It was another weekend of violence and disorder in Chicago. “At least 32 shot, 8 fatally, in weekend violence across city,” read one headline on the WLS-TV news website. Another headline said, “15 arrested in connection with Loop chaos after 2 teens shot.” That story went on to report that a “large disturbance” — more accurately, a small riot — took place in the city’s downtown area. Videos of the incident showed crowds of young people jumping on cars and buses. Later, at least one person pulled out a gun.
It was, in other words, just another weekend in Chicago. Except now, the city has a new mayor-elect who will be sworn in on May 15 after an election that turned on the issue of crime. “Chicago mayor’s race dominated by concerns about city crime,” read an Associated Press headline in late February. It was a fight between Democrats — Republicans don’t have a chance in deepest-blue Chicago — and the question was who best can pull the city out of its crime crisis. Candidate Paul Vallas, with the endorsement of the police union, based his campaign on one principle: “We’ve got to restore public safety. Everything proceeds from that.”
We’ve got to restore public safety.
That would be very racist.
or elect a new mayor who would be more lenient on crime.
Criminals will always choose to elect someone more lenient on crime. Or the criminals will rig elections. It's a lose-lose.
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