A Chicago alderman spoke out against city leadership after police urged him to abandon his pledge to camp out in a crime-ridden part of his ward due to escalating violence.
17th Ward Alderman David Moore was camping out in a tent for two nights on an abandoned lot in West Inglewood to draw attention to an alleged open-air drug market before gunfire erupted just feet away from him, ultimately wounding one victim. After the incident, Chicago police pledged to work with Moore to develop a plan to end drug violence in the area.
“What it's going to take is for this administration and certain policies to take the shackles off… take the shackles off our police,” Moore told “Fox & Friends” on Monday. “We have to make sure they have the tools, including an item called ShotSpotter. They detect gunshots, and make sure they have the tools they need to combat these problems. We need to stop listening to all these activists…where white progressives are making a bunch Full of money to tell black people what to do in their community and ask them to stop things like car stops in order to keep guns and drugs off the streets.
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He continued: “This type of policy harms our communities, and prevents young people from going out and playing and the elderly from sitting on the balconies of their homes.”
Moore's goal in camping out in his crime-ridden ward was to end drug trafficking in the area. He pledged to work alongside Chicago police officers to ensure their plan to reduce violence in the city is implemented.
Chicago alderman David Moore has been urged to abandon his sleep-out pledge to curb the outdoor drug market. (Screenshot from the movie “Fox & Friends”)
Before the shooting, Moore said he heard constant threats that morning, but was largely unconcerned because he had a security detail with him at the time.
He said one of the women approached him saying there would be a Father's Day barbecue at the building where he was camping, and shortly afterwards gunfire rang out. He claims there was a rival crew that was in a territorial dispute with another group. One person was injured in the shooting.
Moore said that while law enforcement has been combating crime and violence for years, it has ultimately not been enough to curb the bloodshed.
Co-host Lawrence Jones asked Moore what progressive Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, a self-proclaimed activist, has done to combat the ongoing trend.
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“Being an activist — there's nothing wrong, I was an activist too, but you have to activate the right issues, and you activate those right issues by listening to the people in those communities, not what you think your ideology is or what those are,” Moore said in response. The people who put you in your place are usually wealthy white progressives who want to push their policies to keep the poor down because there is profit in poverty.”
In the Moore neighborhood alone, there have already been 13 homicides, 136 aggravated assaults and 92 drug violations this year, according to the Chicago Police Department.
Meanwhile, the Democratic National Committee is scheduled to hold its 2024 convention in the Windy City in August, which is expected to attract thousands of tourists and delegates.
“Do you think holding the conference there will bring out the problem overall, or will they find some way to clean up the city just for the conference?” Jones asked Moore.
“It's not going to show the problem overall, because the simple fact is that this administration wants an extension — like I was talking about ShotSpotter through the DNC, right? But you don't want that after the DNC, so we want ShotSpotter to exist to protect dignitaries and people of high standing,” he replied. “But we don't need it… to protect ordinary people.”
“The DNC will not be located in…west of 73rd Place. They will be in the beautiful downtown area with a lot of cops, a lot of state police, a lot of federal police, so you'll see a different Chicago instead.” “The Chicago we know,” he continued.
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