CSU Holds Mayoral Forum to Address African American Issues
Area residents came out to hear how Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and mayoral challenger Cook County Commissioner, Jesus “Chuy” Garcia’s, plan to address some of the critical issues impacting African Americans as they each took the stage separately at Chicago State University (CSU) last Wednesday for hour-long discussions during a Mayoral Forum hosted by CSU’s Department of African American Studies and The Young and Powerful community organization.
Held in CSU’s Emil and Patricia A. Jones Convocation Center, the event was moderated by ABC-7 Chicago's Charles Thomas, and former Fox-32 Chicago News Anchor, Robin Robinson, fielded audience and social media questions.
“(Prior to this) There was (not) a forum on what Black people think about this election,” Thomas told the audience of about 300 people. “That’s why this event is so important.”
Garcia was first to the stage where panelists, Philip Beverly, CSU Associate Political Science Professor; Wendell Mosby, CEO, The Young and Powerful Group; CSU African American Studies major, Charles Preston, and Kim Dulaney, CSU Professor of African American Studies also posed questions.
Garcia promised that he would utilize his connections to Illinois legislators in Springfield to help change the Chicago Public School (CPS) funding formula and added that if Illinois lawmakers fail to legislate for an elected school board, he would go to the federal court to get it done.
On Chicago's high unemployment (25 percent in the African American community and youth unemployment at 90 percent, according to Garcia, the highest of any group in the city) Garcia said the brunt of City and CPS layoffs impacted the African American community and promised that in terms of hiring for his administration, his staff would reflect the racial makeup of the City’s population.
Thomas asked Garcia to address the mostly Latino city crews working in African American neighborhoods.
“How did the whole crew get to be Latino and how would you as the first Latino Mayor, deal with this. Will you layoff some of the Latinos and hire African Americans?”
Garcia said, “He would ensure from the top down that every City department looks like the City of Chicago and its people.”
Garcia maintained his stance on hiring 1000 additional police officers and that he would take a holistic approach to solving crime and would convene a public safety summit. When asked how he would pay for his proposals, Garcia said he would start by using half of the $100 million paid in overtime to hire new police officers, expanding and modernizing the sales tax and a graduated state income tax.
Thomas said Garcia’s fiscal plan sounds like Mayor Emanuel’s plan to address the City’s financial woes.
“The mayor doesn’t own the sales tax," Garcia said in response to Thomas’ remark. “Chicagoans are entitled to know where the revenues are going.”
When asked why Chicago is so racially segregated, Mayor Emanuel said the history of the city’s segregation goes way back.
“We can build bonds or allow our differences to become greater. My responsibility is to build a city where we can grow together,” he added.
On whether in hindsight, he would do something other than close 50 CPS schools to enhance Chicago's public school system , the mayor said, “When I came in we were underinvesting in CPS kids, and CPS had the shortest school day and kids were dropping out. Now our graduation rates have increased, we have a longer school day.”
The mayor also responded to being described as “Mayor One Percent” and to the perception that he takes exotic vacations.
“I make no bones that I provide for my family. My kids travel because I want them to see the world; that’s part of their education. I know you all make fun of me but I will not let them take second place to my job.”
In terms of development projects for the south and west side, the mayor pointed out his four-year program to rebuild every single playground in the city — with 175 playgrounds rebuilt so far, Chicago State University’s proposed Barack Obama Presidential library bid and the new indoor track and field facility slated for construction at Gately Stadium on the south side.
As for Chicago's police department's "stop-and-frisk” frequency rate being four times the rate as New York's, according to a recent report by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the mayor responded, “The police put their lives on the line every day. The most important part is community policing. We have a policy that racial profiling is not accepted in Chicago—it doesn’t fight crime. You need community trust to work with law enforcement.”
Garcia estimated the City’s Tax Increment Finance (TIF) Fund somewhere around $1.7 million dollars. Mayor Emanuel said the fund is $1.5 or $1.6 billion.
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