Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Thursday, August 15, 2013

New York Post Warns 'Welcome To Chicago' After Stop And Frisk Decision

For two days in a row, the New York Post has warned that -- with NYPD's controversial stop-and-frisk policy in question -- New York could soon become beset with an increase in violent crime rivaling that of Chicago.

On Wednesday, the paper's front page screamed "CHI KIND OF TOWN" to accompany a story including interviews with the parents of Hadiya Pendleton and Heaven Sutton, two Chicago youths killed in shootings earlier this year.

“Can you sleep at night if someone gets shot because a cop couldn’t search someone they know has a gun?" Nathaniel Pendleton, father of 15-year-old Hadiya, who was gunned down in a Chicago park in January, told the Post.

The previous day, the Post ran the headline "Welcome to Chicago" atop a story quoting an unidentified "veteran Bronx police officer" who warned that crime will go up as a result of federal Judge Shira Scheindlin's ruling.

"It sounds like all that cops are going to do now if someone is robbed, mugged or shot is take a report, and that’s it," the officer said.

Former New York Gov. George Pataki, too, took a jab at Chicago in his defense of the stop-and-frisk policy, which he said has been responsible for reducing crime and protecting minorities.

“If [Attorney General Eric] Holder and [President Barack] Obama want to investigate a police department, why don’t they look at Chicago, where the civil rights of young African-Americans are being not only taken away, but they’re being murdered in record rates in the South Side of Chicago?” Pataki commented on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Tuesday, Politico notes.

In response to the jabs, Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy, a former New York officer, noted that shootings, homicides and overall crime alike are all down in Chicago this year compared to 2012, when violence in the Windy City attracted national media attention.

"As you know, we have a 1965 murder rate in the City of Chicago right now and I think there are some unwarranted perceptions that exist out there," McCarthy said in a Tuesday afternoon news conference, according to DNAinfo.

Original Article
Source: huffingtonpost.com
Author: --

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