By Dave Dahl
SPRINGFIELD – Lawmakers are looking after the Restore, Reinvest, and Renew grants.
State Rep. Lindsey LaPointe (D-Chicago) quizzed Karl Brinson, president of the Chicago Westside NAACP.
“What are the reasons we are experiencing this heartbreaking uptick in gun violence since March 2020?” LaPointe asked.
“People follow data,” said Brinson, “but you have to look at the issues which cause these things. You talk about unemployment. You talk about mental health. you talk about myriad issues. The way the cycle of crime is reported in our community – it fluctuates. We are trying to make it a flatline.”
At one point the hearing became a diatribe about cannabis licenses. State Rep. Mary Flowers (D-Chicago), who is Black, upbraided a white lawmaker for asking Black social service groups about working with the police – with whom Blacks customarily have a fraught relationship.
“You did not speak up when this administration discriminated against African-American people. We can’t sell marijuana. It’s legal,” Flowers lectured State Rep. Anthony DeLuca (D-Chicago Heights). “We can be locked up and our families destroyed before it became legal, but now that it’s legal, we can’t do anything. Not even earn a living for our family.”
The state has been sluggish to award licenses to minorities.
Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]
