The City of Chicago is currently besieged by protests over the shooting death of black teen Laquan McDonald by white police officer Jason Van Dyke. Sure, McDonald was high on PCP and went at a cop with a knife, but you know… racism. One of the more interesting tidbits of information to come out in this case is the fact that McDonald was a ward of the state and yet his “family” received a $5 million settlement from the city. If anything, the state should have received that money because they are the ones who raised him. The AP reports that McDonald was taken from his home at age 3 by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services because the agency said his mother could not provide for him and didn’t properly supervise him. He was placed in foster care until he was 5 and then briefly reunited with his mother. The mother’s live-in boyfriend was physically abusive to McDonald and less than a year later; he was once again taken from the home. From age 6 until he died, McDonald was a ward of the state.
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