Chicago Will Showcase Kamala’s Crime Policies

As the Democrat National Convention approaches, the words of its newly elected Mayor Brandon Johnson, “Chicago is a world-class city that looks like America and demonstrates the values of the Democratic Party,” will be tested by a grim reality.  As noted by Manhattan Institute scholar Heather MacDonald in today’s Wall Street Journal, progressive policies supported by Mayor Johnson and his predecessor Lori Lightfoot have turned the windy city into an open-air slaughterhouse. The Chicago approach to crime, which includes labeling police as racists, refusing to punish property and drug crimes, and undercharging most violent offenders, has been duplicated in other big democrat-controlled cities such as Los Angeles, Washington, DC, San Francisco and Oakland. All have suffered from dramatically increased crime and violence since the 2020 George Floyd Riots.

Mr. Johnson’s explanation for Chicago’s anarchy: racism. “Black death has been unfortunately accepted in this country for a very long time,” he said after the July 4 shooting spree. Indifference to “black life,” Mr. Johnson maintains, led to “generations of disinvestment” in black communities. The teens who rampage on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile, beating and stomping on passersby and breaking car windows, have been “starved of opportunities in their own communities.”

After Memorial Day weekend 2023, when 11 people were killed and at least 30 more shot, Mr. Johnson reminded the city that “poverty didn’t go away over the weekend.” Communities have been “disinvested in and traumatized,” he added, and “you are seeing the manifestation of that trauma.”

It is hard to square that claim of poverty with the ubiquity of smartphones among juvenile looters and shooters. Social media is the police’s friend, since youthful gangbangers often post videos of themselves showing off their guns and stolen money. As for “disinvestment,” Chicago has been pouring billions into high-crime neighborhoods for decades. Illinois has thrown in hundreds of millions more over the past 5½ years, dedicated to therapy, job training, substance-abuse counseling and other social services to little avail.

The fact that the star of the upcoming convention is former San Francisco District Attorney and California Attorney General Kamala Harris, who shares Mayor Johnson’s views may surprise voters. As DA she refused to enforce California’s three-strikes law for most serious felons, and opposed the death penalty for the state’s worst murderers. As Attorney General she co-chaired the transition team for progressive Soros-bankrolled Chicago state’s attorney Kim Foxx.

The team’s report urged Ms. Foxx to address “racial inequalities in the justice system,” in part by cutting back on the “destabilizing overincarceration” that plagues “communities of color” and in part by further limiting the detention of juvenile criminals. Ms. Foxx immediately followed California’s lead and declared that her office would stop prosecuting felony shoplifting for all thefts under $1,000. Property crime skyrocketed. Avoiding disparate impact on black criminals became the guiding philosophy of Ms. Foxx’s tenure.

Also while Attorney General, Harris presided over the ballot descriptions of California’s Propositions 47 and 57. The latter, which de-criminalized most theft and drug crimes, was entitled “Misdemeanor Penalties. Initiative Statute.”  Proponents called it “The Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act.” Attorney General Harris would not take a position on the measure, even though virtually every professional law enforcement organization in the state opposed it. Two years later Attorney General Harris labeled Proposition 57, the “Parole for Non-Violent Criminals and Juvenile Court Trial Requirements Initiative.” Proponents including Governor Jerry Brown and billionaire George Soros promoted it as “The Public Safety and Rehabilitation Act of 2016.”  That initiative sharply increased “good time” credits allowing for early release of prison inmates. While proponents claimed that the measure would only allow these benefits for “non-violent” inmates, prosecutors and later, two state judges acknowledged that violent criminals, including murderers would also qualify for early release. Again, while all of state law enforcement opposed Proposition 57, California’s top cop, Kamala Harris, took no position.

California’s raging shoplifting epidemic, the state’s out-of-control drug abuse and homeless problems and dramatic increase in violent and serious crimes were enabled by these two ballot measures.

It should also be noted that in 2020, as a U.S. Senator, Harris opposed the first female black District Attorney ever elected in Los Angeles and threw her support behind the Soros-financed Cuban progressive candidate George Gascon. After almost single-handedly driving crime in Los Angeles to a now intolerable level, Gascon is facing almost certain defeat by an actual prosecutor this November.

The weekly criminal shooting tally in Chicago, over 100 shot with 19 dead over the July 4th weekend, is not that unusual in places where public safety is the responsibility of people like Kamala Harris. Will voters decide to put her in charge of the safety of the entire county?