by Sharelle Burt
February 29, 2024
Assume this ought to be allowed?
A member of the Chicago Police Division has filed a lawsuit in opposition to town to formally change his race on report following the division’s determination to permit officers to vary their gender.
In a federal civil rights lawsuit filed in February 2024, Mohammad Yusuf claims CPD isn’t permitting him to vary his race from “Caucasian” to “Egyptian and African American,” which he presently identifies as.
When the officer joined the pressure in 2004, he remembers selecting “Caucasian” as his race on his official report. Again then, there have been solely three choices, together with Black and Hispanic, however now, the division presents “over 9” completely different racial backgrounds for incoming officers. Nevertheless, the go well with lists a “blanket prohibition” in opposition to altering an officer’s race.
Following quite a few rejections, Yusuf claims he was informed he must produce a DNA check to have his race modified, prompting him to offer outcomes of a “23 and Me” genetic check, exhibiting his heritage and ethnicity. But nonetheless, the division determined it was “not doable” to vary his official report.
After the division allowed an officer’s “gender id to be corrected to match their lived expertise,” the lawsuit alleges that not allowing Yusuf to do the identical has impacted his skilled development.
The 43-year-old man claims he was usually missed for promotions as a result of his “Caucasian” race. He alleges different minority candidates acquired the promotions and just a few Caucasian candidates. Serving on the pressure for 20 years, the veteran factors out within the go well with that CPD’s promotion system advantages “minority candidates” no matter their scores on promotional exams.
Yusuf claimed he “scored within the first promotional tier” on the sergeant’s examination however was by no means promoted and nonetheless hadn’t moved up the ranks.
In his grievance, he accuses the division of issuing “over 75 advantage promotions to sergeant,” with somewhat beneath 5 going to white candidates.
“Regardless of Yusuf’s exemplary {qualifications} and the purported race-neutral coverage of the advantage system, Yusuf has been repeatedly bypassed for promotion in favor of much less certified candidates, based mostly on their race, particularly African-American officers, a few of whom had disciplinary points and weren’t appropriate for the obligations of a sergeant,” he stated.
The lawsuit additionally accuses town of violating Title V of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
“The Racial Id Coverage Ban facially and deliberately discriminates in opposition to sure people based mostly on personally identifiable traits like race.”
