Al Sharpton is calling on Rahm Emanuel to step down as Chicago mayor
Al Sharpton joined the call for Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's resignation in a Monday interview on MSNBC's Morning Joe.
"He's gone beyond the point where he can govern with the trust of the people," Sharpton said.
The civil rights activist criticized the city's one-year delay in prosecuting and releasing video footage of the fatal officer-involved shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. Sharpton also referenced continued tension between police officers and Chicago communities. On Saturday, an officer fatally shot Quintonio LeGrier, a black 19-year-old man and his 55-year-old neighbor, Bettie Jones, in responding to a domestic violence call.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Emanuel had initially opposed a federal civil rights investigation into the McDonald shooting. In a statement on Saturday's shooting, he cited the need for "real changes" in Chicago's police department.
"I've never seen this kind of detachment in the years that I've been fighting, whether I got along with the mayor or not," Sharpton said. "This is the height of either insensitivity, lack of intelligence, or arrogance — or a reasonable combination of all three."
Watch Sharpton's full interview below. Julie Kliegman
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Julie Kliegman is a freelance writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in BuzzFeed, Vox, Mental Floss, Paste, the Tampa Bay Times and PolitiFact. Her cats can do somersaults.
-
Political cartoons for December 14Cartoons Sunday's political cartoons include a new White House flag, Venezuela negotiations, and more
-
Heavenly spectacle in the wilds of CanadaThe Week Recommends ‘Mind-bending’ outpost for spotting animals – and the northern lights
-
Facial recognition: a revolution in policingTalking Point All 43 police forces in England and Wales are set to be granted access, with those against calling for increasing safeguards on the technology
-
France makes first arrests in Louvre jewels heistSpeed Read Two suspects were arrested in connection with the daytime theft of royal jewels from the museum
-
Trump pardons crypto titan who enriched familySpeed Read Binance founder Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty in 2023 to enabling money laundering while CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange
-
Thieves nab French crown jewels from LouvreSpeed Read A gang of thieves stole 19th century royal jewels from the Paris museum’s Galerie d’Apollon
-
Arsonist who attacked Shapiro gets 25-50 yearsSpeed Read Cody Balmer broke into the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion and tried to burn it down
-
Man charged over LA’s deadly Palisades Firespeed read 29-year-old Jonathan Rinderknecht has been arrested in connection with the fire that killed 12 people
-
4 dead in shooting, arson attack in Michigan churchSpeed Read A gunman drove a pickup truck into a Mormon church where he shot at congregants and then set the building on fire
-
Tom Phillips: the manhunt for forest fugitive and his abducted childrenIn the Spotlight Three children recovered safely after four-year manhunt ends in police shootout
-
2 kids killed in shooting at Catholic school massSpeed Read 17 others were wounded during a morning mass at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis
