https://jonathanturley.org/2021/12/13/we-can-never-believe-police-cal-state-professor-denounces-smollett-verdict-as-a-white-supremacist-charade/

"We Can Never Believe Police": Cal State Prof Denounces Smollett Verdict As A "White Supremacist Charade"
Dec 13, 2021

After the conviction of Jussie Smollett, many in politics and the media admitted that the evidence against the actor was overwhelming despite the early coverage lionizing Smollett. Indeed, while Smollett garnered overwhelming coverage as a courageous victim, some have now objected to the coverage of the verdict as excessive. Some cable hosts simply ignored the conviction while CNN and MSNBC downplayed the verdict. Black Lives Matters stood with Smollett even though he accused two black witnesses of lying and hurt legitimate victims of racism. However, Cal State Pan-African Studies Department professor Melina Abdullah has gone further and declared that it does not matter what the evidence is: you must stand with Smollett and refuse to believe anything the police has to say on the matter.

Academics are often passionate and opinionated on public controversies. However, most professors feel that intellectual honesty demands acknowledgement of undeniable facts like videotapes supported by text messages, eye witness testimony, and frankly simply logic. Not Abdullah. The Black Lives Matter (LA) founder said on Tuesday “we can never believe police, especially the Chicago Police Department (CPD) over Jussie Smollett.”

Abdullah supports defunding police as “an irredeemable institution” and, despite a black mayor and police chief, insists that the Chicago Police Department remains brutally racist. In her statement, she declares...........