WHO ARE LATINOS FOR RAHM???!!?? The suck asses, brown nosers, social climbers, Uncle Toms, Tio Tacos and some of them would sell out their own mothers for money and power. They are the Latinos who care nothing about their fellow Latinos nor Latino empowerment and are in it for themselves. Some are naïve defenders of the status quo but most are sell outs. Who are the Latinos for Rahm? Mayor Emanuel (left) and Gery Chico. Mayor Emanuel (left) and Gery Chico Mateo. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune / December 14, 2014) Hector Luis Alamo, @hectorluisalamo 2:24 p.m. CST, December 18, 2014 If you who haven’t been keeping up with Chicago’s mayoral race, I can’t say I blame you. It’s Hanukmastime, it’s been crazy warm (read: not arctic) and a fancy new ice skating park just opened downtown. And then there are some of you who’ve been watching to see if the Bears can avoid finishing at the bottom of the NFC North. Ah, another December in Chicago. Still, maybe you’ve seen headlines announcing Mayor Emanuel’s recent endorsements from the city’s major Latino political players. While more Latinos disapprove of his administration than support it, according to an August report from the Tribune, the mayor’s hoping he can win enough votes from that group to neutralize his low approval rating among black Chicagoans—which is worse than Jay Cutler’s these days. Hector Luis Alamo, @hectorluisalamo Hector Luis Alamo, @hectorluisalamo Chico endorses Emanuel for mayor STORY: Chico endorses Emanuel for mayor That lead to a bizarre scene last weekend. U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, City Clerk Susana Mendoza and state board of education Chairman Gery Chico all took time out of their Sunday to stand in the back room of a Little Village Dulcelandia and tell a room full of reporters—and almost no one else—how much Rahm has helped the city’s Latinos. Given these politicos’ pasts, this reversal feels pretty surreal. You may remember Chico as the guy who ran against Emanuel back in 2011, trying to paint President Obama’s former chief of staff as a man whose powerful friends had deep pockets, but who was detached from the needs of everyday Chicagoans. Gutierrez is the man who endorsed Chico four years ago, describing him as “a neighborhood guy with neighborhood values”—which implied Rahm wasn’t. (Mendoza, to be fair, has been Team Rahm since Day 1.) For his part, Gutierrez threw everything but the kitchen sink into opposing Emanuel’s first mayoral run before the two longtime rivals came together to develop small businesses in Gutierrez’s congressional district. And even though Emanuel is viewed by many Latinos as the person responsible for postponing immigration reform during the opportune early days of Obama’s first term, Gutierrez says the mayor has been a strong ally on immigration reform (true) and improving the lives of Chicago’s Latinos. That second claim, however, is tough for a lot of Latinos to believe. The mayor largely has ignored Chicago’s poorer neighborhoods (where nearly all of the city’s black and Latino residents live), while development of the city center has far outstripped that of communities like Humboldt Park and Little Village. The unemployment rate for whites in the city is 7 percent according to 2013 census figures—compared with 12 percent for Latinos and 25 percent for blacks, higher than any other major city. Though the overall crime rate has fallen somewhat during Emanuel’s tenure, Chicago still recorded more murders in 2012 and 2013 than any other city, and most of those were in neighborhoods home to ... well, take a guess. Then there’s the issue of last year’s school closures, a sore spot among Latinos, considering nearly all of the 50 schools shuttered were in Latino and black neighborhoods. (Some were in Gutierrez’s own district, one of them less than a mile from where Sunday’s “Latinos for Rahm” event was held.) The mayor and his supporters claim City Hall was forced to close those schools due to budget constraints; all the while, Rahm’s been using public money to finance his pet projects, like the building of two hotels and a basketball arena for DePaul—a private university—near McCormick Place. Im sure Chico and Gutierrez have their reasons for their 180s on Emanuel. Chico was, after all, chief of staff to former Mayor Richard M. Daley, Rahm’s political patron. And maybe Gutierrez joined Team Rahm this summer as a quid pro quo deal with Obama ahead of the president’s executive action on immigration. But however much Mayor Emanuel might want Sunday’s performance to convince Latinos that he’s their man, they’re not buying it. The Tribune’s own Bill Ruthhart described the event as “carefully staged,” though the room was filled with “50 empty chairs” and protesters’ chants of “Fire Rahm!” floated in from outside. Seems there are more letters in the phrase “Latinos for Rahm” than there are actual Latinos for Rahm. Hector Luis Alamo is a RedEye special contributor. Copyright © 2014 Chicago Tribune Company, LLC
Posted on: Sun, 04 Jan 2015 22:56:47 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015