Mayor Rahm Emanuel responds to violent weekend amid criticism
Mayor Rahm Emanuel took aim at a culture that he says “condones rather than condemns.” It comes as critics are calling on him to do more about Chicago gun violence.
The most high profile reaction came from Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York. In a tweet full of inaccuracies, he wrongly stated that 63 people were murdered. The number is actually 12. He also used the opportunity to support Rahm Emmanuel’s mayoral race challenger Gary McCarthy.
McCarthy is calling on the mayor to declare a state of emergency, while others want federal government intervention.
Many feel Emanuel’s decisions to close 50 schools in mostly African American neighborhoods, shut down mental health clinics and divert money to a $95 million police training academy are partly to blame. Mayor Emanuel, meanwhile, says its also a cultural problem of too many people staying silent about who is doing the shooting.
If you have any information on the shootings, you are encouraged to call the police.
