Ken Berwitz
Mayor Rahm Emanuel cutshort a family vacation this past week and returned to a city in crisis: On theNorth Side, more than a dozen people stood outside his house, hurling insults.On the West Side, a close aide was punched and kicked while attending a prayervigil for a police shooting victim. And all week long, there were protesters,haunting one of Emanuel\’s biggest political donors, haranguing his policeforce, beating a papier-mache likeness of his face at City Hall.
More than a monthhas passed since a judge forced Emanuel (D) and other city officials to release a graphic video of awhite Chicago police officer shooting a black teenager 16 times.But publicanger over the fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald in October 2014 has notdissipated. Instead, it has grown bitter and more personal.
“Oh, it\’s personal,all right. We\’re making it personal,” yelled Ja\’Mal Green, 20, a former Emanuelsupporter who spent hours in bone-cold weather on the sidewalk outside themayor\’s spacious Ravenswood home, mocking him and urging him to resign.
The protests reflectfrustration with chronic problems Emanuel inherited in Chicago, a city longplagued by police brutality, failing schools, rampant gang violence and dire finances.But as Emanuel enters his second term, critics say he has deepened distrust inCity Hall through a string of scandals affecting his administration, a lack oftransparency and his abrasive personal style.
