Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Black aldermen unhappy with Emanuel’s police and fire picks - Chicago Sun-Times

Black aldermen unhappy with Emanuel’s police and fire picks - Chicago Sun-Times

Two of our neighboring Aldermen from Howard Brookins in the 21st to Michelle Harris in the 8th has some comments about Mayor-elect Emanuel's appointments to his public safety team. In addition to naming Garry McCarthy the new top cop, he also named Robert Hoff to head the Chicago Fire Department, Gary Schenkel to head the cities emergency management office, and the only black on this team is Public Safety chief of staff Felicia Davis.
Ald. Howard Brookins (21st) added, “I’ve heard in the community, even with respect to Mr. Brizard, that he’s not from here. He’s not [really] African-American. He was born in Haiti. We just hope that we would be able to get some local folks. … Hopefully, this isn’t a sign of things to come — that it’s all outside people. But, we’ll see.”

Ald. Michelle Harris (8th), chairman of the City Council’s Police Committee, did not share her colleagues’ concerns about race. She noted that former Police Supt. “Jody Weis wasn’t black,” either.
It appears Brookins took issue with the appointments of non-Chicagoans to city posts. It appears that Harris has little problem with not appointing a black to the top of the public safety agencies.

Would you rather Rahm Emanuel appoint a black to either head the city police or fire departments?

1 comment:

  1. McCarthy hiring was Rahm's paying back Cory Booker for his support of BO. McCarthy was future New Jersey governor Booker's PR problem child. I think some people in Chicago need to look at some past episodes of Brick City to see how our new police chief operates. The people of Newark are loving Chicago.

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