‘What about Chicago?’ is no excuse

“What about Chicago?”

If you write about Black Lives Matter long enough or decry police brutality often enough or pay attention to conservative news outlets frequently enough, you’re going to hear “What about Chicago?” as an attempt to invalidate your point of view — even if you’re more than 1,700 miles away.

In a recent letter to the editor a suburban Phoenix man writes: “What utter hypocrites the ‘BLM movement’ and

reporters are! Story after story on the pages of the paper about … George Floyd was wrongfully killed by a white cop.

“Yet, when 3-year-old Mekhi James was killed along with 13 others in one weekend in Chicago, the BLM hypocrites are silent, and the story is relegated to Page 6. It looks to me that the only time ‘Black Lives Matter’ is when a white male kills the victim.”

My instinct was to let this go. I avoid speaking to people who aren’t listening. But I’m going to operate in faith that the man who wrote this letter has an open mind. I’m choosing to believe that he wants to help.

To address his concerns, I called Amara Enyia, a community organizer and former Chicago mayoral candidate, and Jerry Oliver, an Arizona State University professor and former police chief in Detroit and Richmond, Virginia. Both are African American.

Here is the first of a two-part Q&A. (Answers edited for clarity and length.)

Question: What do you think when you hear “what about Chicago?”

Amara Enyia: The first thing I think is that ‘Chicago’ is being used as a dogwhistle for Black people. Chicago is being used for so-called urban America. It’s a lazy question from people who aren’t really interested in getting to the root causes of the problems we’re seeing across the country.

Q: So what are those root causes? Enyia: As a starting point, the disinvestment that’s happened in an entire community over decades. When there’s no economic investment, there are no jobs; there’s no housing.

This didn’t happen overnight. It’s not something that just popped up.

Q: Sounds like you’re talking about systemic racism. What else can you tell me about that?

Enyia: Chicago is the most segregated city, by most accounts, in the country.

We have a history of redlining, where they intentionally did not provide loans for Black folks looking for housing, forcing them into neighborhoods on the south and west side. There’s a new study that shows an extreme disparity in lending still today.

We know that nice neighborhoods are walkable. They have plenty of food options. They’re safe. There’s housing, schools, parks, green space. We know what that looks like. Yet, when we look at Chicago public policy, they’ve done the opposite in Black and brown neighborhoods.

It’s very intentional. We have to be just as intentional to right those wrongs.

Q: But what about personal responsibility?

Enyia: I’m big on personal responsibility. To me, that’s a necessary part of any solution.

I organize local monitoring teams of people in neighborhoods who protect their own blocks.

I know many folks who’ve been part of mentoring and self-development programs, but that doesn’t supersede the responsibility of government, which is using our tax dollars to benefit others.

Also, we pay a higher percentage of tickets, fines and fees in the city than our counterparts who live in more affluent areas. But what are we getting from that?

Closed schools and overpolicing?

We have our part to play, for sure. But government has to hold up its end, too.

Q: So do you protest when Black people kill each other?

Enyia: One, yes, people are marching. They’re out in the streets, old and young. They’re calling attention to these issues, whether it’s police violence or intercommunity violence.

But most of the folks that I know, know that marching isn’t enough, so they’re also drafting legislation and ordinances and then pushing those ordinances with members of the City Council.

They’re also organizing and educating the public on these issues, so they have more context. That way, when they see the headline in the newspaper, they’re not just going to say, “What about Chicago?” They’ll say, “Oh, they’re really working hard on these systemic issues.”

Q: Ms. Enyia, a final question: If someone says ‘What about Chicago?’ I’m assuming they want to help. If so, would you accept it?

Enyia: Oh, yeah! Send them over! It’s all hands on deck. There are many ways for people to plug in. And I would love to get them plugged in.