Rahm Emanuel Slammed For Leaving When Chance The Rapper Spoke Out Against Proposed $95 Million Chicago Police Academy
Attendants of a Chicago City Council meeting held to discuss a proposed $95 million dollar, 30-acre police and fire training academy on Wednesday received quite a surprised when Chance the Rapper not only showed up, but stepped up to the mic and spoke.
Chance has been extremely vocal in his criticism of Mayor Rahm Emanuel's proposed police training academy. Not only does Chance question why money is being channeled into more policing instead of schools, but he also asked where the city plans to get $95 million, reported the Chicago Tribune.
Moments before the musician got up to speak against the construction of what he called a "cop academy," Mayor Emanuel left the room.
Chance the rapper started his address by commenting on Emanuel's absence, saying, 'that's cool'
Chance spoke about his connection to the education system in Chicago, specifically his work with Orr Academy, which is closely located to where the police academy will be built.
“The school, with just $100,000 in three years, is about to make some transformative changes. It would be awesome, though, if we could get them pools at their school or a new library or a museum or any of the things that are proposed in the budget for this $95 million cop academy, ” said Chance.
“Obviously, schooling is my big thing. But there’s a lot of ways to transform the city that don’t have anything to do with police training.”
After the meeting, Emanuel denied he left because Chance was speaking
“It’s not when he spoke that I stepped out. I stepped out beforehand. It was actually to call my mother,” Emanuel told the Chicago Tribune. “And I had not called her in the morning, because we had the morning meetings. ... Don’t ever be late calling a Jewish mother on her birthday.”
However, the mayor was criticized on Twitter for not hearing out the rapper's ideas
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Some even suggested Chance run for public office and create real change in Chicago
Despite Chance's presence, the alderman voted 48-1 to pay $10 million for 30 acres of vacant land for the academy.
