The Sacking of Chicago’s North Side | City Journal
Riding in trucks and U-Hauls, vandals came to downtown Chicago on Sunday. They jammed streets around the Magnificent Mile, home of the city s most important shopping district. They came prepared with tools like crowbars to pry open gates and take all the merchandise that they could pack. It was a strike directed at the heart of the city.
While the vandals were organized, the police were not. Earlier in the day, a policeman had returned fire and wounded a suspect. False rumors spread that the suspect was an unarmed juvenile. Crowds gathered; social media lit up with menace. But the police did not deploy in force until looters flooded into places with the most valuable goods.
The sacking of Chicago s North Side was more than a tactical failure. For months, key officials the state s attorney responsible for prosecution, the mayor, and the governor have failed to condemn criminals sufficiently or act with necessary force against such violence. They have contributed to a culture of impunity that tolerates mobs and hoodlums.
John McGinnis.