On the recordJuly 16, 2014
I want to thank my friend, Congressman Davis. Mr. Speaker, I just want to say that in the central business district of Chicago, or The Loop as it is known far and wide, there is a close- in circle around The Loop. They have created three communities. One is called the Near North Side, where public dollars and enormous investments have occurred. This is the area that used to house Cabrini- Green, the Near North Side. In recent times, we have had gentrification occur in the Near West Side. When I was a young man growing up in Chicago, there was never such a community, never such a time, never such an identity called the Near West Side. And, Mr. Speaker, there is now something called the Near South Side. All of these are gems of gentrification. But if you go further west, further south, you see a stark difference in Englewood and Garfield Park. You see a stark difference in capital investments in these communities, where hopelessness and despair dominate the lives and the thoughts and the culture. That is where the violence emanates from. Unless we deal with these issues, we will never, ever be able to deal with the violence and the increasing murders that are everyday news in the city that I love, the city of Chicago.
