Gov. Pritzker All Tweet No Action On Violence In Black Community

CHICAGO — Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton sent a breakfast-time tweet Tuesday — the morning after an 8-year Black girl was murdered in Canaryville — that got the attention of her boss.

"Gun violence is a public health crisis," Stratton wrote.

Almost 12 hours later, Gov. J.B. Pritzker posted a reply in support of Stratton's take on the violence epidemic that plagues poor Black communities in Illinois.

"Gun violence is unequivocally a public health crisis that demands continual action to combat. That's why I signed gun dealer licensing and restored social service and violence interruption funding. I'm committed to making the sustained investments required to save lives," Pritzker wrote.

And the governor's tweet got the attention of Black activists and elected officials who say Pritzker continues to ignore calls to use his executive authority to combat violence with the vigor applied to combat the coronavirus crisis.

[COMMENTARY]

"It felt like a slap in the face," said Marlon Watson, founder of It's Hard Being Black, an organization that he says got its name straight from the governor's mouth in the wake of George Floyd's death under a Minneapolis cop's knee.

"When he tweets those things … it seems like he's intentionally ignoring us."

It's Hard Being Black activists have been lobbying, camping on violent Chicago corners, circulating an online petition and protesting outside Pritzker's Gold Coast mansion in failed attempts to get the governor to actually do something more than talk about improving the lives of Black people in Illinois.

After all, to quote the governor, himself, "Words alone don't cut it anymore." That's what Pritzker said at a May 31 news conference after sending National Guardsmen to Chicago in the wake of widespread looting and destruction that reverberated after Floyd's killing.

"I see the pain of this moment written on the faces of my Black friends and colleagues and staff. ... I know that they need to see action which includes real criminal justice and policing reform, as well as a sustained economic investment in black and brown communities," Pritzker said back then, with the caveat that action "takes time."

The governor's response to Stratton's Tuesday tweet landed like another empty promise — a stall tactic, even — from a billionaire rookie governor who desperately needs African American voters who overwhelmingly backed his election to support changes to the state income tax system on the November ballot that he invested $56 million of his own money to promote.

State Rep. LaShawn Ford laughed when I asked for his thoughts on why Pritzker would bring up the measly $1.9 million he allocated for violence interruption — less than half what the General Assembly approved in 2015?

"I have no idea why he would think a $1.9 million investment was an answer to problems in the Black community," Ford said. "That's your solution to the Black community? You gave $1.9 million. That's not going to do anything."

For months, Ford has been pushing Pritzker to meet with him to discuss the need for an executive order to create an "African American Rapid Relief Task Force" that could respond to the underlying causes of violence — institutional racism, government disinvestment and neglect in Black communities — and treat the loss of life as a public health problem.

"If the governor simply said, 'I'm going to use my executive orders to call for a state of emergency over all the violence in the neighborhoods,' as he did with COVID, guess what, then he could start dealing with this health crisis. But he won't do it. He refuses to do that," Ford said. "And more people die from violence than COVID."

Just to be clear, Stratton and Pritzker's tweets were not breaking news. There's no debate on whether violence is public health crisis in Illinois, especially in poor Black neighborhoods in Chicago.

Consider this: As of Thursday, the death rate related to coronavirus was 68 per 100,000 residents.

In July, the murder rate in six Chicago community areas was even higher. In the West Garfield Park, for instance, the murder rate was 158 per 100,000 residents, according to a published report.

State lawmakers have already acknowledged the devastating affect violence has on public health. In June 2019, 118 state representatives approved a resolution that declared: "It is clear that violence is a public health problem that needs to be treated as such, a disease."

A copy of that House resolution was sent to Pastor Anthony Williams, who launched a grass-roots campaign for violence to be declared a public health crisis after his son, Nehemiah Williams, was shot dead in 2018.

Since, then the state of Illinois has done nothing to start treating violence like a plague on public health.

And, as far as pastor Williams is concerned, the governor's Twitter pledge to invest in saving lives "ain't nothing but double-talking."

"Look here, man, the governor could issue an executive order and get comprehensive legislation on violence as a health crisis. The process is in place. Representative LaShawn Ford has asked to speak with the governor, and Pritzker has disrespected him, refusing to meet about the executive orders," Williams said.

"So, to hell with Pritzker. Ignoring us shows he's out of touch. I don't know who told him he was governor, but he works for us. You've got citizens being shot to death every day in your state, and it's right in your face when you turn the TV on and eat your breakfast. We got two pandemics at the same time. And this violence, it's not going away. And Pritzker continues to ignore the people."

In the last few weeks, Watson's It's Hard Being Black organization has collected more than 1,500 signatures on a petition urging Pritzker to take executive action aimed at providing rapid relief to African American communities that get the short shrift on state funding.

Ford, Williams and It's Hard Being Black activists say they won't stop turning up the heat on Pritzker until he agrees to meet with them to talk about their proposed executive action — or legislation pushed by the Democratic Party's super majority — that would finally give the Black community a return on its investment for being loyal voters.

"The Black vote goes to the Democrats 90 percent of the time, and we're never rewarded for it," Watson said.

"Pritzker signed an executive order saying Illinois is a sanctuary state. Hispanics don't vote with Democrats 90 percent of the time. [African American's] are constituents of an entire population can vote, which undocumented immigrants can't, and we get ignored. There's no executive order for us, or action legislatively."

Pastor Williams says if Pritzker doesn't understand that, well, he's no good for Black Illinoisans, anyway, and doesn't deserve their support.

"We need legislation or an executive order. If it wasn't for legislation, Blacks would still be on the back of the bus. If it wasn't for legislation, gays would still be in the closet. You ain't gotta be Einstein to figure this out," he said.

"If Pritzker, made an executive order it would be historic. This man could stand next to Abraham Lincoln, baby. But he ain't a very good politician. He's kinda stupid to me, really. You've got a chance to make history, chump, and you're sitting around doing nothing like a little chicken."

All tweet, no action.

Mark Konkol, recipient of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for local reporting, wrote and produced the Peabody Award-winning series, "Time: The Kalief Browder Story." He was a producer, writer and narrator for the "Chicagoland" docu-series on CNN, and a consulting producer on the Showtime documentary, "16 Shots.

More from Mark Konkol:

• Is It 'White Flight' If The Wealthy Are First To Flee Chicago?
• Are Feds Sniffing CPS Custodial Contract To Make Insiders Squirm?
• CTU Bosses Demanding Hazard Pay For Teachers In Empty Classrooms
• If Foxx Lied To Public She Represents, Take Away Her Law License
• Lightfoot Stands Alone, Talks Like 'Boss' She Doesn't Want To Be
• Who's To Blame For Chaos In Chicago? Fingers Point At Everyone