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Rahm Emanuel Announces Run for Chicago Mayor, War on Gang Members

Rahm Emanuel made it official today. He's running for Mayor of Chicago. His website is up and running. His first action after setting up his FB page and website: embarking on "listening tour" across Chicago.

Who are among Rahm's first intended victims?

To be the city we want to be, we can't have gangbangers taking the lives of our schoolchildren.

Gang leaders don't target children, nor do they condone their killing, according to Tio Hardiman, director of CeaseFire Illinois, which works to prevent neighborhood violence. He probably knows a lot more about the subject than Rahm.

I'd like to hear Rahm promise some innovative juvenile justice programs and programs designed to assist at-risk kids in finding alternatives to gangs. Instead, he's promising more of a crackdown, which is as sure to fail as the war on drugs.

Here's Rahm's stance on issues while in Congress. [More...]

A little more on CeaseFire, from the New York Times:

CeaseFire, a program that treats street shootings as an epidemic similar to an outbreak of the flu, is one such unconventional approach. The group employs community members as intelligence sources on brewing conflicts. Before a dispute can erupt into violence, CeaseFire dispatches resolution specialists to intervene and help ease tensions.

The CeaseFire program was recently called a national model for violence reduction by the Department of Justice. Yet inconsistent state and local financial support has blunted the group’s impact, and low funding levels have limited the program’s use to just a handful of Chicago neighborhoods.

What should Rahm be looking at? Things like Youth PROMISE Action and support for the Youth PROMISE Act (Prison Reduction through Opportunities, Mentoring, Intervention, Support, and Education Act):

The Youth PROMISE Act (HR 1064/S 435) is bipartisan legislation that will give our communities the support and funding they need to effectively address youth violence issues. By specifically focusing on violence prevention and intervention strategies, this bill ensures we are funding programs that save lives and give every young person the opportunity to meet his or her potential.

Here's a summary of the bill. Among the bill's findings:

(4) Investment in prevention and intervention programs for children and youth, including quality early childhood programs, comprehensive evidence-based school, after school, and summer school programs, mentoring programs, mental health and treatment programs, evidence-based job training programs, and alternative intervention programs, has been shown to lead to decreased youth arrests, decreased delinquency, lower recidivism, and greater financial savings from an educational, economic, social, and criminal justice perspective.

Introduced in 2009 by Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA), the bill has 235 co-sponsors. Rahm is dangerously out of touch on this issue. The last thing Chicago needs is another crime-warrior.

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  • Display: Sort:
    I do not understand (5.00 / 2) (#3)
    by nyjets on Sun Oct 03, 2010 at 10:43:56 PM EST
    'Gang leaders don't target children, nor do they condone their killing,'

    Considering the number of innocent people killed and terrorized by street gangs, this distinction means nothing.

    Works Like A Charm (none / 0) (#5)
    by squeaky on Sun Oct 03, 2010 at 11:00:46 PM EST
    Tough on crime, pulls the knee jerk voters to vote for idiots.

    Sad to see it working on commenters here.

    Parent

    So the perps below probably weren't (5.00 / 1) (#4)
    by Harry Saxon on Sun Oct 03, 2010 at 10:45:55 PM EST
    gang members?

    From chicagobreakingnews(dot)com:

    Two young girls playing jump-rope on a hot summer night were shot Tuesday evening when two people rode up on bikes and opened fire in the Roseland neighborhood on the Far South Side.

    Tanaja Stokes, 8, was shot in the head and died within an hour, authorities said. Her 7-year-old cousin Ariana Jones was also shot in the head and was in critical condition at Advocate Christ Medical Center this morning. Earlier reports said Ariana was 5.

    They were among 10 people shot overnight in Chicago, including a 14-year-old boy wounded in the leg south of the Loop. The shooting comes two weeks after 13-year-old Robert Freeman Jr. was shot down in West Pullman, about a mile and a half away.

    "What I want to know is what is wrong with Chicago? Everyday someone's getting shot," cried Tanaja's great-grandfather, Theodore Willis.



    Click Me


    Knee Jerk Voters (none / 0) (#6)
    by squeaky on Sun Oct 03, 2010 at 11:02:12 PM EST
    Tough on crime, war on drugs, protecting our children gets the votes.

    Fascism took off in the same way. Sad to see it working on supposedly educated voters here.

    Parent

    Children are getting shot (5.00 / 2) (#7)
    by Harry Saxon on Sun Oct 03, 2010 at 11:08:15 PM EST
    on the streets of Chicago, but politicians who address that fact are inherently fascists.

    Hokay.

    Parent

    You Are Ignorant (5.00 / 1) (#8)
    by squeaky on Sun Oct 03, 2010 at 11:18:06 PM EST
    Please read up on effective methods of abating gang violence, Jeralyn has offered some information.

    YOur knee jerk, reaction is sad to see.

    All a Pol has to do is talk about protecting children and it seems most normal people will become hypnotized.

    Using gang violence to get elected is disgusting. The solutions Rahm et al. use to get votes is a proven failure.

    Parent

    Saying "Gangs don't target children" (5.00 / 1) (#9)
    by Harry Saxon on Sun Oct 03, 2010 at 11:30:11 PM EST
    is ridiculous and ignorant.

    From last year's L. A. Times

    Alleged gang associate charged in fatal baby shooting in San Fernando Valley
    October 13, 2009 | 10:54 am

    Prosecutors charged an alleged Blythe Street gang associate today with the killing of a 4-month-old boy shot when gang members opened fire in Van Nuys on a group they believed were rivals from another gang.

    Alfonzo Landa, 17, was charged with murder, six felony counts of attempted murder and attempted carjacking for his alleged role in the slaying of Andrew Garcia, said Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the L.A. County District Attorney's office. A second suspect continues to be the target of a Los Angeles Police Department manhunt in a slaying Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa called "an obscene and unspeakable tragedy."

    Landa was arrested early Thursday and charged as an adult. He is due to be arraigned today in Van Nuys and is being held in lieu of $9 million bail, Robison said.

    Click Me

    Whatever the merits or problems with Rahm's approach, these are real children dying in the streets of Chicago and elsewhere, I suggest you contact Mr. Willis(above) if you have any doubts on that count.

    Parent

    there are already laws (5.00 / 3) (#11)
    by Jeralyn on Mon Oct 04, 2010 at 01:09:51 AM EST
    allowing for life imprisonment for murder, whether one is a gang member or not. Calling for more laws and making exceptions to providing those suspected of gang affiliation of constitutional rights will not solve the problem.

    Figuring out a way to offer at risk youth a better life, and respecting their constitutional rights so that they don't hate authority, is a far better approach.

    And yes, commenter Saxon needs to do some research. Perhaps he's never met a "gang member" or someone accused of being a gang member merely because of where he lives or the color of his skin. I did provide some links above. Here are some more:

    No one is disputing that some children have died during violent shootings in Chicago. The point is this is just an campaign slogan for Rahm, intended to prey on fear and emotion of parents.
    Gang leaders don't target children-- they don't give orders to their members "go out and kill some random kids today." It's not their style and against their code.

    There are ways to reduce the overall violence and my point is Rahm apparently has no intention of educating himself on this, any more than some commenters here.