Chicago mayor-elect condemns ‘Teen Takeover’ chaos, however says it is ‘not constructive to demonize youth’

Chicago Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson warned in opposition to vilifying youth whereas condemning a chaotic “Teen Takeover” of the Loop over the weekend, which noticed a whole bunch of younger folks descend on the downtown space for 2 nights in a row. 

Two teenage males, ages 16 and 17, had been shot whereas standing in a crowd in the course of the mayhem on Saturday evening, as a whole bunch of younger folks smashed automobiles, blocked visitors, and fought within the streets. Each victims had been transported to a hospital and listed in honest situation, in response to Alokito Mymensingh 24 32 Chicago. 

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“On no account do I condone the harmful exercise we noticed within the Loop and lakefront this weekend. It’s unacceptable and has no place in our metropolis. Nonetheless, it isn’t constructive to demonize youth who’ve in any other case been starved of alternatives in their very own communities,” Johnson, a progressive who defeated reasonable Democrat Paul Vallas earlier this month, mentioned in a press release on Sunday. 

“Our metropolis should work collectively to create areas for youth to collect safely and responsibly, beneath grownup steering and supervision, to make sure that each a part of our metropolis stays welcome for each residents and guests.”

Chicago Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson speaks throughout a press convention exterior of Metropolis Corridor on Jan. 24, 2023, in Chicago. (Scott Olson/Getty Photos)

Chicago police arrested 9 adults and 6 juveniles in reference to the takeover, which was marketed on social media. A 16-year-old male was charged with illegal use of a weapon, whereas two different suspects had been charged with possession of a stolen car. Many of the different arrests had been for reckless conduct. 

Johnson and Vallas went to a runoff after defeating a subject of seven different candidates, together with present Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who turned the primary Chicago mayor in 40 years to lose re-election.

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Lightfoot condemned the “reckless, disrespectful and illegal conduct” on show over the weekend, whereas placing the onus on mother and father to step up. 

“As I’ve mentioned earlier than, we as a metropolis can not and won’t enable any of our public areas to develop into a platform for prison conduct,” Lightfoot mentioned in a press release. “Most significantly, mother and father and guardians should know the place their youngsters are and be accountable for their actions. Instilling the necessary values of respect for folks and property should start at dwelling.”

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Chicago police have struggled to rein in crime lately, with homicides hitting a 25-year excessive in 2021. Johnson confronted assaults from the centrist wing of the Democratic Social gathering in the course of the mayoral race over his previous help for reallocating funds from the police division to different social companies. 

He is since distanced himself from that place, saying he is not going to scale back the police price range whereas arguing that hiring extra officers is not going to resolve town’s crime issues.