What Must Happen in Chicago

After a long and uncomfortable silence on the murder of Laquan McDonald and the subsequent demonstrations here in Chicago, the editors of the Chicago Tribune have remarked on Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s speech yesterday:

Mayor Rahm Emanuel stood before the Chicago City Council on Wednesday and said two little words many Chicagoans have been demanding to hear.

No, not I resign.

I’m sorry.

I know of no one who was waiting for those two words. I can only speculate that the Trib’s editors move in different circles than I do. They continue:

The truth is that the City Council has been signing off on multimillion-dollar legal settlements over police brutality for far longer than Emanuel has been mayor. Aldermen have never insisted on changes in the department’s policies on the use of deadly force, or in the byzantine disciplinary process that rarely holds officers accountable for misconduct.

Time and again, Chicago’s leaders have faced a crisis, promised reforms, then dropped the ball.

Emanuel vowed, this time, to follow through. He must.

He’ll have the U.S. Department of Justice looking over his shoulder, likely for many years. In the short term, he’s assigned a task force to figure out how to overhaul the police oversight system, to limit the use of lethal force, to improve transparency and community engagement. The group has already recommended naming a “senior officer for civil rights” within the Police Department.

I think that several things must happen in Chicago before a corner can be turned.

1. There must be more indictments of police officers. To date only one police officer, the one who actually pulled the trigger, has been indicted relative to the murder of Laquan McDonald. The officers who were on the scene and their immediate superiors on the force continue on active duty. They haven’t even been suspended. At the very least there should be more indictments for filing false reports and IMO conspiracy. The remainder should be worked out in the courts.
2. As John Kass very correctly pointed out in a recent column, there’s an intergenerational struggle going on among the politicians in Chicago’s black community:
   

   Cops and protesters know how Chicago works, and though Rahm and his biscuit eaters take great umbrage at what I’ve been saying, I’ll say it again for visitors who don’t know our ways:

   Emanuel sat on that police dash-cam video of a white cop shooting a black teenager, Laquan McDonald, until after the mayor’s re-election was secure. The deal was cut before the votes were cast, and after his re-election, he settled the case for $5 million of taxpayer cash. Now his bill is past due.

   Now black politicians and clergy who supported Emanuel are running for cover, trying to run ahead of the angry protesters. And the hard political left, which never liked Rahm, is flexing.

   The protests in Chicago on Wednesday that were broadcast across the nation look like many other protests in other towns. But those who are wise in the Chicago Way can see a subtle but critical difference.

   It all signals a coming changing of the guard among Chicago’s black leadership.

   The Rev. Jesse “King of Beers” Jackson can still command a microphone, but he’s old and getting older. A younger, more vigorous group of black activists has been waiting a long time for him to vacate center stage.

   Jackson muscled the elders out when he was young. Now it’s his turn to be elbowed aside. And he’s holding on by his fingernails.

   There’s got to be at least a partial changing of the guard.

3. The FOP must get on board. To date we have heard thinly veiled threats from police officers, e.g. “blue flu”, go slow, etc. There is no conspiracy against the police. What there has been is a police conspiracy against the people of Chicago. That’s not something that can be solved by circling the wagons.
4. Chicago politicians must start preparing for the post-Rahm era. Even if he survives, it’s pretty clear that he’s no longer in control.

As I’ve said before, I strongly suspect that Mayor Emanuel will survive unless and until he become a liability for the president or Hillary Clinton at which point he’ll sink like a stone. The longer this story makes the national news, the closer that day comes.