Friday, January 27, 2017

Donald Trump’s Dangerous Obsession With Chicago

 
 
“If Chicago doesn’t fix the horrible ‘carnage’ going on, 228 shootings in 2017 with 42 killings (up 24% from 2016), I will send in the Feds!” tweeted Donald Trump, commander in chief of the United States Armed Forces, just before 9:30 p.m. Tuesday.

The tweet came after a broadcast of Fox News’ “The O’Reilly Factor,” which featured a segment that explored whether and how the federal government could intervene in Chicago to the stop the “carnage” in a city that  in the minds of some has come to represent weakened law enforcement, the lawlessness of black America, and the failures of Democratic leadership. “The question is, can President Trump override local Illinois and Chicago authorities and stop the murder?” asked O’Reilly.

Trump may have been tweeting in response to O’Reilly’s segment, but his threat to send “the Feds” into Chicago to fix the “carnage” has been building for some time now. His focus on the city isn’t rooted in actual concern for its citizens, however. Instead, Trump began speaking publicly about violence in Chicago to support an argument for the New York’ Police Department’s racist and unconstitutional Stop-and-Frisk practice. His continued characterization of the city as a violent hellscape has persisted, perhaps, to spite the city President Obama’s adopted hometown, but almost certainly to advance a distorted, racist view of black communities, which Trump conflates with “inner cities.” It’s a view that resonates deeply with the Americans who voted for Trump, but it could mean disaster for Chicago’s black residents—and black communities across the country—if it’s allowed to further infect public policy and discourse. 

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Source: Complex.com

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