Rahm Emanuel, Mayor of Chicago

I had the opportunity to interview Mayor Rahm Emanuel for five minutes in early 2018. It is important to note that he declined to be recorded, so everything I write, therefore, is from my own memory.

I asked him what “criminal justice reform” meant to him, and he talked about how his office is working to prevent police brutality and specifically, install more bodycams. He talked about how the people and police have to work together in the city of Chicago. After our interview, I spent some time trying to put myself in his own shoes. It was spring and just a couple of months after Nikolas Cruz, armed with a AR-15, entered Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and shot 17 people. All over the nation, students were coming together and speaking out about gun violence. The interview also took place a couple of weeks after the beloved Chicago Police Commander Paul Bauer was shot six times in the head, neck, torso, back and wrist. I attend the Latin School of Chicago and Commander Bauer was our district officer. Mayor Rahm Emanuel knew that. He also knew that he was the mayor of Chicago. As President Trump said, “What the hell is going on in Chicago? There are those who say that Afghanistan is safer than Chicago, okay? You know what’s wrong with Chicago? Weak, ineffective politicians.” Mayor Rahm Emanuel, embattled, couldn’t trust anyone. So, it makes sense that halfway through the interview, he stared at me and said, “You are only here about guns, right?”

I wasn’t there to talk about guns, and I didn’t have enough time to ask him the same questions I asked everyone else. But, I am grateful that he allowed me to interview him.