I am so happy. The Summer Olympics will not be in Chicago in 2016.
I thought it was such a bad idea. It was basically an attempt by Mayor Daley to establish his "legacy" of making Chicago a "great" city. It would have been a disastrous mis-allocation of resources very much needed elsewhere.
I tell you what, Mayor Daley, how about if you establish your legacy by ending the almost every day killings of children (almost always African-American) in your city?
It really burned me up that he could spend so much of his time, our money, etc., on trying to get the Olympics and so little of his time, effort, our money on making this city safe and healthy for its children. Disgusting.
7 comments:
I think Daley just chose to put his energy towards something he could actually accomplish during his lifetime.
Well, I just betcha that if white kids in Cicero were the ones who were dying daily, Daley would have felt a lot more strongly that he could do something in his lifetime....
Actually I think if you check the statistics the number of murders have dropped significantly while Daley has been mayor.
Well, since you have offered this comment, please provide a link to the statistics that you cite.
Meanwhile, I offer this article from the Defender on which to mull:
http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/05/14/36-children-of-color-dead-in-chicago/
If murders are taken into account, Rio shouldn't host the Olympics so soon.
Brazil has around a 27 murders per capita rate, against 6 for the USA (see link below).
The big cities, like Rio and São Paulo, account for most of those, so I believe the rate on those cities is much higher than the average.
Overall, violence in Brazil is a bit too overwhelming. I'm a Brazilian and I don't live there anymore exactly for that reason. I don't think Rio is the right place to host the Olympics in 2016. I'd definitely feel safer in Chicago.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate
Cheers,
André
There is a year by year summary on homicides in Chicago at the following website (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_Chicago). The source of the statistics is the FBI website (http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm#cius).
Thanks, Jay and Andre, for your comments.
Jay, it is nice to see those numbers going down. Whether they are due to Daley or more general trends in our society, I welcome them. Having said that, I do not know if you live in Chicago, but I can tell you that people here do not feel comforted by such statistics. Bottom line: children die almost daily and there is NOT the sense of urgency there should be (and, I argue, WOULD be if they were white).
Andre, very good point. Violence in Brazil, esp against children, is quite horrific. Remember those stories of cops hunting down homeless kids? I actually wasn't in general arguing for taking local violence into account, though that sounds fine. I was simply, as a Chicagoan, expressing my angst and disgust towards my mayor.
Thanks all,
Steven
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