Fox News commentator and political analyst Gianno Caldwell will testify before the House Judiciary Committee in Chicago on Tuesday about how progressive “soft on crime” policies are turning the city into an “active war zone.” “, after the South Side native lost his little brother to gun violence.
Lawmakers will visit the Windy City as it battles a crime epidemic.
The crisis is so serious there that Caldwell has turned to the FBI to get justice for his brother, Christian, who was senselessly shot to death in June 2022. He was just 18 years old.
“I am now working directly with the FBI. I have not made it known publicly. I was going to mention that at the hearing,” Caldwell told the Post on Monday, adding that Chicago prosecutors and Democratic politicians “recklessly” ignore murders that disproportionately plague the black community.
“They are working with the Chicago Police Department to try to bring about a positive resolution to the murder of my innocent teenage brother.”
Caldwell, 36, who runs a bipartisan consulting firm based in Washington, D.C., will ask Congress on Tuesday to “make full use of the FBI to help solve murder cases in our cities.” The murderer of his brother has not yet been identified.
He will also urge lawmakers to provide funding to hire and train 2,000 more police officers to bolster community policing in crime-ridden communities.
Gianno Caldwell (right) with his brother Christian, killed last year in a still-unsolved random shooting.
Caldwell’s testimony will mark the first time he will address Congress after a lifetime of service that he said began with an internship with his local Chatham alderman when he was 14 years old.
“It’s been a struggle for many years, I just had no idea it would affect my family so personally,” she said.
The Fox News contributor said he hoped to speak with lawmakers on the committee, led by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Oh.), but was disheartened to learn Friday that Democratic leadership would not travel to Illinois.
“After my name was revealed… all of a sudden I get a call saying ‘hey, they’re not coming,’” he said of the hearing, which he said had been rescheduled several times.
“We have an opportunity here to do something policy-wise for the city of Chicago and for those who have been active participants in this conversation, because this is not just a Chicago problem, it’s a New York problem, it’s a “Philadelphia, it’s a San Francisco Matter,” he continued.
Chicago has led the United States in murders for 11 consecutive years, at times eclipsing the combined annual murder numbers of New York and Los Angeles.
“This is affecting several cities in our country. Wouldn’t you like to be part of that solution? A bipartisan solution?
Caldwell criticized the expected absences as “insensitive.”
“Many of these same individuals have shouted ‘Black Lives Matter’ left and right,” he fumed.
“But Chicago is a city of 2.7 million people. Eighty percent of the people who were murdered last year were black, and it is a city that is only 29% black.”
Rep. Jerry Nadler, ranking member of the Democratic committee, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the alleged snub.
A preview of Caldwell’s speech obtained by The Post blames the “decriminalization of crimes,” progressive Cook County prosecutors “who refuse to prosecute” and the city’s “no-prosecution policy” for police officers.
“These officials have recklessly ignored the people they were elected to represent and, as a result, bodies, mostly black, are strewn across the streets of Chicago,” the powerful speech reads.
At least 10 armed robberies were reported overnight in Chicago.
The Judiciary Committee will be in Chicago next week to address this crisis.
The American people are fed up with the left’s soft anti-crime policies. https://t.co/e8bgjaByIY
— Representative Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) September 22, 2023
“The policies pushed by the Cook County Attorney and current and former mayors have proven to be a death sentence for the people of Chicago. “What began as, perhaps, a noble cause of criminal justice reform has become justice for…the criminal,” he continues.
“It is our police who have been handcuffed… as criminals no longer live in fear of arrest or prosecution. When you can steal at will, when you can get away from the police during a traffic stop, the streets become lawless. Murder, as many, like my family, know very well, follows closely.”
Chicago has led the nation in murders for the past 11 years, despite having only one-third the population of New York City, according to independent investigative outlet Wirepoints.
In 2022, 695 people were killed in the Windy City, a 39% increase from 2019, after soaring during the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, according to figures from the Chicago Police Department.
“They have largely become desensitized to the violence that exists here in Chicago. ‘Oh, it’s just another shooting. Oh, someone just got shot, Chuck just got shot,’” an exasperated Caldwell told The Post.
Caldwell says both residents and police “have become largely desensitized to the violence that exists here in Chicago.” Facebook/Gianno Caldwell
“I have to tell you that the value of human life in the city of Chicago has been eroded. It has been eroded for a long time. And with that consideration in mind, especially if you’re a poor person and you live in these poor areas that are black, you may have never left the city. You may have never seen anything different, so how do you know? This is simply your reality day in and day out.”
Tuesday’s “Violent Crime Victims Hearing” will also include testimony from Lt. John Garrido III, a retired CPD detective, and retired officer Carlos Yanez Jr.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn