CBS/WBBM Simulcast Town Hall Meeting 5/10/08

On Saturday, May 10, 2008, CBS Television and WBBM Radio conducted a live,two hour simulcast addressing the culture of violence in the African American community. The event was held at KennedyKing College in Chicago and aired between 10:00pm and 12 midnight.

It was a great media event. However, as far as relief for the community or highlighting solutions, that did not occur. An exclusive panel was assembled that was tremendously "totesterone" heavy. Not a single female sat among the six men which included Chicago Police Department Superintendent-Jody Weiss, President of the Chicago Board of Education-Rufus Williams, Pastor of St. Sabina Catholic Church-Michael Pleger, PUSH CEO- Jesse Jackson, Latino Organizer, former State Senator-Jesus Garcia and WBBM-TV Attorney whose name escapes me at this time. To their credit, Sun-times newspaper columnist Mary Mitchell was invited, but didn't make it.

The premise established at the beginning of the program, over emphasized the incidences of violence occuring in the mostly Black and brown communities as though they are self-created and self-inflicted. Highly dramatized interviews of victims of gun violence, be they direct survivors or vicarious ones, as parents, childrent etc. were repeated throughout the program. It was obvious that the intent was to create some emotional reactions rather than formulate sound, long-term, calculated solutions. For example, early on, a video tape was played illustrating Mayor Richard Daley, demanding that citizens lobby their political representatives to legislate more effective gun control initiatives. Using the analogy that if you can legislate the banning of smoking in public places, you can legislate the elimination of guns in American society. Can anyone believe that? The last time I looked, he is supposed to be a political representative of the people too. However, here you have someone who, since his adminstration began in 1989, so did most of the factors that have most contributed to the social/economic ills leading to the drastic increase in the street crime violence we are now witnessing in the city of Chicago. We can go back further than that when he was the head of the Cook County State's Attorney's office in the early eighties.

As head of the Cook County State's Attorney's office up until the present, Daley has not prosecuted one police officer involved with torturing over 100 Black men by Chicago police officers headed up by former Area 1 Commander of Detectives, Jon Burge. It is a documented fact that before the number grew to 100, Daley had been informed, in writing by then Police Superintendent, Richard Breyzyk of an arrestee who was hospitalized with suspicious injuries and the doctor who examined him, brought it to the Superitendent's attention. The Superintendent recommended that the State's Attorney's office investigate the matter. It never happened. Whenever Daley is confronted on the issue, he continues to deny having any knowledge of any torture. Mind you, Amnesty International and the UN Committee on Torture has told the world but I guess Daley never got the memo.

Subsequently, since becoming the mayor, he has taken over the auspices of the Chicago Public Schools. That entity is now experiencing its greatest number of "push-outs", its lowest test scores, the most school closings, the most teachers ever hired who don't possess education degrees, the highest ranking school official is referred to as a CEO and has fewer credentials than a large number of teachers and the most public school students killed in a particular time period than at any other time in the history of the Chicago Public Schools. Further, city contracts awarded to African Americans is the lowest since his father was mayor form 1955 til 1976 when he died. When the current mayor Daley became mayor, African Americans were receiving no less than 30% of city contracts. They are now at less than 5%. Since his administration began, summer jobs for eligible teenage school students, have been diminishing to the point that they have become almost non-existent. Since his adminstration, police officers have killed more Black, unarmed men in the back, in recent Chicago memory. Black police officers represent 24% of the police department while comprising up towards 50% of the civilian population. The Irish population in Chicago is 3% while they make up the majority of the police department. The representation in officers of rank is even more dismal. To add insult to injury, Daley recently overtly circumvented the police superintendent process when he personally selected the current superintendent, FBI agent Jody Weiss at a whopping $300,000 plus salary per year. The highest in the country. Mr. Weiss is now arming police officers in combat gear, including assault weapons to patrol the streets of the city of Chicago.

With that type of track record, one does not have to look far to to have an inkling of where a great deal of the problem may lie. If nothing less, we know solutions to the street crime/violence problem cannot be expected to emanate from city hall. It is also obvious that the citizens in the city remain asleep at the wheel because Daley recently won an unprecedented 6th term in office.
The lesson to be learned. You get what you vote for.