Californians Want To Know What The Heck Is Going On In Chicago

DUBLIN, Calif. — When folks in a state that's literally on fire, is overrun with urban homeless encampments and has a governor on the cusp of being recalled find out I'm an interloping reporter from Chicago, they forget about their own problems.

The coffee shop barista in San Clemente, college football coach in Santa Maria and grocery store teller in Dublin all wanted to know: "What the hell is going on in your city?"

"Unbelievable, right? The White Sox are in first place," I tell them to deflect the truth.

Since I left town in June on a summer storytelling tour of America, my already-violent city has devolved into what looks like chaos.

So far this year, 2,275 people have been shot and wounded and nearly 500 people have been slain.

That's a staggering body count, especially compared with Los Angeles, a more populous city, where there were 179 murders in the first six months of 2021 — a 30 percent spike over last year and the highest total for that period in more than a decade.

But it's not just the insane amount of bloodshed back home that's disturbing.

My hometown, a city of all-Democrats, has become overrun with enemies feuding over the politics of violence.

Last week, Chicago police officer Ella French was shot and killed during a traffic stop initiated over an expired license plate.

The aftermath of her death highlighted political rifts standing in the way of solutions, as someone gets shot almost every two hours in Chicago.

At a news conference, Chicago top cop David O. Brown referred to the slain officer as "Ella Fitzgerald" multiple times. The flub didn't go unnoticed by a growing number of cops disgruntled under his leadership. It was another reminder that rank-and-file morale has hit an all-time low under Brown.

Last month, city aldermen threatened Brown with a vote of no confidence.

Even University of Chicago Crime Lab officials decided it was better to pull the plug on a yearslong effort to provide the police department with researched-based solutions to stem shootings rather than continue working with Brown.

The mayor also has a growing number of critics within her own party, the police rank and file, and social justice activists. They attack her from all sides.

When Lightfoot visited French's partner, who was shot and critically wounded, cops in the hospital lobby turned their back on the city's boss in a display of disloyalty.

Anonymous sources told the Tribune the mayor also was "scolded" by the injured officer's father at the hospital.

The Sun-Times reported grieving officers directed their anger at police First Deputy Eric Carter for refusing to wait 20 minutes so officer French's body would be escorted into the morgue as bagpipes played, a sacred tradition in line-of-death duties.

Those are the stories that inspire social media opinions on the state of Chicago that drip with venomous hate and echo beyond the city borders to the Pacific Coast, where strangers ask if my "City That Works" is broken.

On Wednesday, Lightfoot admonished reporters for fanning the flames of divisiveness with anecdotes corroborated by unnamed sources she believes need better fact-checking and stories that suggest "the world is falling apart politically" for her.

This focus on the politics of violence distracts from what Lightfoot called the "unprecedented challenges" that the city has faced during in her first term.

Chicago needs everyone's help to stem violence, the mayor says.

Still, Lightfoot stands alone.

Status-quo Democrats who have feuded with the mayor on other issues haven't stepped up to offer help reducing senseless shootings — my city's other public health crisis.

"She dug her own grave," outspoken state Rep. La Shawn Ford said when I called him from the road to check on the state of our city from his corner of the violent West Side.

"People are not willing to work with the current mayor, and for good reason. There's no working with other leaders in Chicago City Hall. That's a problem," Ford told me.

"There's no way for everybody to help deal with the violence if we continue to have conflicts among leaders. And there's nothing that we can point to that we're doing as leaders to address it, and to say we have a strategy that changes the violence in our city."

Police Superintendent Brown sure hasn't helped the situation. The Texas transplant has had plenty to say about what doesn't work to stop the shooting in Chicago — his predecessor's crime fighting strategies, and Cook County prosecutors and judges sending too many gun offenders back into violent communities on electronic monitoring.

But Brown has been silent on why the brand of policing he brought with him from Dallas, where he still maintains his family home, hasn't slowed shootings in Chicago, either.

Last month, Ford sent a letter to Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who has feuded with Lightfoot over coronavirus policies and sided with unions on legislation she's opposed. He asked for an emergency meeting of the state's Violence Prevention Task Force to address the shooting "epidemic" in Chicago.

"Despite this relentless violence and the overwhelming need for all of us on all levels of government to work together, too many leaders have chosen to point fingers and play the blame game instead of putting their political differences aside and taking responsibility to maximize our potential response," Ford wrote.

He asked the governor to include representatives from Lightfoot's administration, the state police, Illinois National Guard, Cook County sheriff and state's attorney office, public defenders, health care providers and other stakeholders.

Pritzker ignored the request, Ford said. It's not shocking.

Chicago's shooting pandemic plaguing poor, minority parts of town isn't a campaign-trail priority for the billionaire governor trying to convince voters he deserves a second term.

On Tuesday, Pritzker responded to questions about Chicago violence by touting his administration's move to double funding for violence interrupters and offering support from the state police. That's it.

"Chicago is in a real bad spot right now, and it's because of a lack of cohesive leadership," Ford says. "Until we can come together and coexist, we have real problems. We are causing more harm to the community than criminals."

Our chat reminded me that there's always been a connection between out-of-control violence and Chicago politics. People living in poor, minority neighborhoods have been ignored and neglected by the Democratic machine for generations no matter how high the body count rises, so long as tourists keep filling downtown hotels in our "world-class city."

I guess that's why, when Californians ask what the hell is going on in Chicago, I don't bad-mouth my hometown by mentioning our top cop without a plan, our mayor who stands alone and Illinois' do-nothing governor.

I just give a wink, and tell them certain Chicagoans have it worse than others.

Some people back home are Cubs fans.

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" docuseries on CNN and a consulting producer on the Showtime documentary "16 Shots."

This summer, follow KONKOL ON THE ROAD:

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• Stalking Mike Judge With Perfect Theme Song In Live-Music Capital
• Ex-Chicago Activist Jedidiah Brown Plans 'Walk Home' From Atlanta
• Troubles Left Out Of Texas Legend Linger With Top Cop In Chicago
• Dems Enchanted By Promise Of Pritzker's Wealth Overlook Failures
• Story Of Jeff Saenz's High-Voltage Shock Sparks National Support
• Anthony Potenzo Escaped Chicago To Find Happiness In New Orleans
• Texas Rockers Rally For Producer Who Survived High-Voltage Shock
• The Tale Of Mary Ann And The Ospreys Of Arvilla Resort Motel
• Politics Of Violence In Chicago Has Status Quo Pushing For A Boss
• Catching Up With Chicago Celebrity Alligator Robb In The Wild
• The Search For IL Gov. Pritzker In Florida's Equestrian Capital
• Finding Romance On The Road At Giant Beaver-Themed Gas Station
• Activist Jedidiah Brown Ended 'Abusive' Relationship With Chicago
• In Atlanta, Everybody Influences Everything For Better And Worse
• It's 'Insane' Chicago Isn't The Sweet Home Of A Blues Museum
• Time To Drive — Out Of The Land Of Fakequity and Faux Reforms