Page 19 - January 2021

each night. He has never met a police officer, with the excep- tion of a speeding ticket some years ago. He does not support the rioting he has witnessed, but he believes the people on the news when they tell him the violence is not the normal and the protesting is mostly peaceful. He feels he has awakened to the movement but, besides front yard signs, has done nothing to advance it. To be quite honest, it really doesn’t affect him. As long as his friends believe he is on the right side, Chad is comfortable with this.
One Saturday, Chad and his wife dropped the kids off at their friends’ house down the street. They went to a sidewalk restaurant and enjoyed the evening. They returned to pick up the kids and double-parked in front of the massive single-fam- ily brick house. Chad got out and corralled the children and began walking back to the car. Out of nowhere, two men ap- proached, and one pointed a stolen handgun two inches from his face. Chad quickly stepped in front of his wife and chil- dren and handed the keys to the BMW, along with his wallet, to the men. The man with the gun paused for a second, and Chad’s life passed before his eyes. The men abruptly left with his house keys, wallet and car.
John was assigned the job of an armed robbery in progress and sped to the scene. Upon arrival, John had exited his squad before his partner had even stopped. Without hesitation, John went directly to a frazzled and shaken Chad and brought calm tobothhimandhisfamily. WhileJohndidnotknowChad,he assured him that they were safe and the Chicago Police were there to help.
After Chad calmed down, he then became angry and de- manded to know where the police had been when his family
was being terrorized. John politely explained that they were short on officers and many had been deployed downtown. John listened as Chad explained how he pays his taxes and pays for John’s salary. John thought this was funny, as John also pays taxes and indirectly pays his own salary, but he re- mained close-lipped. Chad asked if they had located his car. John explained that he had learned that a suspicious BMW was observed close to the scene, but the department has pursuit policies and Blue Cards, and probable cause had not been es- tablished to make a stop on the vehicle. Chad was incredulous when he learned that similar robberies had occurred recently in the area but the news had given scant details to warn him and his neighbors.
John calmly tried to explain that Chad should change his locks as soon as possible and be watchful as to anything un- usual. Chad stared dumbfounded as John explained that they could not guard his house but would keep an eye on it. John wished him good luck and told him the case would be for- warded to the detectives.
Chad went home and slept fitfully. He woke up the next morning and walked out onto his porch. He looked at the hand-painted “Hate has no home here” sign his daughters had painted. He tried to ignore the “Defund the police” sign that he had proudly affixed to his front porch. Chad thought about how John had come to help a family he didn’t know, had brought immediate refuge from mayhem and had reassured them that no further harm would come. Chad gathered the signs and, as he was placing them in the garbage cans, he real- ized what it really meant to be woke.
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