Johnson rejects 'mob action' phrase to describe disruptions by young people: 'To refer to children as baby Al Capones is not appropriate'
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
(WBBM NEWSRADIO) – Mayor Johnson says his administration's efforts aimed at heading off potentially disruptive gatherings of young people are paying off, but he’d prefer not to hear them characterized as “mob actions.”
The mayor answered questions at City Hall Wednesday, just days after police arrested more than 40 people who refused to disperse after a gathering Sunday night of as many as 400 people.
As he did so, the mayor cut off a reporter who referred to those gatherings as "mob actions,” saying that term was not appropriate.
It’s important that we speak of these dynamics in an appropriate way. This is not to obfuscate what is actually taking place, but we have to be very careful when we use language to describe certain behavior," he said.
“There’s history in this city. I mean, to refer to children as like baby Al Capones is not appropriate.”
Johnson, who refers to the incidents as "gatherings," praised efforts by police response to the latest one.
Officers responded Sunday evening to South Canal Street and West Roosevelt Road, where a large group ignored multiple commands to leave the area. Dozens of people, mostly juveniles, were charged with reckless conduct. Others were charged with trespassing, bodily harm, and unlawful use of a weapon.
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Today I learned that the mayor of the third largest city in the country doesn't understand what the word "mob" means.
Its bad enough that a mob of teens looting a 7/11 is barely newsworthy these days, but not understanding what the reporter means when they call a group of people a mob is really sad.
Here's the story about the looting, which was among the random mass shootings and skyrocketing auto theft and armed robberies that constitute a normal weekend.
Maybe the good mayor means that a mob envisions, organization, hierarchy, control or discipline and those attributes don’t apply to these kids.
As Jessica Tarlov pointed out yesterday the residents of Chicago will have to wait for a rational democrat candidate since they will never vote Republican. The problem is that the radical left has taken over democrat primaries.
Little thuglets …. A better description?
Johnson is farther to the left than any mayor in at least the past hundred years. Harold Washington, the first black mayor in the 80's had the same concern about paying more attention to neglected areas, but I believe Washington was much more pragmatic. Johnson's plan to lessen crime appears to be to sympathize with disadvantaged youth and get them back in the game so to speak. Its not a bad approach on paper but in reality if he doesnt at least give lip service to wanting to stop crime he will soon lose the majority of the city. The weird thing is, so far, he doesnt seem to care.
Chicago has had a great summer. There were at least a dozen large neighborhood festivals around the city last weekend, the beaches and parks have been crowded, NASCAR brought big time auto racing to the streets of Grant Park, Taylor Swift and Beyonce brought fans from throughout the midwest to their concerts, and tomorrow one of the largest music festivals in the country, Lollapalooza, is starting a four day run.
But one gets a distinct sense that the mayor is skating on thin ice with a sizable part of the population here.