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NEWS & LETTERS,
January-February 2003
Chicago mayoral race
Chicago--Rev. Paul Jakes, chairman of the Greater
Chicago Committee Against Police Brutality, has worked on behalf of victims of
police brutality. He spoke to NEWS & LETTERS about his challenge to Richard
M. Daley in the mayoral election. In his campaign, Jakes is highlighting the
plight of ex-offenders. If elected, he plans to issue an executive order banning
discrimination against ex-offenders in employment. Given the extraordinary extent of incarceration of
African Americans and Latinos in Chicago and the U.S., many of whom are
convicted of "crimes" stemming from poverty, unemployment,
homelessness, and just being Black or Latino, and many of whom are convicted
though innocent of any crime, this is an issue affecting not only ex-offenders
but the socio-economic structure of Chicago as a whole. In relation to this,
Jakes made it clear that he is strongly pro-labor and pro-labor union. He stated
he "would never cross a picket line" and that all workers and
employees "should be union members." Jakes says that the media and Chicago politicians have
given Daley a "free ride." Despite some recent articles criticizing
him, for example a lengthy article, "The Case Against Daley" by Steve
Rhodes in CHICAGO magazine (Dec. 2002), for the most part the media and
politicians have refrained from asking Daley hard questions about his failure,
and the federal government's failure, to serve all of the people of Chicago. Jakes pointed out that, "There are tens of millions
of dollars that are being used for military equipment and no plans to help with
the homeless or hungry. In Chicago, there are 166,000 homeless. Presently a very
small percentage of federal education dollars is given to the Chicago Public
Schools." --Marilyn Nissim-Sabat |
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