Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Rahm says he really means it this time. Unveils his 'roadmap' to end the violence.

Johnson College Prep High School basketball player Demacio Bailey dedicated Monday night's game against Marist High School to his twin brother Demario, who was killed this past weekend during a robbery. After the game, the team exited the locker room alongside the boys’ family. With Demacio in the lead, the players lined up single-file and marched to their bus chanting, “We will live, not die.”
Rahm says, this time he really means it. He says that last weekend’s slaying of Johnson College Prep student Demario Bailey reminds him of the "urgency of this work."

So what is the Mayor going to do in response to Demario's death? He's unveiling a new "road map" to combat violence. I haven't seen this new map and don't know what's in it or in which direction it takes us. But if there's nothing in the plan to deal with equitable use of well-trained, professionalized police resources, the re-opening of shuttered schools and health clinics, providing jobs for massively unemployed and under-employed black youth, and for slowing the flow of drugs and guns into the neighborhoods, then it's a map to nowhere.

According to the Sun-Times:
 Some of the recommendations include: creating a “training bridge” for kids to build on skills they learned during city summer jobs programs; enlisting “high-profile ambassadors” to help promote city youth programs; create a pilot “homicide crisis response” model that helps surviving victims deal with the emotional trauma of violence.
A training bridge -- really Rahm?

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