A Democratic congressman from Chicago invited President Trump to bring his “rump” to the Windy City and talk with residents about life in a place where homicides are at a 20-year high.
“My challenge to Trump is, Trump, bring your rump into the city of Chicago. Go to these communities and deal with these people who are on the front lines day by day, see what they have to say about their community and their aspirations for their communities,” Rep. Bobby Rush said during a town hall hosted by MSNBC on Friday evening.
“I think that we need to take a moment to look beyond the violence and see what is occurring beyond the violence. If we look beyond the violence we will not only see the schools that were closed, we will see a Chicago that is being threatened, but we will see the fact that Chicago, at one time, had nine black-owned banks and now we’re down to one,” Rush said.
“That’s a federal policy. I’m saying that most of our problems that I’ve heard here, today, and now, over the years, be it housing, be it education, be it mass incarceration, all of these are federal policies and we have not yet, at this moment, including eight years of Obama, had someone in the White House who really cared about this city and about these problems here in the City of Chicago.”
Trump campaigned with a specific message to residents of inner cities and the African-American community, promising to thwart future violence by investing in schools and jobs.
Trump threatened last month to “send in the feds” to Chicago in light of continued shootings in the Illinois city.
“If Chicago doesn’t fix the horrible ‘carnage’ going on, 228 shootings in 2017 with 42 killings (up 24% from 2016), I will send in the Feds!” Trump tweeted.
Rush said he does not understand what Trump is alluding to doing.
Gun-related violence in Chicago is outpacing the same period in 2016, which was one of the most deadly years for the city in recent history. From Jan. 1 through Monday, 37 people were killed and 250 people were shot, according to one survey.
