Ousted Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, a Democrat, said that other liberal mayors have to be honest about violent crime that is terrifying residents.
Lightfoot made the comments while speaking on a panel at the African American Mayors Association Conference in Washington, D.C., on Friday.
“As Democrats, if we do not speak the truth about violent crime in our cities, we will be the worse for it,” Lightfoot said.
“I come to this conversation as a former federal prosecutor. I come to this as a former defense attorney, I am the sister of a returning resident. But I know that there are people in my city that are wreaking havoc every day and need to be off the streets. That’s reality,” she added.
Lightfoot appeared to argue for harsher punishment to deter crime, a talking point common among Republicans but not Democrats.
“What do we say to, not only the victims of crime, but the people who are terrified about crimes in their neighborhood, most of whom look like us. If we say, ‘yeah, the police department is spending all this time and resources to arrest, put a case on,’ and the judges and the prosecutors say, ‘you know what? We’re going to let you out on electronic monitoring to wreak havoc again,'” she continued.
She went on to ask what kind of message they are sending to someone who courageously steps up to volunteer information about shootings in their neighborhood only to see “Pookie walking bold as day back on the street two days later.”
“You’re telling them that the criminal justice system doesn’t care about victims and witnesses,” Lightfoot said.
“And if we don’t call that out every single day with these prosecutors and with these judges, many of whom don’t live in our cities and don’t care about what’s happening, then we are going to lose an opportunity to advocate for the victims and the witnesses and the residents who just want and deserve peace,” she added.
“We gotta say it,” Lightfoot concluded. “We gotta say it.”
Many on the left have been accusing conservatives of anti-Semitism for criticizing lenient prosecutors who have been put into office with the help of left-wing billionaire financier George Soros, a Jewish man.
Lightfoot lost her re-election campaign in February and became the first Chicago mayor to do so in four decades. She had been the first female black mayor of Chicago.
Here’s more about violence in Chicago:
After teens cause chaos, Chicago mayor-elect Johnson says ‘Not constructive to demonize youth starvewww.youtube.com
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