Ken Griffin (or his ghostwriter) is right to argue his firms, Citadel and Citadel Securities, divesting itself from all gun and ammunition companies will not solve Chicago’s violence problem. He stands tall against the woke mob trying to coerce him into virtue signaling lest he be canceled, and he should be congratulated for squeezing so many Republican buzzwords into one short letter.
Griffin wants to “engage on thoughtful policies” because he loves Chicago and Illinois, though he might take his billions and go elsewhere if lawmakers don’t shape up to his satisfaction. He says Chicago’s violence problem isn’t because of “legal” gun purchases, as if a gun’s provenance matters to its target. Instead, he argues, it’s because of Gov. J.B Pritzker and his pro-criminal, anti-police policies.
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Exactly what policies he thinks are pro-criminal is left to the imagination, though perhaps he means the movement to end cash bail for nonviolent charges, a policy that results in the incarceration of the innocent yet to be proven guilty if they aren’t lucky enough to have money to collateralize their freedom. Surely, the presumption of innocence is as important a constitutional guarantee as a well-regulated militia and its muskets.
Anti-police? Perhaps he means efforts to hold the police accountable for their misconduct, misconduct that has real costs in both blood and treasure. Over the last decade, Chicago taxpayers have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to settle misconduct lawsuits, and Chicagoans have mourned too many of their fellow citizens brutalized, tortured and murdered by criminals within the CPD. Certainly, he doesn’t mean the 20% raise those police received in their new collective bargaining agreement.
A thoughtful policy debate wouldn’t dismiss the notion the ubiquitous instrument of Chicago’s violence was part of the violence problem. It wouldn’t dismiss the significance of police misconduct in the erosion of trust among the people they supposedly serve and protect.
Instead, it might ask, in the most armed nation in the world, why do we need to manufacture more guns? From Mr. Griffin’s citadel in the sky, it seems the answer is, because profit.
J.R. Lawson, Naperville
Profound gratitude for Dr. Ezike
I want to express my profound gratitude to Dr. Ngozi Ezike for her expertise and compassion during the past three years as director of the Illinois Department of Public Health. She has been my true north during the pandemic. I hope she gets the rest she has so deservedly earned for her service to our state.
Jo Ann Casey, West Rogers Park
Will Justice Kavanaugh leave Roe v. Wade alone?
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s position regarding Roe v. Wade isn’t an issue or concern. The only issue or concern is whether Justice Brett Kavanaugh lives up to his statement that “it (Roe) is settled law.”
Warren Rodgers Jr., Matteson
Send confiscated arms to Ukraine
Firearms confiscated by police are destroyed instead of being sold to raise money for the government. Instead of destroying them, they should be sent to Ukraine to help their citizens fight against the attacking Russians.
Larry E. Nazimek, Chicago
