Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson wants to fight “teen takeovers” in his city but he is going the wrong, indeed ridiculous, way about it. He thinks he should fix the problem by taxing social media companies and using the revenue to fund more programs for teenagers. Yeah, that’ll work!
His aldermen sensibly wanted to authorize stricter curfews and pass laws that would hold parents accountable when their children break the law. Taxing social media companies won’t solve anything. Holding parents accountable for their teenagers’ lawbreaking will.
Recommended Stories
Five police officers were injured and three teenagers were shot during two teen takeover events in Chicago during Memorial Day weekend. The first began at around 3 a.m. Sunday on the West Side, near a public housing complex, where hundreds of teenagers gathered and fought in the streets. Dozens of police officers were sent in to disperse the crowd. As they tried to restore order, a teenager driving a blue sedan plowed into five officers, injuring them such that they needed to go to a hospital. The driver was arrested and charged with attempted murder.
The next day, roughly 500 youths converged on 57th Street Beach. Again, dozens of officers responded to keep order. This time, one officer was injured by youths resisting orders to disperse, and three teenagers were shot and taken to a hospital. The shooter was not arrested. Police made a total of 53 arrests at the two events and 42 people were charged, including 13 on felony counts. Unfortunately, while current Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke is better than her predecessor when dealing with adult crime, her office still favors deferred prosecution for juveniles, which means that many of those arrested last weekend may never face meaningful consequences.
Pressed for solutions to this spree of unrest and crime as Chicago heads into a hot summer, Mayor Johnson blamed not teenage perpetrators, nor their parents, but social media. “You know, there is an effort in the city council to hold the social media apparatuses accountable,” Johnson said at a press conference Wednesday. “That’s why we’re actually taxing these big tech companies for the role that they have played in harming the mental health and well-being of our young people.”
Democrats can always find a reason for a new tax gouge, much though they find it impossible to consider that people take responsibility for their own actions. Social media is not to blame for Chicago’s teen takeovers, and new taxes are no part of a plausible solution. Johnson is referring to his proposed Social Media Amusement & Responsibility Tax, which would charge companies 50 cents per month for each active Chicago user after the first 100,000 users. The tax would raise an estimated $31 million a year, which Johnson promises to spend on mental health clinics and crisis response programs.
While there is some evidence that social media use harms minors, it is not by encouraging collective mayhem. In fact, much of the concern is the opposite: that addictive social media scrolling keeps teenagers isolated and away from in-person interaction.
Fortunately, some Chicago aldermen have proposed more practical tools. Alderman Brian Hopkins is pushing a SNAP curfew that would allow the city to impose emergency curfews when teen takeovers begin. That would give police authority to arrest violators and disperse crowds before they get out of control. The SNAP curfew passed the city council but was vetoed by Johnson last summer.
Alderman Raymon Lopez wants to go further and create an ordinance that would let the city charge parents if their children commit a crime during a takeover. “He has said you can never arrest your way out of issues in neighborhoods to solve crimes,” Lopez said of Johnson, “and that message reverberates with these teens who are now erupting in neighborhoods across Chicago, trying to become social media famous at the behest of the mayor who supports their antics.”
MAMDANI’S NONPROFIT TAKEOVER OF NEW YORK HOUSING
“They’re being told that this is their culture,” Lopez said. “This is not their culture, this isn’t the culture of our city. We are better than this and yet the mayor and police leadership continue to talk tough while doing absolutely nothing about it.”
Alderman Lopez is right. By rejecting curfews and refusing to hold parents accountable, Johnson has created an environment in which lawlessness is not only accepted but celebrated. Only swift and appropriate punishment for the young perpetrators and their parents will break the cycle and allow the rest of Chicago to enjoy its beautiful city safely.
