Crime
Will reparations reduce crime rates? Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson thinks so
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson hopes the reparations will reduce the violent crime rate within the Windy City.
The CNN segment touched on Chicago’s skyrocketing crime rate and the way his budget’s proposed $500,000 reparations programs could address the issue. Presenter Poppy Harlow referred to recent statistics showing that violent crime has increased by 17% despite a decline in murders. She asked, “Will Chicagoans be safer in 2024?”
Johnson said this relied on the federal government’s response to its “full community safety plan” and “key investments”.
“A quarter of a billion dollars to fight homelessness, $100 million to prevent violence. We have added $80 million more to our youth employment program, of which we have employed 25,000 young people this summer alone,” he listed as investments. “This is an increase of 20% compared to the previous year.”
Funding for a half-million-dollar reparations plan would help address “the cycle of violence that looks like closing schools and mental health facilities, which I’ve now invested in,” Johnson said.
“We are going to open two mental health clinics that were closed by the previous two administrations ago.” He also proposed a plan to “employ 4,000 additional young people this summer.”
The program could be considered a way for incarcerated people to successfully re-enter society as a “welcoming space for them.”
Some, nevertheless, should not fans of Johnson’s plan. Fox News contributor and civil rights lawyer Leo Terrell said he can be the primary lawyer to file a lawsuit arguing that the show violates the 14th Amendment. “Last time I checked, Chicago was never a slave city,” Terrell said. “It’s illegal, it’s racist, it violates the 14th Amendment, it violates equal protection. This is nothing more than pandering to black citizens where there is no correlation between reparations, slavery in Chicago and violence.”
Johnson, who has served as mayor for just seven months since being elected in May 2023, has focused on public safety and the town’s youth. In his first address to the town, the daddy of three promised his strategy could be based on greater mental health protection, violence prevention programs and police accountability.
“A safe Chicago means a safe Chicago for everyone, no matter what you look like, who you love or where you live,” Johnson said.
More and more elected officials are paving the best way for reparations to be paid to their African-American residents. Governor Kathy Hochul (D-NY) signed laws in early December 2023 to create a state commission that can study New York’s history with slavery and the way it affected African Americans. Evanston, Illinois can be the primary city within the country to compensate its black residents. It was predicted that by the tip of 2023, the town would supply $25,000 each to almost 140 residents.