Judge George N. Leighton's World War Service: The Black Experience-- Part 1

Earlier this month, I wrote about Chicago Judge George N. Leighton's highly controversial decision on March 5, 1965,   Two policemen had arrested Simon Suarez after he refused to do what they told them then got into a fight and slashed one officer in the face with a broken bottle and beat the other one.

Judge Leighton ruled that the arrest wasn't lawful and that the officers shouldn't have drawn their guns.  This decision set off shock and outrage among many Chicagoans.

This, however, didn't cause Judge Leighton problems two years later when he was nominated for a federal judgeship.  Then, in 2012, the Cook County Criminal Courts  Building at 26th and Cal was renamed in his honor.

I'd never heard of the man before, so looked him up on Wikipedia and other sources and found out he was a captain during World War II.  Then, it became apparent he was also a black man and this was a period in the U.S. military when blacks were extremely discriminated against.

There must be something to this story.

--GreGen