Jussie Smollett Found Guilty On Five Charges

It’s Friday, December 10th, and this is your Morning Wire. Listen to the full podcast:

1) Jussie Smollett Found Guilty On Five Charges

The Topline: After six days of testimony and another day of closing arguments, the jury determined that actor Jussie Smollett was guilty on five of six charges — that he planned and carried out a fake attack on himself and then lied to police about it.

Quote Of The Day: “There was no hoax.” 

– Jussie Smollett to the jury

Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty Images

The Trial

Smollett was charged with six class 4 felony counts of disorderly conduct on suspicion of making false reports to police. The counts are some of Illinois’ least serious felonies, but they still carry up to three years in prison. He pleaded not guilty to all charges. The jury, which consisted of five white men, five white women, one black man, and one Hispanic woman, left the courtroom at about 2:40p.m. on Wednesday to begin what became over 9 hours of deliberation before reaching the guilty verdict. 

Remember: Smollett claimed two men attacked him late at night in January of 2019 near his Chicago apartment. He claimed the men shouted, “This is MAGA country,” along with anti-gay and racist slurs, before putting a noose around his neck, and pouring chemicals on him. 

In 2019, the state’s attorney for Cook County, Kim Foxx, abruptly dropped the charges against Smollett. A special prosecutor was then assigned to the case and those charges were restored.

Arguments

The defense attorney tried to convince the jury that Smollett wouldn’t have arranged the crime in Chicago, saying, “He’s dumb enough to go into Obama’s city and pretend there’s Trump supporters running around with Maga hats? Give me a break.” 

Special prosecutor David Webb said Smollett is a “serial liar who without question orchestrated a hoax race attack.” The prosecutor said Smollett caused Chicago police to spend a huge amount of resources investigating a crime which ended up being fake. He also said surveillance video contradicts Smollett’s testimony. 

The brothers who helped in the hoax testified that Smollett paid them to stage the attack on him in order to get media attention for himself. Smollett’s defense attorney called the brothers “sophisticated liars” and said they are motivated by fame and money. 

Smollett took the stand on Monday and Tuesday, and continued to insist he’s innocent and is the victim of a crime. 

Big Picture

Celebrities and politicians flocked to support Smollett when he first made the claim he was attacked, including CNN’s Don Lemon. 

Black Lives Matter put out a statement Tuesday saying they still support him. The co-founder of Black Lives Matter Los Angeles said, “we can never believe police,” over Smollett, calling him a “black man who’s been courageously present, visible, and vocal in the struggle for Black freedom.”

Charli Bandit via Getty Images

2) School Closures Continue To Impact Students And Parents 

The Topline: Schools are starting to close down again in some areas of the country, but parents are speaking out against the negative impacts of school interruptions. 

Quote Of The Day: “This is only possible because mother nature spared us this hurricane season. We understand that this change impacts families and childcare and that’s why we are working on multiple options that’ll help families that may need it.”

– Dr. Mark Mullins, Superintendent for Brevard Public Schools 

School Closures

Once again, some schools are shutting down, although this round of closures is the result of negotiations with teachers, who say they are burnt out following COVID protocols. 

According to The New York Times, at least six Michigan school districts prolonged Thanksgiving break, and three districts in Washington randomly closed on the day after Veterans Day. A district near Detroit told parents on a Sunday in October it would be remote on Friday, and then continue remote learning every Friday until February. One school in Florida shut down schools for the whole week of Thanksgiving, pointing to the fact that they hadn’t used any “hurricane days.” A Utah school district said all of its schools will do remote learning one Friday each month from November until March.

Reasons

The closures appear to be a response to teacher morale and employee shortages rather than the safety of in-person learning. Since the remote learning style wasn’t available before COVID, it now seems as if schools are offering this to teachers to prevent them from leaving. 

The teachers’ union in Portland, Oregon, is suggesting early-release days for some of its schools after they come back from winter recess. The president of the Portland Association of Teachers, said they’re getting an “alarming” amount of teachers asking for assistance in quitting. 

Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, told The Times that teachers are “trying the best that they can” but they’re saying it’s been too much. 

Impact On Students

There has been some resistance to tracking the impact of school closures on children. Earlier this year, The New York Times ran a headline titled “Does It Hurt Children To Measure Pandemic Learning Loss?” The piece argued that shining a light on the lost learning might “incite a moral panic” and “[paint] an entire generation as broken.” The data would also potentially reveal the largest losses were among black, hispanic, and low income children, information which some educators argue would be damaging if revealed. 

However, there is some definitive data available. Virtual learning negatively impacted kids’ learning abilities. Analysis by the National Bureau of Economic Research found “a decline in pass rates from the 2018-19 school year to the 2020-21 school year in all states.” The decline ranged from around -32 percentage points to -2 percentage points.

The data suggests there were significant decreases in test scores overall during the 2020-21 school year, and reliance on virtual learning was associated with larger decreases. 

More research showed the harm didn’t end after schools reopened, but has built over time. This spring, third graders at a low-income school scored 17 percentile points lower in math when contrasted with similar students in 2019. Students in wealthier schools also scored lower than in the past, but not as drastically. 

One report from earlier this year showed that kids were, on average, four months behind in reading and five months behind in math. Students in lower income households, cities and suburbs fell behind more than kids in higher income households and those who lived in rural communities. The report found Black and Hispanic children were also more negatively affected than their white peers in both reading and math. 

David Dee Delgado / Stringer / Getty Images

3) NYC Sees Skyrocketing Hate Crimes Against Asians And Jews

The Topline: This week, the NYPD announced the number of hate crimes in the city has skyrocketed by 100% this year.

The Numbers

The police department said there were 503 reported hate crimes this year as of December 5th, which is up from 252 during all of 2020 – a 100% increase.

Police are blaming the spike on crimes against the Asian community, with a 361% increase in reported hate crimes. There were 129 this year compared to 28 last year.

The number of anti-Black hate crimes decreased from 34 in 2020 to 30 this year. The number of anti-Jewish hate crimes went up from 121 to 183, while the number of hate crimes related to sexual orientation went up from 29 to 85.

Boy_Anupong via Getty Images

Other Stories We’re Tracking

Booster Shots

On Thursday, the FDA approved the use of the Pfizer booster shot in adolescents who are 16 and 17 years old. The move updates the emergency use authorization for the vaccine, allowing adolescents to get a third dose at least six months after their initial vaccination. 

New Zealand

Starting next year, New Zealand will ban the sale of tobacco products to anyone born after 2008. The law will gradually raise the legal age to buy tobacco until virtually all citizens are underage. Approximately 11% of adult New Zealanders smoke cigarettes, but that number is 29% for indigenous New Zealanders. 

Starbucks 

A Starbucks coffee shop in Buffalo, New York, has become the first in the U.S. to vote in favor of unionizing. Starbucks corporate leadership has fought against organized labor for years claiming it’s better to have managers negotiate directly with employees.