Chicago just endured what was arguably one the most heightened, colorful and intense mayoral cycles in decades. Now that the election is over, the work has to begin.
During this and every major campaign for every major office in this country, an oft-asked question of each candidate is: “What will you do on day one?” As a former candidate in this election cycle, I answered that question many times. Effective messengers will pepper people with specifics that show they understand the job at hand. However, the difference between poetry and prose is not just knowing what to say, but also knowing what to do and, most importantly, doing it.
Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson will take the oath of office on May 15, but given where we are as a city, the work must begin now. The first thing the mayor-elect must do is work with his challenger, Mayor Lori Lightfoot, and all of Chicago to pick up the pieces.
Said differently, in a Chicago with a raised homicide rate, a low clearance rate, low police morale, low teacher morale, low business morale, lowered enrollment in Chicago Public Schools and a declining population, this mayoral transition has to be one that begins to raise the bar, expectations and our confidence as Chicagoans as we set the course for our future.
This campaign season was ugly, nasty and divisive, at times summoning the ghosts of our worst selves. As someone who remembers the “Council Wars”
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from stories my father told me, the thought of Ald. Dick Mell standing on top of his City Council desk seemed like the stuff of lore, but today’s keen observer can see that those days aren’t as far in our rearview mirror as we may want them to be. Our next mayor has to bring us together, with the help of the runner-up, to help us be the city we’ve always deserved to be.Chicago has been embroiled in chaos and crisis for the better part of the last decade. I once heard a preacher say: In life, you’re either in a storm, just leaving a storm or headed toward a storm. Chicago has had the unlucky reality of being simultaneously in a storm, leaving a storm and heading toward a new one, month after month, year after year.
I knocked on doors throughout Chicago and met people in all types of places: in their barbershops, churches, community centers, homes and at Little League games, and what I heard with a clear voice from most Chicagoans was the desire to achieve peace, opportunity, predictability and civility.
I intentionally use the word peace instead of safety, because there is a difference. Safety is walking your dog at night and nothing happening to you and feeling like you got lucky because the person who might have assailed you wasn’t on your block that night, and if he was, he would be dealt with swiftly by the system. Peace is being unharmed and knowing that nothing happened because that person, who in another world may have been your assailant, is at work, housed and clothed, and he wants the same things for his block that you want for yours.
I remember sitting in the Wintrust Arena on inauguration day four years ago and feeling hopeful and determined as our new mayor and City Council members took their oaths of office. But I also remember in the coming months that hope quickly dissipating. This time has to be different.
Deep-seated tensions among races, classes, businesses, labor and sides of the city were on full display in this election; now, our healing needs to also play out in public and on purpose. My parents were adamant that the measure by which someone is wronged needs to dictate the measure by which that wrong is righted. You can’t fight in public and then apologize behind closed doors. Let’s fix us, so that everyone can see.
In many ways, Chicago is fractured, but there is no doubt in my mind that even at moments of decline, this is still the greatest city on earth. When fractured bones, like fractured cities, begin to restore, there is a possibility they will restore without healing, which is problematic. For a fractured bone to actually heal, it needs stability and blood supply; the lack of either gives you a fracture that restores but is not united. Like a fractured bone, it is not enough just to restore Chicago.
We must heal Chicago in order to truly move forward, and that work begins today.
State Rep. Kam Buckner, a Chicago Democrat, represents the 26th District.
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