The Chicago police officer who played "Sweet Home Alabama" from of a police car during a West Side anti-police-violence protest over the weekend will be disciplined, according to a news release sent from the Chicago Police Department on Thursday.
"The officer responsible for playing the song ... has come forward and will be disciplined for his actions. While he says he was playing the music as [a] fan of the University of Alabama, CPD fully understands sensitivities related to the song and regardless we cannot condone any behavior that may be viewed as disruptive or disrespectful to any protestor or resident. To the contrary, as you have seen over the past couple weeks, CPD is dedicated to ensuring residents' right to free speech and peaceful assembly," reads the statement.
A source confirmed to RedEye that the officer will be suspended.
The incident was captured on video by Humboldt Park resident Gabriel Michael, who was at the protest to take photographs. Michael could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday, though in a previous interview with RedEye, he said he was surprised to hear police play the song, which is sometimes viewed as racist.
"To hear that playing from a police car at the end of a protest against police brutality and the murder of African-Americans, it was just jarring," he said.
The Saturday protest was one of several in Chicago over the past week protesting police violence after police officers in two separate incidents were not indicted for killing unarmed black men. While neither incident occurred in Chicago, activists say the "Black Lives Matter" protests highlight the tense relationship between Chicago police and minority communities.
After the video made the rounds on social media, some theorized that the police officer was playing the song to support the University of Alabama football team, which played that afternoon. The police statement indicates that may be the case.
The 1974 Lynyrd Skynyrd song "Sweet Home Alabama" has been co-opted by neo-Confederate groups, said Southern Poverty Law Center senior fellow Mark Potok.
"It's nostalgia for the pre-civil rights South," he told RedEye earlier this week.
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