Power line via Instapundit
On May 31, 19 Chicago residents were killed. This was the single deadliest day in Chicago in six decades, according to the University of Chicago Crime Lab. The lab’s data doesn’t go back further than 1961.
From 7 p.m. Friday, May 29, through 11 p.m. Sunday, May 31, 25 people were killed in the city An additional 85 were wounded by gunfire, according to data maintained by the Chicago Sun-Times.
...That same Sunday, Mayor Lori Lightfoot held a conference call with city’s alderman. Not surprisingly, the alderman complained about the lawlessness and violence in their wards. You can listen to a recording of the meeting here.
...Her most interesting exchange was a profanity-laced confrontation with Alderman Raymond Lopez. He told Lightfoot that the city was unprepared for the demonstrations:
When downtown is in lockdown, our neighborhoods are next, and our failure to fully get ready for what’s going on in the neighborhoods, we’re seeing this destruction, and we’re thinking that it’s going to somehow end tonight. We have seen where, in other cities, this has gone on for days; and we need to come up with a better plan for days, at least for the next five days, to try and stabilize our communities.
Lopez continued:
Once they’re done looting and rioting and whatever’s going to happen tonight, God help us, what happens when they start going after residents? Going into the neighborhoods? Once they start trying to break down people’s doors, if they think they’ve got something. I’ve got gangbangers with AK-47s walking around right now, just waiting to settle some scores. What are we going to do, and what do we tell residents, other than good faith people stand up? It’s not going to be enough.
Lightfoot tried to duck Lopez’s inquiry. When that didn’t work, she resorted to profanity. "I think you’re 100% full of sh*t, is what I think," Lightfoot said.
"F*** you, then," Lopez responded. "Who are you to tell me I’m full of shi*? ... Maybe you should come out and see what’s going on."
Lopez claims that Lightfoot worked with gang members to protect selected areas against looting. She denies the allegation.
The feud between Lightfoot and Lopez is emblematic of tension between Chicago’s Black and Latino communities. Lightfoot acknowledged that the demonstrations and rioting have exacerbated tensions between the two groups.
According to one source, the "Latin Kings" sent a message to the police that they would "take care" of the rioters, and that the police were not needed. Thus, Chicago may have faced the prospect of war in the street between Latinos and Blacks.
|