Insane audio has been leaked from a phone call between the Chicago Mayor and aldermen from her city that took place on May 31. In the conference call one alderman, Raymond Lopez, explained the desperate situation the city was in with all the rioting and looting taking place and saying that they need more help from the National Guard:
“We can’t expect our police, and I don’t fault them at all, to be able to control this. But I know we asked our faith base yesterday to stand on the front lines between police and looters and rioters. And I am simply not comfortable telling my churches, those people, to be the intermediaries in the middle of a riot that’s citywide.
We need something better, because right now we only have 370–whatever National Guard [officers] on standby. \Half our neighborhoods are already obliterated. It’s too late. We have to come up with a better plan because my fear is once they’re done looting and rioting and whatever’s going to happen tonight, God help us. What happens when they start going after residents? Going into the neighborhoods? Once they start trying to break down people’s doors, if they think they’ve got something.
We know that people are here to antagonize and incite, and you’ve got them all pumped tonight, today. They’re not going to go to bed at 8 o’clock. They’re going to turn their focus on the neighborhoods. I’ve got gang-bangers with AK-47s walking around right now, just waiting to settle some scores. What are we going to do, and what do we tell residents, other than good faith people stand up? It’s not going to be enough.”
After he was done speaking, Mayor Lori Lightfoot ignored his pleas and attempted to go to the next alderman. But Lopez demanded a response from her, saying “It’s not something you ignore. This is a question that I have.”
So she gave him one:
“I think you’re 100% full of s***, is what I think,” Lightfoot said.
Lopez was infuriated.
“F*** you, then. Who are you to tell me I’m full of s***?” he said. “Maybe you should come out and see what’s going on.”
The mayor vehemently denied protecting downtown at the expense of the neighborhoods.
“If you think we’re not ready, and we stood by and let the neighborhoods go up, there’s nothing intelligent that I could say to you,” she said. “That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. I understand you want to preen.”
“Mayor, you need to check your f***ing attitude. That’s what you need to do,” Lopez shot back.
At that point, several other aldermen interjected in an effort to calm nerves, with one alderman telling Lopez, “Ray, cut it out, please. Calm down, please.”
You can listen to the full audio here:
I'm sorry, Chicago. You're screwed. This is your Mayor.
SOUND ON: Must listen leaked audio (language warning) pic.twitter.com/100bO09dLC
— TheSharpEdge (@TheSharpEdge1) June 9, 2020
Lopez expounded on his concerns with CBS Chicago:
In a phone interview with CBS 2’s Suzanne Le Mignot on Monday, Lopez said many businesses that were lifebloods of his ward – which includes parts of Englewood, Back of the Yards, Brighton Park, and Gage Park – were looted or burned down that weekend; including at least two Walgreens stores, restaurants, and an entire strip mall at 59th and Ashland. The alderman also said the post office at 65th and Ashland was looted, and many people in Englewood have not received mail for about a week.
Lopez said looters methodically targeted virtually all parts of his ward throughout the day on May 31. He said many of the businesses hit by looters in his ward have since been cleaned up, and are now boarded up.
Lopez has been a strong critic of Lightfoot in the past, but none of what he said here deserved that kind of response from her. What a dreadful mayor.