Kayne West donates $150,000 to family of slain security guard

Rapper Kanye West donated $150,000 to the family of a Chicago-area security guard who subdued a gunman firing at and wounding bar patrons only to be shot to death by a white cop called to the scene to help.

West’s donation was posted on a Go Fund Me Page, first published online. He made 10 donations of $15,000 each. Since his donation, the amount of money raised for Jemel Roberson, the dead security guard, has grown to more than $305,000.

The donation adds to West’s complicated legacy by some who question his sanity for hugging President Donald Trump, wearing a red “Make America Great Again” baseball cap and saying slavery was a choice for African Americans.

On the other hand, in August 2005 when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans neighborhoods and black people were standing on their rooftops holding up hand-written signs pleading for help while watching the bloated bodies of drowned friends and relatives floating in the rising water, West declared President George W. Bush didn’t care about black people.

Bush never visited New Orleans, the site of much of the destruction. He flew over it, unlike President Lyndon Johnson, who went to the area after flooding decades earlier. With his face illuminated by a flashlight, Johnson crawled into a dark shelter where people were huddled and said, “ I’m your goddamn president and I’m going to get you out of this.” Black people believed President Bush did nothing to help blacks stranded in New Orleans, but West said it.

West, a Chicago native, who now lives in California, donated the money to Roberson’s family.

Roberson, 26, was working security on November 11 at Manny’s Blue Room Bar in the mostly black suburb of Robbins, IL. Earlier, the bar’s employees demanded that some of the customers leave because they were too drunk.

One of the men who had been kicked out returned to the bar and began shooting, wounding several customers and the bartender. Roberson, who was wearing a baseball cap and jacket with words “Security” printed on them, returned fire before wrestling the gunman to ground in the bar’s parking lot.

When police from Midlothian, IL, a nearby suburb, arrived, the cop, who has only been identified as white, shot and killed Roberson as onlookers screamed “security” to let the cop know Roberson had stopped the shooting.

Illinois State Police are investigating the deadly shooting in Robbins, but they have not named the cop. The Illinois State Police’s account of what happened greatly differs from what the bar patrons claimed occurred.

Roberson’s family has sued the Midlothian Police Department for $1 million in federal court. Protesters have demanded that the Cook County, IL, State’s Attorney charge the cop with murder and that the cop resign.

Roberson was married and the father of one child with another on the way. He also was a church organist.

He graduated from Lane Technical College Prep High School, one of Chicago’s most prestigious high schools. He played basketball there and the team held a vigil after the shooting to honor him. He grew up in Wicker Park, a Chicago neighborhood.