Lightfoot on wrong foot in criticizing Chief Brown

Although Mayor Lightfoot is understandably disheartened by the violent Memorial Day weekend which saw 49 Chicagoans shot, 10 of whom died. But publicly criticizing new Police Chief David Brown, just six weeks on the job, adds no value to the discussion on reducing the slaughter on Chicago’s streets. Shootings and murders have been rising steadily all year, up 21.9% and 13.6% respectively thru May 24, over two thirds of which not overseen by Brown. A spike over just 3 days is insignificant in the long run. It's the annualized weekly average than never stays down.

What the mayor should acknowledge is that every week, year after year, about 40 folks are shot, ten of whom die. That does not occur because of bad policing. Gangbangers, dope dealers and simply people with a grudge commit their murder and mayhem when police are not around, fleeing the scene before the blue clean-up crew arrives. When you have tens, if not hundreds of thousands of guns in the hands of an equal number of folks utterly shut out of American prosperity, it’s a wonder the casualties are not higher.

The state and federal government must step in to end the madness of virtually unlimited gun distribution and staggering underemployment, a lethal mixture breeding senseless violence. Pandemic most certainly worsens shootings and homicides from both even fewer jobs and diminished criminal justice resources.

Mayor Lightfoot should use a light approach with proven police administrator Brown. He’s battling the most thankless and impossible societal problem imaginable, caused by our sick national governance utterly neglectful of our vast urban wastelands.