'I'm Sorry,' Chicago Mayor Tells City Council

CHICAGO, IL — Mayor Rahm Emanuel apologized to the Chicago City Council for the actions of the police department and the failure of leadership and oversight in a Wednesday morning speech that drew a standing ovation from the assembled aldermen.

He promised “complete and total reform.”

“The first step in that journey is my step,” Emanuel said. “And I’m sorry.”

His apology, however, did nothing to quell the calls for his head made by protesters outside City Council chambers and in the streets of Chicago.

“CPD. KKK. How many kids will you kill today?” they chanted. “Who’s got to go? Rahm Emanuel.”

Protesters clashed with police outside and arrests were made Wednesday afternoon.

Many believe the evidence revealed in recent weeks, in addition to investigative reports by the Better Government Association, the Chicago Reporter, DNAinfo Chicago and other news media, clearly show a pattern of abuse and cover-up within the police department.

Many also believe the mayor fought to keep the public from seeing the Jason Van Dyke-Laquan McDonald shooting video to protect his re-election bid. Now, 13 months after that shooting, Jason Van Dyke is charged with first-degree murder, and a federal judge ordered the city to make the video public.

Immediately thereafter, protesters took to the streets. After sticking up for his police superintendent, Emanuel did an about face last week and fired Garry McCarthy. A day later, he replaced the head of the agency that investigates police misconduct with a former federal prosecutor.

On Monday, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced a Justice Department civil rights investigation of the police department. After balking at calls for a Justice Department probe, the mayor also altered course and said he supported the investigation.

“We can either be defined by what we have failed to do – or what we choose to do,” Emanuel said in his remarks to the council. “To meet this moment, we need to come to a common understanding of how we got here and why. We need a painful but honest reckoning of what went wrong – not just in this one instance – but over decades.

“We need to talk about what to do differently to ensure that incidents like this do not happen again, about the police culture that allows it and enables it and the larger cultural issues that devalue life in our communities.”

Ald. Carrie Austin told the Chicago Sun-Times the mayor deserves a chance to fix the problem. She said she was moved by the emotion in the mayor’s voice.

“I don’t think it was political at all. He’s too hard for it to be staged. I know that for a fact. When he cracked, it was his real heart that was cracking. To say, ’OK, Rahm. Get yourself together.’ Because it was hurting him to have to say those things in regard to what has happened in our city,” Austin said.

Out in Daley Plaza, where a protest was planned at noon, protesters and police clashed. One noteworthy protester, 16-year-old Lamon Reccord, was arrested. Reccord appeared in many televised news reports and photographs in recent weeks because he took to “staring down” police officers and getting in their faces during the protests.

A Reuters reporter on the scene tweeted that protesters blocked the path of the Chicago Police wagon and chanted “let him go.” Minutes later, the police released Reccord, according to the reporter’s account.

The mistrust between members of the African-American community in Chicago, the police force and the mayor is an issue Emanuel raised in his speech.

“We cannot ask young men to respect officers if officers do not respect them in kind,” the mayor said.