National

Violence Wanes in Chicago, but Fear Looms Over Mayor’s Race

Published

10 years ago

March 31, 2015

In this Oct. 15, 2013 file photo, Cleopatra Pendleton, the mother of slain teen Hayida Pendelton, speaks at a news conference about gun violence in Chicago. Looking on from left are Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy and Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez. Fifteen-year-old Hadiya Pendleton was shot and killed Jan. 29, 2013 in a park during a gang dispute she had nothing to do with. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File)

DON BABWIN, Associated Press

CHICAGO (AP) — A few years ago, violence on Chicago streets thrust a recently elected mayor into the national spotlight as shootouts in some of the city’s most troubled neighborhoods fueled nearly constant bloodshed.

Rahm Emanuel spent nearly $200 million over two years to flood those streets with police working overtime. His police department also collected a trove of information about individual gang members and set up meetings between gang members and the parents of homicide victims to illustrate the high human cost of gunfire.

Since then, the city’s overall violence has declined, but the number of slayings in some minority neighborhoods actually jumped. And while police boast of historic drops in the homicide rate, many frustrated families in those areas say their communities have seen little to no improvement or have actually deteriorated.

“It’s worse,” said Anthony Jackson, a 62-year-old retired maintenance man as he made his way to his home in the heart of a neighborhood that last year saw a dramatic spike in homicides — to about half the number of the entire city of Washington, D.C. “We’re just out here on our own.”

The stubborn violence contributes to the mayor’s overall challenge in his bid for a second term and puts him in the somewhat awkward position of simultaneously touting his success against crime while acknowledging that much more needs to be done.

“The truth is that as much progress as we’ve made over the past four years, we simply have to do better,” Emanuel said in a speech.

The total number of homicides in Chicago fell from more than 500 in 2012 to just over 400 last year, the lowest level in a half-century. But the number of shootings climbed 12 percent, from 1,866 to 2,084, during the same period.

The discontent goes beyond the bullets. Despite Emanuel’s success in attracting companies to the thriving Loop district, the only businesses that seem to survive in many minority neighborhoods are dusty markets, fast-food restaurants and dollar stores.

The result was that Emanuel did not receive enough votes last month to avoid an April runoff with Cook County Commissioner Jesus “Chuy” Garcia. Much of the support the mayor had from black voters four years ago vanished in the primary. Though Emanuel was the clear winner in every majority-black ward, he received fewer than half the votes in them. Four years ago, he received more than half the votes in every single one.

A Chicago Tribune poll published Tuesday shows that Emanuel has opened a 28 percentage point lead over Garcia — largely by making gains among white voters. There was little change among black voters for Emanuel or Garcia and, while Garcia has the support of 52 percent of Hispanic voters, Emanuel has 36 percent. The poll has an error margin of 3.7 percentage points.

Jackson said he voted for Emanuel in 2011, but he doesn’t know who he will support in the April 7 election.

In the Harrison police district, where Jackson lives, the number of homicides climbed from 35 in 2013 to 51 last year, and the number of shootings climbed at more than double the citywide rate. Police have not offered a definitive reason other than to point to what Superintendent Garry McCarthy calls “severe gang conflicts.”

And Emanuel’s decision to close dozens of schools added more boarded-up buildings to streets already littered with them, with residents complaining that the schools became larger versions of the abandoned houses that are magnets for gangs and drug dealers.

“What people see is these parts of the city have been abandoned, and the investment has gone elsewhere,” said Marshall Hatch, a prominent minister on the city’s West Side, standing near the shuttered Goldblatt Elementary School.

Statistically, there is plenty of evidence that the city’s crime-fighting strategies are paying off. Since 2012, reports of every major crime have dropped, some significantly.

The 504 homicides that caught the attention of the nation in 2012 have fallen to a level not seen since the mid-1960s. It’s the same story with robbery, aggravated battery, burglary and motor-vehicle theft. There were fewer reports — sometimes hundreds fewer — of those crimes than two years ago, including in Jackson’s community and other largely black neighborhoods.

For example, in the Grand Crossing district on the South Side, 2014 ended with 18 homicides — less than half the 42 recorded in 2012.

Still, even in that area and in other nearby communities, Emanuel did not receive nearly the percentage of votes that he did in 2011.

In his campaign, the mayor has addressed the fears stirred up by the death of an 11-year-old girl who was killed by a bullet that pierced a wall while she made s’mores during a sleepover. And he acknowledged the slaying of Hadiya Pendleton, a 15-year-old honor student killed shortly after returning from President Barack Obama’s inauguration.

“Too many families still have their kids off the porch when it gets dark. Too many families … do not let their kids go outside because they’re scared,” the mayor told the audience after an introduction by Hadiya’s mother, who praised Emanuel as someone who feels the pain of those who have lost loved ones to gun violence.

Garcia has pledged to hire 1,000 police officers. Without the added police presence, he said, the city “will never be able to end the heartbreaking violence that has taken the lives of so many of our children.”

Emanuel also finds himself courting black votes in the wake of a study by the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, which found that the police department’s “stop and frisk” practice disproportionately targeted blacks.

Hatch said he fully expects Garcia to cite the report as another example of Emanuel’s failure to help the black community.

“Everybody holds the mayor accountable because, like we say in the black church, he’s got all the power in his hands,” he said.

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Oakland Post: Week of November 20 – 26, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of November 20 – 26, 2024

Published

2 days ago

November 22, 2024

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PRESS ROOM: Clyburn, Pressley, Scanlon, Colleagues Urge Biden to Use Clemency Power to Address Mass Incarceration Before Leaving Office

NNPA NEWSWIRE — Mass incarceration remains a persistent, systemic injustice that erodes the soul of America. Our nation has the highest incarceration rate in the world, with nearly two million people locked in jails and prisons throughout the country.

Published

3 days ago

November 21, 2024

Oakland Post

Read the letter here.

Watch the press conference here.

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congressman James E. Clyburn (SC-06), Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), and Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon (PA-05) led 60 of their colleagues in sending a letter to President Biden urging him to use his executive clemency power in the final months of his presidency to reunite families, address longstanding injustices in our legal system, and set our nation on the path toward ending mass incarceration.

The lawmakers hosted a press conference earlier today to discuss the letter. A full video of their press conference is available here and photos are available here.

“Now is the time to use your clemency authority to rectify unjust and unnecessary criminal laws passed by Congress and draconian sentences given by judges,” the lawmakers wrote in their letter. “The grant of pardons and commutations and the restoration of rights will undoubtedly send a powerful message across the country in support of fundamental fairness and furthering meaningful criminal justice reform.”

Mass incarceration remains a persistent, systemic injustice that erodes the soul of America. Our nation has the highest incarceration rate in the world, with nearly two million people locked in jails and prisons throughout the country. The extreme use of incarceration has resulted in one in two adults having had an incarcerated family member. People of color are disproportionately put behind bars, along with individuals from low-income communities, LGBTQIA+ folks, and those with disabilities. The bloated prison system reflects and emboldens biases that undermine the ideals of our nation and diminish trust in the rule of law. Mass incarceration attacks the most vulnerable Americans, thereby destabilizing families and inflicting intergenerational trauma.

In their letter to President Biden, the lawmakers praised the President’s efforts to create a fair and just criminal legal system by pardoning people convicted of simple marijuana possession and LGBTQ+ former servicemembers and urged the President to use his clemency powers to help broad classes of people and cases, including the elderly and chronically ill, those on death row, people with unjustified sentencing disparities, and women who were punished for defending themselves against their abusers. The lawmakers also outlined the fiscal toll of the growing mass incarceration crisis.

“You have the support of millions of people across the country who have felt the harms of mass incarceration: young children longing to hug their grandparents, people who have taken responsibility for their mistakes, and those who simply were never given a fair chance,” the lawmakers wrote. “These are the people seeking help that only you can provide through the use of your presidential clemency power.”

Joining Representatives Clyburn, Pressley, and Scanlon in sending the letter are Representatives Joyce Beatty, Sanford Bishop, Shontel Brown, Cori Bush, André Carson, Troy Carter, Yvette Clarke, Jasmine Crockett, Valerie Foushee, Al Green, Jahana Hayes, Steven Horsford, Jonathan Jackson, Pramila Jayapal, Henry Johnson, Sydney Kamlager-Dove, Robin Kelly, Summer Lee, Jennifer McClellan, Gregory Meeks, Delia Ramirez, Jan Schakowsky, Robert Scott, Terri Sewell, Marilyn Strickland, Bennie Thompson, Rashida Tlaib, and Bonnie Watson Coleman.

The lawmakers’ letter is supported by the American Civil Liberties Union; Center for Popular Democracy; Last Prisoner Project; Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law; Death Penalty Action; The National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls; The Faith Leaders of Color Coalition; Second Chance Justice of MCAN; JustLeadershipUSA; FAMM; The Episcopal Church; The Bambi Fund; Free Billie Allen Campaign; People’s Coalition for Safety and Freedom; Prophetic Resistance Boston; and Families Against Mandatory Minimums.

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Tennessee State University Set to Debut the First Division I Hockey Team at An HBCU

THE AFRO — “I am incredibly excited to embark on building this program, supported by God, my family, TSU students, alumni, and all those eagerly awaiting this moment,” said Duanté Abercrombie, the head coach of the Tennessee State Tigers ice hockey team, in a press release courtesy of TSU Athletics. “I firmly believe that one day, TSU will be recognized not only as a powerhouse on the ice but also as a program whose student-athletes leave a profound legacy on the world, enriched by the lessons learned at TSU.”

Published

3 days ago

November 21, 2024

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By Mekhi Abbott
Special to the AFRO
mabbott@afro.com

Tennessee State University (TSU) continues to break ground on a historic journey to become the first historically Black college or university (HBCU) to field a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I ice hockey team. Alongside some assistance from the National Hockey League (NHL), the NHL Players’ Association and the Nashville Predators, the TSU Tigers have already named their official head coach, unveiled their jersey and received their first official commitment from a student-athlete.

TSU held an official press conference to announce the plan in June 2023. Their first official season as a sanctioned Division I program is planned to commence in 2025-26. On April 18, TSU named Duanté Abercrombie as the head coach of the Tennessee State Tigers ice hockey team.

“I am incredibly excited to embark on building this program, supported by God, my family, TSU students, alumni, and all those eagerly awaiting this moment,” said Abercrombie in a press release courtesy of TSU Athletics. “I firmly believe that one day, TSU will be recognized not only as a powerhouse on the ice but also as a program whose student-athletes leave a profound legacy on the world, enriched by the lessons learned at TSU.”

Abercrombie was raised in Washington, D.C., and was mentored by hockey legend Neal Henderson, the first Black man to be inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame. Abercrombie attended Gonzaga College High School and graduated from Hampton University, where he was a track and field athlete prior to retiring due to an injury. After college, Abercrombie briefly played professional hockey in both the New Zealand Ice Hockey League as well as the Federal Hockey League.

After his career as a professional hockey player, Abercrombie moved onto coaching, including stints with his alma mater Gonzaga and Georgetown Preparatory School. In 2022-23, Abercrombie was a member of the coaching staff for NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs organization.

“We are no longer doing club play in 2024-25. We are going right into D1 play for 2025-26,” Nick Guerriero told the AFRO. Guerriero is the assistant athletic director of communications and creative content at Tennessee State.

On Jan. 19, TSU got their first official commitment from an ice hockey recruit, Xavier Abel. Abel played at Drury University and scored 12 goals in 34 games, including three game-winning goals. Abel was recruited by Guerriero.

In July, the Tigers got their second commitment from forward Trey Fechko. In October, Trey’s brother Marcus Fechko also committed to Tennessee State. Since, the Tigers have also signed forward Greye Rampton, goaltender Johnny Hicks, Grady Hoffman and four-star forward Bowden Singleton. Singleton flipped his commitment from North Dakota to Tennessee State. Guerriero said that TSU has a “few” other recruits that they are waiting to announce during their November signing period.

“I think it’s important to invest in these unorthodox sports for Black athletes because it allows Black children to have more opportunities to play sports in general,” said Zion Williams, a 2024 Gettysburg College graduate and former collegiate athlete. “The more opportunities that children have, the better. They won’t feel like they are boxed into one thing or sport.”