hate symbol in the museum.

On September 24, 2018, the following letter from the Department was emailed in response to the initial FOIA request. Oddly enough, the response is dated May 23, 2018.

I understand the desire to observe the privacy of “juveniles”, even in a public place but it also requires a suspension of common sense that for all of the high-tech “security you don’t see”, the “noose” was supposedly left in a “public exhibition space” where electronic surveillance was blind. Even more unbelievable is that in the age of personal smartphones with still and video cameras, the many “tourists who found” it as well as horrified museum staff, NOT ONE picture or video of the “noose” made it to a Facebook page, Twitter or Instagram post… nothing that shows that “noose” in the museums on the dates in question.

In whose possession is the physical “noose” today? Shouldn’t it be on display as an unfortunate but relevant “recent acquisition”?

It could be concluded this was another contribution to the Democrat #resist, #anti-Trump smear on Americans by creating the illusion of a racial divide. What could be a possible motivation for the museum to push a false narrative? It could be as simple as “follow the money”.

It was thousands of black donors from across America giving amounts ranging from $1.50 to over $20 million that made the vision a reality. African Americans represented 74 percent of the individuals who gave $1 million or more, which doubled expectations.
— Michigan Chronicle, 9/26/16

Too many American nonprofits are top heavy and rely heavily on charitable donations to cover overhead and personnel expenses. The National Museum of African American History and Culture has a nonprofit educational .edu and seeing how three-fourths of their donors are black, why not repeat a proven fundraising tactic: play on fear and the “noose” is a simple yet powerful symbol of the ironically racist history of the Democrat Party, which is something the museum may not be totally honest in presenting.

The Democratic Party is proud to celebrate the opening of the Museum of African American History & Culture, and all the extraordinary women and men of our past, present and future engaged in the fight for true equality.
— Democrats.org

Seven months after filing a Freedom of Information Request and the stalling of the initial response from the museum that the video was not going to be made available, the only reasonable conclusion is that there was no “noose” found at a Smithsonian museum. What the media was told was untrue, what the media irresponsibly reported to the public wasn’t true, and those at the very top of the museum staff are aware this never occurred. Someone appears to have concocted and/or perpetuated a politically-driven falsehood meant to inflame easily-inflamed liberal activists and inspire bleeding-heart donors.

UPDATE

There are some people within our society who can assert anything, smear anyone, despite proof.

Because it pays….

When Lonnie Bunch started working on the Smithsonian’s first black museum, he had no collection, no building and one employee.

The Smithsonian Institution rewarded the founding director of the wildly popular museum on Tuesday by putting him in charge of all 19 of its museums, making Bunch the 14th secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

Bunch, in an interview with The Associated Press, said his time leading the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture will serve him well. “The Smithsonian is the most amazing place, and sometimes it forgets to act like it. I want it to act like the best institution in the world,” he said.
— USA Today, 5/29/19

We’ll see just how well behaved the public will be in the museums, now that Bunch is in charge AND responsible.

A growing number of State Department employees are charging they are being put in career purgatory because of their previous work on policy priorities associated with President Barack Obama and in offices the Trump administration is interested in closing.

The situation has got so serious that several officials tell CNN they have retained attorneys after repeatedly trying unsuccessfully to raise concerns about being assigned to low-level jobs in Foggy Bottom such as answering Freedom of Information Act requests. The issue has also come to the attention of senior Democrats on Capitol Hill.
— CNN, 1/28/18

While the Democrats and their media would have us all believe these are poor government workers caught up in a Republican witch hunt to exact revenge on Obama loyalists, there’s a little more to this that we’ve covered here before and these employees are not as innocent as they’d have us all believe.

Dissent at the U.S. State Department: Why Trump Should Welcome It
It was precisely in order to avoid that sort of stark choice that the State Department’s dissent channel was first established. Created during the Vietnam War, when many Foreign Service officers understandably had grave misgivings about U.S. foreign policy, it offered a way for them to speak their minds while continuing to serve their country. Since then, the dissent channel, at its best, has been a source of creativity and open thinking inside the bureaucracy, allowing diplomats to question widespread assumptions and challenge ideological stances from within.
— Foreign Affairs (published by the Council on Foreign Relations), 2/3/17

Yes, these same picked-on employees have a portal where they can communicate about State Department matters, but in this case, quietly bitch, moan, “dissent” and plot against President Trump’s agenda; an agenda they are to implement because he’s their boss.

From AFSA: What You Need To Know When You Disagree With U.S. Policy
Dissent Channel: The State Department’s internal dissent channel, covered in 2 FAM 070, states that the State Department may not punish an employee who uses the dissent channel. It also prohibits raters and reviewers from negatively mentioning an employee’s use of the dissent channel when writing said employee’s EER. The Foreign Service promotion precepts explicitly recognize appropriate dissent as a positive factor to be considered when reviewing employees for promotion.
— USAID Alumni Association, 1/31/17

Yes, dissent is a formal mechanism to advancement in the State Department amongst the left.

Anyone who’s worked with liberals know they are quite at ease in making their opinions know in the workplace. They can be quite vocal, from initiating discussion to epithet-laden outbursts. When they are in the numerical majority, they can all be quite the bullies, especially when their superiors are of like mind and will not restrict their intrusions. Whether you’re in the Republican minority in the federal government who had to keep political opinions to themselves or risk political retribution by empowered Democrats or in other industries like entertainment in Hollywood where conservative sympathy can result in your never working in that town again, it’s almost amusing to now watch liberal federal employees whine about being given monkey work because they’re hard to fire.

When Barack Obama was elected twice, liberals celebrated in our faces and Republicans accepted the results and organized appropriately. When Donald Trump was elected, liberals immediately denied Republicans the opportunity to revel in a hard fought victory and have taken to the streets ever since in #resistance dissent. Taking it to the federal workplace may have gone too far and now they’re whining because THEY are no longer running the show and believe they’re being punished for their political beliefs.

How does it feel?

And considering the Obama administration was not all that cooperative in replying to FOIA requests, these State Department employees have some catching up to do.