Rioters confront police at the Columbus statue in Grant Park. (CPD)
Show up with a mob, throw stuff that injures cops, intimidate the mayor by sending a crowd to harass her and her neighbors in their homes. Threaten, threaten, threaten.
Dance around like kids at a wedding reception, singing “Fuck CPD” to the tune of YMCA to celebrate the news that Mayor Lori Lightfoot has caved into the threats and agreed to remove Christopher Columbus statues in Grant and Arrigo parks. Cancel that history in the cover of night, just as former mayor Richard M. Daley sent the bulldozers at midnight to rip up the taxpayer-funded lakefront airport, Meigs Field. To hell with democracy, requiring citizen hearings, transparency and established legal processes for taking such action.
Claim, as Lightfoot did, that she’s freeing up the police who were protecting the statues to be deployed more usefully in neighborhoods crippled by violent gang revenge killings, even though she’s for defunding the police.
Laughably…no, tragically, she says that she’s removing the statues to keep the peace. As if caving into criminals in the streets is to ensure domestic tranquility. Send a message to the police who bravely protected the statue against the their standing against anarchy was wasted.
What does it matter that Lightfoot crumbled in the face of an anti-democratic crowd? Here’s what: What happens when a mob of activists show up to violently protest the first mob’s demands? Who gets their way? The loudest one? The most dangerous mob? The one that threatens the worst destruction?
Should the defunded police stand down and let the two sides fight it out? Should the mayor send in the cops to favor one side by putting down the other?
Where does it end, children?
Filed under:
Chicago politics
Tags:
Columbus statue, Lori Lightfoot, mob action
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