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Chicago’s Olympic Dreams Undeserved

By Salim Muwakkil

Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley has set his sights on winning the gold for his city. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) recently chose the Windy City as one of four international finalists in the race to host the coveted 2016 summer games. But a group of local activists argues that a history of racist police torture has made Chicago inappropriate as… return to article

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    Sorry I had to laugh while reading this article.  If China can host the Olympics while occupying Tibet, ruthlessly putting down ANY opposition to its policies, relocate millions of people in order to build a stadium venue, crack down on free global communication, etc. then Chicago with its politicized police force is certainly a choir boy in comparison.  Get over it - there is NO place on earth with an unblemished record of human rights advocacy that can host the Olympics.  And if people still believe that the Olympics is a-political, then they have their heads where the sun don’t shine.

    Germany Posted by Greytdog on Jul 19, 2008 at 12:07 PM

    If the Chicago Police have a history of torturing prisoners, it doesn’t mean the police force is effective or that the police response time to violent crime is fast.
    I live in Chicago and recently my home was attacked by 10-20 gang members. We made three different 911 calls and waited 15-20 minutes before they arrived. How a private home can remain under siege for that long in the middle of the day with no police to intervene for that long is amazing. I have to ask if I actually live in Mogadishu. There is only my husband and myself living here and we are certainly not gang members. In fact, I am a University of Chicago Ph.D.
    It seems that many of our police officers here have been pressed into service hunting down parking violators, and are too busy raising revenue to deal with violent crimes of this nature. Criminal gangs do not take calls to the police seriously because the response time is so awful.
    If the Olympic games are held ib Chicago, I really feel sorry for some of the visitors they might draw. The city is out of control and our mayor only seems interested in activities that enrich his cronies. Our police may torture prisoners and our mayor may defend them, but the streets belong to the gangs.

    United States Posted by Pat Akhtar on Jun 18, 2009 at 4:41 AM
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