Chicago Violence 'Corrodes Our Core,' Rahm Says In Major Policy Speech
By Ted Cox and Kelly Bauer | September 22, 2016 6:14pm
Rahm Emanuel gives a major policy speech on violence Thursday. CITY HALL — Mayor Rahm Emanuel gave a major speech addressing Chicago's violence Thursday night, saying the crisis in the city's streets this year "corrodes our core."
"Gun violence in Chicago is unacceptable," the mayor said, his voice cracking at times during the speech at Malcolm X College on the Near West Side.
The mayor recounted a number of high-profile crimes this summer, including the shooting of a 6-year old playing on her porch and the murder of a police officer's sonwho was home from college on summer break. His voice quavered as he described how Officer Arshell Dennis Jr. returned to work after losing his child.
The mayor also singled out the city's "heroes" — including Tamar Manasseh, who founded Mothers Against Senseless Killing, known as the "Army of Moms."
"For all the things that make Chicago great, for all the things that make us proud to call ourselves Chicagoans, the violence that is happening corrodes our core," he said. "It is not the Chicago we know and love."
For years, Emanuel has repeated a mantra on attacking street violence with what he calls "the four P's" — policing, punishment, prevention and parenting — and he fell back on those topics while expanding the debate to more wide-ranging social issues like employment and racial inequality Thursday.
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Emanuel said residents are sick of the violence and want more police officers that are truly helping fight crime in their neighborhoods.
"They do not want more officers in cars, just driving through their communities," he said. "They want officers on the beat in their neighborhoods.
He said residents are tired of being prisoners in their own communities.
"There are too many senior citizens and good residents in Chicago who are sick and tired of having to walk several blocks out of their way when they leave their homes just to avoid the gangs and drug dealers on the street corner," he said.
"In too many communities parents cannot even let their children play outside for fear of a stray bullet. They have to teach their children how to react when they hear the all-too-common sound of gunfire."
The mayor said that the relationship between police and the community "has festered in this city for decades" and worsened after the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald.
Emanuel said police department reforms, saying there were new protocols so police videos are released sooner and said the independent agency that investigates police shootings and misconduct is being replaced by an organization that will have "the tools to ensure real accountability when wrongdoing occurs."
While many residents want more police on the street that "respect" residents, the community needs to return that sentiment, Emanuel said.
"As I have said before, and I want to repeat today: Respect is a two-way street," he said.
"There can be no permission slip for people taunting police officers trying to solve a crime in their community," he said. "And there can be no pass for officers belittling a citizen who has turned to them for help. Both of which we have seen in recent videos."
Emanuel recounted a number of initiatives he's undertaken, including a proposal to put nearly 1,000 more police officers on the streets.
He also said $36 million will be invested in mentoring programs over the next three years, with half of that coming from the city. The other half will come from corporations, philanthropies and individual donors, and about half of those funds have been raised so far.
One of the mentoring programs that will benefit will be Becoming a Man, which helps young men. BAM participants are only half as likely to be arrested for violent crime and are 20 percent more likely to finish high school on time, Emanuel said.
"That is why I am committing today to providing universal mentoring to these 7,200 young men," Emanuel said, referring to the number of teens in 8th, 9th and 10th grades that live in the 20 most crime-plagued neighborhoods in the city, according to the University of Chicago. "And this initiative is not just for a year. It will be a sustained effort."
Young people from throughout the city will be recruited to participate in mentoring programs like BAM, Emanuel said. He will also call on businesses to encourage their employees to become mentors.
"This will be an opportunity for individuals of good will and compassion to help change the course of a young person’s life and the future course of our city," Emanuel said. "I am confident Chicago will answer the call. If we want every boy to become a man, we need every adult to become a mentor."
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If the city doesn't provide mentors, gangs will, Rahm say.
"We cannot afford to lose another generation to the gangs" like the Vice Lords, Gangster Disciples and Latin Kings, he said. "The deck has been stacked against the kids, and it's time we reshuffle that deck and put our kids on top."
