Police departments across the U.S. have a deep legacy of brutality against African Americans. In 1968, Black police in Chicago created the Afro-American Patrolman’s League to fight against police brutality and to improve community relations in Black neighborhoods. At that time, 15% of the police force was Black compared to 35% for the city population. Today, only 25% of the CPD is Black compared to 33% of the general population. The CPD has been forced by several federal lawsuits to improve diversity in hiring over the last several decades. Hiring and promoting more officers of color is a step in the right direction: research shows there are numerous benefits to a diverse police force and many believe that the murders by police of Michael Brown in Ferguson and Eric Gardner in New York would not have happened if the police forces there were more diverse.