Black Chicago Voters Rail Against Machine Politics At Town Hall Forum

I'm not sure what they'd consider to be alternatives to the typical Democrat Machine Politician (full socialist? Republican?), but they are admirably pissed off at their government.

“The manner in which we have been voting needs to change,” Wendy Pearson, an activist against Chicago school closings, told the room. “I’m here to say to you that we have been trained to vote in a specific manner… we need to start looking at the manner in which our elected officials have been voting… if they have not voted in a manner that is beneficial to you, yours, and your community, then you need to start voting them out.”

McKinley told the room, “Stop blaming just anybody for the violence in the city of Chicago. Blame the right people, not just white people, but the right people. Because it’s not just white folks a part of this, but it is on the fifth floor. The fifth floor took your schools, the fifth floor just took your jobs that he said that he gave to the ex-offender… and every single alderman was a part of this criminal process.”

McKinley's a Republican candidate. He called for an end of government aid to "brand-name blue-ribbon negro organizations," by which he meant the NAACP and Urban League. He actually got a lot of applause.

An older fellow calls for a Tea Party style uprising, but I think he's only talking about the procedural aspects of the Tea Party (that is, a revolt against the political class, not necessarily embracing rightist ideology).

Interesting stuff.

Via Evan Sayet.

posted by Ace at 05:27 PM

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