Police officers in Chicago could get thrown out of the union for kneeling with protestors

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Images are circulating of police officers around the nation, kneeling in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. In Chicago, this could soon get a police officer thrown out of the union.

The head of Chicago’s powerful police union has warned officers that showing sympathy to police protestors while in uniform will get them discharged from the union.

John Catanzara has been president of the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police for a little over a month. He lost no time airing his views on Fox32 Chicago. He said the gesture of kneeling is tantamount to treason.

Kneel with us, not on us

Woman at a BLM protest holding a sign that says "We can't breath"

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Officers have been taking the knee during the protests over the death of George Floyd in the custody of police in Minneapolis. Floyd was killed by an officer kneeling on his neck for nearly 9 minutes.

Catanzara believes kneeling with the protestors is “not the time or the place to be doing that.” He warned:

“If you kneel, you’ll be risking being brought up on charges and thrown out of the lodge,”

Apparently it’s ‘ridiculous’ that officers would kneel with protestors

Catanzara went on to say: “Specifically this weekend. This was about defunding and abolishing the police officers. And you’re going to take a knee for that? It’s ridiculous.”

Police officers thrown out of the FOP would not lose their jobs, but they would no longer be protected by the union contract.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot takes a hard pass

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Chicago Mayor Lightfoot said she wouldn’t “dignify” Catanzara’s comments with a response. “I don’t really think we should credit those kinds of really unfortunate comments. I’m not going to dignify them with any further response,”

Lightfoot has already spoken in favor of police reform, including a change in the law requiring licensing and certification for police officers.

The Mayor also denounced the Chicago cops lounging in U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush’s campaign office while protests took place all around them, in a video leaked this month.

During a news conference on Thursday, Lightfoot spoke briefly on the FOP’s ban on kneeling.  “There will be a reckoning for the FOP,” she cautioned.

One rule for Catanzara, one law for the rest of the officers

In 2017, Catanzara posted a photo of himself on Facebook. In the photo he is holding a sign supporting Donald Trump, and gun rights. He was also in his police uniform.

When questioned about this photo, Catanzara defended his decision as a “political stance”. He said he was curious as to the Chicago Police Department’s response to the officers kneeling with protestors. He predicted nothing, as the mayor supports “this kind of stuff.”

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