Jackson to Obama: Come Home & Address Chicago's Murder Epidemic

The Civil Rights icon is also asking for help from the Department of Homeland Security

Jesse Jackson wants the President to return to his old stomping grounds of Chicago to address the city's alarming homicide rate, reports Reuters. The Civil Rights leader is also asking the Department of Homeland Security to dispatch personnel to supplement the Windy City's beleaguered police force.

"When the president shows up, it shows ultimate national seriousness," said Jackson, who claims his greatest fear about his home city's violence is that "we're adjusting to it."

The call for President Obama to personally speak to Chicago's murder rate, which has so far this year claimed the lives of 42 people, follows the shooting of 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton, who performed at the President's second inauguration.

Why is Chicago suffering a homicide rate so much worse than comparably sized cities like New York and Los Angeles? New Geography's Aaron Renn points to a number of factors, including poor police tactics, corruption, and depopulation, which contributes to sparsely populated streets and fewer neighborhood safeguards.

Via Reuters and New Geography.

Would the President speaking personally to Chicago's troubles help the city?

[TheJimmy]

Couldn't hurt.

[thejimbo]

....but it sure won't help!

[drpeeper]

How could this be? They have some of the strongest gun laws out there. Oh well, Get some scissors as DHS suggested.

[seedtick]

Jimmy...this is not a national issue. Why the hell should the rest of us pay for Chicago politicians' failure to address their own issues? Maybe Barack Husssein Obama should go to the Mexican border and address the drug smuggling there or his own failed gun-running scheme.

[marine1]

@drpeeper Chicago should be the poster child for why GUN LAWS don't work.You keep the guns away from the honest people and let a bunch of liberal run the show and you end up with chicago.A picture is worth a thousand words and chicago holds the camera.

[tomincali]

@marine1 that sums it up pretty well.

[Dan_Tien]

If giving speeches could solve problems then we would already be living in paradise.

[TheJimmy]

If Der Fuhrer was still alive he'd likely debate you on that one.

[Dan_Tien]

@TheJimmy He's too busy begging the devil for ice water.

[Buckfan4life2]

Now do you people actually think that these hardcore gangs care what the president says? Liberals will believe anything.

[hwyangel]

Maybe they need more gun control, LOL.

[bsking]

Talk is cheap... he needs to send the National Guard in to Chicago.. his buddy the ballerina is in over his head

[thejimbo]

is the "ballerina" supposed to be Rahm Emmanuel, the mayor of Chicago?

[bsking]

@thejimbo bingo !

[thejimbo]

@bsking great! it's not that hard to get your jive once you know who you're dealing with

[PoliticalSpice]

So you favor martial law and fascist solutions to our problems?

[hertz_doughnut]

@PoliticalSpice Are you referring to the Corporate Fascism of Obama?

[thejimbo]

And while he's at it, why doesn't he address the rampant crime in the poorer neighborhoods of our Nation's Capital!

[thejimbo]

we all know it's a PR ploy, but leave no stone untouched as they say...

[Medicinebow]

As an infant/child my Mom would walk me to various parks in D.C from our home. Definitely not advisable now.

[thejimbo]

@Medicinebow Anyone who's lived in D.C. is aware of the city's dirty secret: it essentially operates under an unwritten form of apartheid. In general, affluent, college-educated white folks with decent, steady incomes are clustered in the northwest quadrant. Their needs are serviced by a massive underclass, consisting largely of underprivileged immigrants, African-Americans, and Hispanics, that inhabits the remaining three quarters. Visitors to the city rarely glimpse this side of the city because there's little reason to venture beyond the fancy hotels, restaurants,

[thejimbo]

, and attractions.

[ST_Louie_Sue]

@thejimbo Never let a good crisis go to waste.

[2b1ask1]

But..But...They don't have a problem! They have strong gun laws, remember??? IDIOTS

[marine1]

Chicao and only Chicago created the situation they are in . They are a social liberal,graff ridden city with politcal corruption that is the everyday norm. It is typical of jackson and people like him to want someone else to help straighten out the mess they allowed to go unchecked all these years. One can make all the excuses they want, but the simple fact remains, Chicago is their own worst enemy.

[Republican5001]

They put one of yours in the hospital, you put one of theirs in the morgue. That is the Chicago way.

First it is "military style" weapons...Then it is back ground checks...next, it is the "National Guard"

Slippery slope of tyranny.

[marine1]

@Republican5001 Brown shirts just around the corner

[Republican5001]

@marine1 practicing my "duck" walking as we speak...

[DapperDave]

Well said, marine1!
Chicago is, and always has been, the most corrupt city in America. This corruption existed long before black politicians gained a foothold in Chicago politics.
The murder rate in Chicago has been sky high for decades, and Jesse's voice was silent on the issue. Did he ever take his own son to task over this issur when he (his son) was in office? This is nothing more than an attempt by Jesse to get his name in print and his face on television. Jesse Jackson is a worthless self-promoter.

[marine1]

@DapperDave In addition to being the poster child for gun control failure, Chicago is also one of the biggest liberal failures in this country. It's always more money,more money,more money and nothing they do adequately supports their investments or a R O I there-in so it's back to the tax payer.

[ACTSmom]

Some of us were wondering when some of these people were going to bring up the serious crimes and deaths in Chicago when they were down here causing headlines and chaos over the Trayvon Martin death.

[idiot]

give the felons a longer prison sentence like the rest of the country does.

[tomincali]

i will sign an order telling all slime to stop crime,that worked about as well as anything obama can do. or any gun control. funny anyone would think there is a way to stop killers from killing.

[marine1]

One might wonder if the murder rate and street crime is a camouflage for the political corruption in the city?

[russ]

I'm sure some money trails lead to gangs, some lead to government and they frequently cross paths.

[marine1]

@russ Chicago is a city of 3,000,000,000 victims. If it is not street crime it is politicall crime.

[NormalFlora]

In order to put more shields on the street, Chicago would have to -shudder - RAISE TAXES!!!! Good luck getting any repub to admit that!!

[mimi57]

They can raise taxes all they want, the money rarely gets past the politicians pockets.

[Concerned_Cit]

That's the scam alright. The politicians encourage and even give protection to certain gangs (allowing them to operate in exchange for monetary payoffs, taking down certain gangs that threaten the established ones, etc). The politicians then create more gun control, disarming citizens that are the main deterrant to criminal activities. This creates areas where criminals can prey upon the unarmed citizens more easily, and crime goes up. As crime goes up, then the polticians can extort more tax money out of the clueless people, and divert a percentage of that increased revenue to their pockets and corrupt police forces. It's nothing new, just the politicians/gangsters way.

[mimi57]

@Concerned_Cit My husband is from Chicago and I lived there for about a year.
But then I am from Youngstown, Oh. and so I saw the mob run my town also. To
this day, I can not watch Gangsta Movies...

[PoliticalSpice]

@mimi57 Your from youngstown? Who'd have thought? Oh my!

[PoliticalSpice]

@Concerned_Cit That may be the scam in chicargo, in nyc it's the cops who are corrupt, more so then city hall. State pols also more corrupt...

[mimi57]

It's corruption from the top all the way to the morgue...Chicago's politicians are so corrupt, they hope the gangs will kill each other off so they won't have to deal with
them, much like any city where everyone is on the 'take'. The biggest criminals in
Chicago are in office, it goes all the way back to the Daly days and beyond. It's what
happens when the 'inmates are running the asylum'! So sorry for that innocent child.

[WMCOL]

The President shining a light on the problem can't help but have some positive effect on conscientiousness raising that will result in actions that lead to some improvements all across the board, from involvement of city hall and police to citizens of the city from all neighborhoods. Jesse is right. The President should go to Chicago, and take his shotgun.

[Medicinebow]

There is no problem in Chicago....guns are illegal on the street.

[mudpike]

Ain't it amazing ! The old style 'poverty pimp'(jesse) now telling the new-age ,'poverty pimp king'(bo) what he needs to do . Both have become millionaires pushing racial division & victimization , which equates = to mo' money .

[TheJimmy]

Gangsta Gulags anyone?

[Jack-Black]

Jackson is a moron.

[TheJimmy]

Do you remember when Obama was still a Senator and Jesse Jackson was caught whispering to someone that he wanted to cut Obama's testicles off for talking down to black people?

[Jack-Black]

@TheJimmy Yes. Barry did not care cause Michele has them in a jar anyway.

[jessejaymes]

1.) This is nothing more than grandstanding by Jesse Jackson for publicity to get himself some attention. 2.) Gangs don't give a damn who is president or where they are from. 3.) If Jesse Jackson actually cares more than personal publicity why doesn't he get the NAACP to join his group Push./Operation Ranibow along with La Raza and various other black and Latino leaders (including Al Sharpton) to descend on Chicago and demand that the minorities turn their back on the gang/rap culture and say to America that this is no who you are and you will no longer tolerate the destruction of black and brown America by these thugs. 4.) I'll be watching pig fly before that happens.

[rkinsawjoe]

But that would require of the African American community the one thing it can't do...accept responsibility for it's own condition. They'd rather see their own child's killer walk free than assist police in bringing them to justice. Unless of course the killer was white which would be cause for protests in cities across the nation. This happened when Trayvon Martin was murdered, there we're threats of riots and vigilante killings because "this type of madness and killing must end". But the fact that on the same day,statistically speaking, 12 more young black men were murdered at the hands of other young black men was never mentioned. Also not mentioned but even more compelling is that every day of that year both before and after the Martin killing, another 12 black men were murdered by other black men.

[mtkopf]

Remember the Decatur 7? Seven h.s. kids that went crazy beating down a bunch of h.s.kkids at a football game. Jackson went to that town and tried to racially divide it. Didn't work. He said all those aggressors were good kids yada yada yada. Turns out, 5 yrs later, 6 were in jail and 1 couldn't find him.
Whole point of this story: Jackson will never believe its a cultural problem, just a racial problem.

[jessejaymes]

@rkinsawjoe There are those black people who get an education and immediately move out of black neighborhoods. They are name called by blacks and considered traitors. But the truth is that nothing can or will be done for the majority black community by non blacks because blacks scream racism if a non black tries to involve themselves. Asian immigrants work liker dogs, require their kids to make straight A's. The Latino community doesn't value education but will work. The black community at large today values neither. It's simply no solvable until such time as they themselves decide to stop the rap/gang culture.

[jessejaymes]

@mtkopf It's not financially profitable to see it as a cultural problem. Jackson makes money off of screaming racism. It's what he does.

[mtkopf]

@jessejaymes follow the money, brother.

[Neo_NtheMatrix]

Yes obama, go home permanently. We can take care of the feds, you take care of that dump called Chicago.

[WattheTyler]

When I went to Chicago all of the people there was the nicest I ever met in America. Nor was it a dump. You seem to think all of Chicago is gang banger land. You need to stop with the stereotypes.