Some help is better than no help
Let the mayor and city council provide some assistance
Even if you haven’t driven or walked past the legions of migrant encampments, including at police stations; undoubtedly you have witnessed or participated in some discussions about the asylum-seekers who have been bussed here.
To date, news accounts have been cookie-cutter, with each outlet parroting what city officials are providing. That changed October 15 when the Chicago Tribune broke ranks and turned the migrants into people - people with aspirations, frustrations, and justified fears. The story this Sunday skirted the bureaucray of the situation and presented readers with heart-wrenching accounts of the 4,000-mile journey from Venezulea to a place with cold weather like they have never experienced.
This story Migrants in Chicago forced to remain outdoors amplifies what only volunteers helping migrants have voiced. Written by Nell Salzman and Laura Rodríguez Presa it delivers a subtle, yet salient point. City officials, led by Mayor Brandon, have repeatedly lamented the fact that this once-in-a-lifetime situation needs more financial assistance from the State of Illinois and the Federal government. Those are points no one is arguing. The volunteers are clear in expressing these folks need help immediately.
The Trib’s story reinforces the reality that Johnson’s base camp idea will not materialize before winter sets in. That will leave countless asylum-seekers to essentially fend for themselves when it comes to getting protection from the cold and snow. Paramount to that, the story identifies the kind of help the migrants need right now- blankets, warm clothing, outerwear, and everything else Chicagoans have to make it through the winter.
Given the mayor and council know there is no coordinated plan to house the thousands of migrants being bussed here daily; why don’t they collectively step in and provide some type of temporary relief?
The mayor has no compunction about professing his “double Christian” ways and beliefs. Isn’t this a situation where those beliefs encourage helping his fellow man? That help can’t come in terms of news conferences and junkets.
There are no laws, ordinances, state laws prohibiting Johnson from reaching into his own pockets and establishing and contributing to a fund to provide migrants the basic winter needs identified above.
He is on track to make a quarter-million dollars, $221 thousand dollars and some change. If the mayor used just $5,000 of that, thousands and thousands of socks, winter beanies and gloves could be purchased. Johnson could ask him department heads for contributions to the fund. City council members, whose ranks only include a handful who could make the six figures they take home annually, also should be willing to chip in.
No, this is not an end-game solution; however, it demonstrate the feeling of compassion and help so many talk about. At town hall and city council meetings, so speakers offer that the asylum-seekers’ situation is not of their own doing. They voice and mix their frustration, because Black folks are still underserved here, with concern for the migrants. The overarching question becomes does the government do what it can, by personally paying for some temporary relief, or do nothing at all.