Let me start by apologizing for the fact that, despite Paul Vallas’ commentary, titled “Chicago’s Killing Fields”, was published on November 10, I didn’t see it until today. Mr. Vallas provides too much valuable information and insight to sit unnoticed for a week.
Mr. Vallas details the horrific gun violence against children in Chicago, and how indifferent, inept, and useless Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker are in doing a thing about it.
Here is how it begins:
In 1993, the Chicago Tribune’s “Killing Our Children” series exposed the harrowing deaths of 57 children murdered in the “Chicago Area” in 1992. The successive stories revealed deep-seated failures within our school systems and juvenile justice institutions. Since the beginning of the year, Chicago again leads the nation with 42 school-age youth, 17 and younger-murdered and 154 shot and wounded. This tragedy barely registers with city and state leaders and much of Chicago media as their attention remains fixed not on the violence plaguing Chicago’s children, but on stoking fears about immigration enforcement.
It is entirely reasonable to criticize the federal government’s often clumsy and politically tone-deaf enforcement of immigration law. However, it is also clear that the relentless press conferences, daily statements, and social media campaigns by the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), Mayor Brandon Johnson, and their allies are meant to inflame public anxiety about a supposed “ICE invasion” of schools. Mayor Johnson even went so far as to call for a return to remote learning — a move unsupported by any real threat.
Unfortunately, much of the mainstream media has become complicit, amplifying this narrative by portraying immigration enforcement in the most threatening light and casting ICE agents as an invading force. The first instance of an arrest on school grounds—out of more than 600 public and 200 Catholic schools — prompted sensationalist headlines claiming: “ICE had reached Chicago Public Schools’ doorstep.” The hyperbole reached new heights when a Tribune headline compared federal enforcement to “state-sponsored terrorism.”
Meanwhile, the daily terror experienced in Chicago’s under-resourced communities earns almost no attention. The same week Mayor Johnson and CTU President Stacy Davis Gates held a press conference denouncing ICE, WGN reported Chicago once again led the nation with over 3,000 shootings near schools in 2024. Since the beginning of the year, 196 school-age children have been killed or wounded in Chicago — yet there have been no press conferences, no protests, and no screaming headlines.
The harsh truth is that student safety has never been a true priority for Mayor Johnson, his aldermanic allies, CTU leadership, or Governor J.B. Pritzker. Recall union leaders, including then–chief lobbyist Johnson, played a central role in schools remaining closed for 78 consecutive weeks, threatening illegal strikes. The shuttering of schools for an extended period defied scientific guidance and vastly exceeded reopening timelines followed by private and many public schools.
There is more. Much more. I urge you in strongest terms to use the link (here it is again) and read every word.
Then tie it in with this, from Glenn Minnis’s article for thecentersquare.com:
Illinois Policy Institute policy analyst Hannah Schmid is sounding the alarm about the state’s dimming prospects given Chicago Public Schools ongoing struggles, including less than half of all third through eighth grade students now reading and performing math below grade level.
The latest Illinois Report Card tells the sad tale, with the somber numbers holding true even after the Illinois State Board of Education lowered annual proficiency standards. Overall, data shows just 43% of students meet reading standards and only 27% are performing competently in math.
Got that? “Even after the Illinois State Board of Education lowered annual proficiency standards“. In other words, even after the standards – which were nothing to write home about in the first place – were lowered, presumably in an effort to create the illusion Chicago schoolchildren were being educated enough to function in the real world.
Most are not. And you can bet that the numbers for primarily minority schools are even worse.
Why? Because, in Chicago and other Democrat-dominated cities, the idea, based on what I see, is to pass minority students through the schools any way they can (i.e. without worrying about whether they learn anything), thus creating adults dependent on Democrat-sponsored social programs/welfare…which makes them likely to keep voting for Democrats.
This is a racist outrage; one which is perpetuated to get votes, without giving a damn about the damage done to minority communities.
Thank you, Paul Vallas, for presenting this information so clearly. Now we can both grow old waiting for the powers that be in Illinois to DO something about it.
