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It's official: the die has been cast for the end of another Daley era in Chicago.
Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley will end his 21-year term in the spring and eclipse the legacy of his infamous father and former mayor, Richard J. Daley. Both Daleys faced different challenges while in office and their tenures will be compared in the Windy City's political history.
Daley is stepping out as the nation's third-largest city deals with the recession, a sharp increase in violent crime -- particularly on the South Side -- and the fiscal issues of the Chicago Public Schools system that is trying to figure out how to deal with the violence that has nearly crippled it.
The circumstances of Daley's departure are creating the same type of power vacuum that existed when Mayor Harold Washington died in office in 1987:
The mayor has gotten calls from celebs like Oprah Winfrey and political influentials, such as President Barack Obama, former vice president Al Gore and White House advisers David Axelrod and Rahm Emanuel (who is a former U.S. Representative for Chicago's north side and has talked of running for mayor and is now being hotly discussed as a potential for the job).
The Chicago Tribune throws out several possibilities for Daley's departure that may or may not be true:
Was it the fragile health of his wife, Maggie Daley, who has been battling cancer for years? Was it the looming $600 million city budget deficit that could make running the city in the short term very difficult? Or was it the increasing unrest of a once-docile City Council emboldened by public outrage over administration missteps?
Perhaps it was the realization that his city may be suffering from Daley fatigue. He was elected to his sixth term in 2007 with 70 percent of the vote, yet a Tribune/WGN-TV poll in July found that just 31 percent of city voters said they wanted him elected to a seventh term while 53 percent said they did not.
Whatever the reason, how did Chicago's black community fare during the two decades of Daley's tenure?
His father, Richard J. Daley, made his disdain for African Americans clear with his "shoot-to-kill" order in the wake of Martin Luther King's death in 1968.
In July, Daley pled for an end to the violence plaguing the black community just after 13-year-old Robert Freeman was gunned down near his home. He only decided to hire 100 more cops, though, after it was reported that Chicago's violent crime rate was three times higher than New York, a city that is almost three times as large.
Remember Daley's quote, "Don't let that black gangbanger or dope dealer threaten your child"? You mean people should only let white or "Cablanasian" gangbangers or dope dealers threaten their children?
And going back to 2000, Daley waited nearly a dozen years before he made any real political outreach toward Chicago's black community by naming a street for Bishop Arthur Brazier of the Apostolic Church of God in the Woodlawn neighborhood. He already had obvious political ties to the area, including a bloc of Chicago's black voters who are overwhelmingly Democratic.
Now was Daley racist like his father? No. Not even close. But with the current state of Chicago's African-American community, which continues to reel from new national headline-making acts of violence, plus unemployment, a depleted school system and a disproportionately high foreclosure rate, blacks did not fare particularly better under Daley than they did under Washington.
Comments: (4)
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By: Michael on 9/10/2010 12:33PM
This article is pure nonsense. This (black?), female author editorializes when she says "He's definitely not racist like his father - not even close" when all the available evidence proves he is. She admits he ignored black reps for a decade and she admits there was a 700% drop in contracts owned by black owned businesses.
It crystallizes a major problem with black so-called professionals. They're in the door but they're too scared (or ignorant) to editorialize anything that benefits (truth, including dirty truth is a good thing - check your bible) black people (when the evidence is clear) but will editorialize (to the benefit) of whites who are clearly discriminating against them. She's a female author and the estrogen makes women really squirrelly and without integrity and courage.
This author even intentionally smears H.Washington's legacy and intentionally 'pumps up' Daley's legacy by obfuscating how bad Daley has been for black people by invoking Washington's name when she states "blacks did worse under Daley than Washington". What this author implies and insinuates is "Of course, they did better under Washington - he's black".
What the truth is is this 700% drop in contracts and ignoring of reps for a decade - is a sure sign of anti-black bias in the Daley administrations POLICIES towards blacks.
See, it's clear to me what happened but it just went over the head of most of the readers of BlackVoices (at least, I'm the only one who explains the disingenousness of this article). Black people - particularly black women - are notorious for being sellouts (and also pretty cowardly - ALL IN SELFISH PURSUIT OF A BUCK. Believe me, this article says alot about black people - particularly black females. Basically, this so-called sista author is saying black people are too stupid to correctly analyze data. You can spit in their face and they won't get it cause they're too damn stupid and uninformed.
She may be right to a certain degree because everyone knows blacks' educational attainment in the US, has always come under attack by the entrenched anti-black and white supremast foundations of our system - but come on black man, don't leave all the explaining to me. These women won't do it. Damn, do you all even understand the difference between men and women and why they do what they do? Here's a clue: estrogen vs testosterone.
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By: You Know Who on 9/12/2010 5:26PM
Chicago, Ill. great city to learn,earn,get an education in Texas or California.Mob city,crime boss's,slick, all the way to the white house.When you are connected the system will place you where they want you.Having said that, it does not matter what I think or you think,Governor,Senator,Congressperson, President.Its all in who you know, period.Criminals run the worlds business's,I retired, life is monopoly and chess rolled into one. Keep it simple, watch your mouths,Afrcian Americans ,do little with out the white-mans approval or disapproval, be cool, go back to work,pay your bills on time.Have a great week!!
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By: musiclvr on 9/15/2010 2:51AM
"Daley was not racist like his father...not even close?" Well his quote, "don't let that (black)gangbanger or dope dealer threaten your child", makes him sound very much like a racist to me. where are you coming from Madison?
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By: charles wallace on 9/13/2010 12:43PM
A racist is a racist is a racist! Blacks have got to stop "Oreolizing" blatant racism with religion and the "how far we have come" philosophy!
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