Vic Mensa has a bone to pick with the Chicago Police Department. Over the weekend, Vic Mensa spent his Saturday (Aug. 11) as the Grand Marshall of the 2018 Bud Billiken Parade in Chicago. Things were going swimmingly until Mensa encountered a tense moment with on-duty officers along the parade route.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the rapper was confronted by CPD after her circled back on his motorcycle at the conclusion of his Grand Marshall duties to stand with a group of activists carrying banners that read, “Convict Jason Van Dyck.” Van Dyck is the name of the Chicago police officer responsible for the 2015 shooting death of LaQuan McDonald, and the incident inspired the rapper’s song, “16 Shots.”
Officers tried to cut them off, when the two parties got into a heated argument. Mensa’s own personal accounts seem to support the ordeal, where footage show him challenging the cops to arrest him.
“I was the Grand Marshall of the Bud Billiken parade today (largest black parade in America). It was beautiful,” he wrote on Instagram. “Chicago Police Department threatened to arrest me & tow my bike because I had a group of activists carrying a CONVICT JASON VAN DYKE banner.️ Then we gave out 1000 backpacks to the kids. THERES [sic] A LOT OF HATE BUT LOVE IS THE STRONGEST AMMO!”
Despite the spot of negativity, Mensa wants to focus on the success of the back-to-school parade: helping and inspiring the youth. Less than half an hour before the police incident, Mensa was giving out backpacks to children in partnership with AT&T. “We do this so we can teach the next gen to be more equipped to dig themselves out of this hole they put us in & live with love power and self respect,” he wrote.
READ MORE: Vic Mensa On Gun Reform, Police Corruption And His Save Money, Save Life Foundation