UN On US Soil - Who said "You may pass" ?

Video Transcript:

Well, we're headed to the United Nations to meet with the Assistant Secretary General to talk about the violence in Chicago, the gun violence in particular, the bloodshed that's taken place in too many of our communities like Austin, West Garfield Park, North Mondeo, places like that, where we've just seen horrific levels of shootings and that sort of thing. And so I'm hoping to appeal to the UN to actually come to Chicago and meet with victims of violence and maybe even possibly help out in terms of peacekeeping efforts. Because I think it's so critical for us to make sure that these neighborhoods are safe. Quite frankly, we fail the people of Chicago in many instances in these communities because we fail to protect them from the violence. I'll also say this that there is a quiet genocide taking place in too many of our communities. 80% of those who are being killed by gun violence are African-American. And often killed at the hands of another African-American. And so we must protect these population groups and that's what the United Nations does. They're a peacekeeping force. They know all about keeping peace and so we're hopeful that they'll hear our appeal. Well look, this meeting has been in place for at least a month now. We've worked on this a while. Quite frankly, we can't wait until you know the mayor comes up with another thousand police to try to make the streets safer. Quite frankly, the people want to be safe right now in their homes and their neighborhoods. And we want to make sure that they're safe. And that's why we're doing it today. We can't afford to wait. Like I think they've been able to help in places like Africa and abroad where they've sent troops and sent forces in to help protect minority and vulnerable populations. And so quite frankly, I think the same can be said for here in Chicago. I know that there are those who will disagree and will say that this is an ambition that we can't protect the people in the city, but quite frankly, we haven't protected them. Look, I know that you know the mayor may tell the fact that the number of people being shot is down and the number of people being killed is down. But let me tell you, we've had over 600 people killed by gun violence already this year alone. That is a huge number in my community of Austin. We've had 450 people shot and 80 people killed this year alone. And so we have to do more to protect these communities. And that's what we're going to do. If we can't get it done here with the leaders of the city, the state and the county working together to utilize their budgets to help protect these communities, then I have to appeal to a higher authority and a higher force. That's what we're doing. I'm talking about physical security. I'm also talking about maybe suggestions for what we can do in Chicago to help protect our minority populations or been decimated by the violence that we see here in Chicago. I mean, this is really a genocide and we have to do something to stop it. We've losing too many of our young people. We're losing too many senior citizens. And we quite frankly have people in these neighborhoods who are afraid to walk down the streets. They're afraid to send their children to school. And so we want to make sure that we protect them. Absolutely. And we can never let this become the norm. We must utilize every avenue that we have to make sure that we protect our citizens here in the city. And that's what we're doing. And that's why I'm proud to head to the U of today to meet with the Assistant Secretary General. One day of meetings and then we'll come back late tonight and we'll see what happens. I'm hoping that they'll come.