OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
The Fox News show’s “Outnumbered” panel was joined by conservative radio host David Webb on Thursday to talk about a proposal from the mayor of Chicago that he believes will slow crime in his city.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said that if the United States government paid reparations to the descendants of slaves, he believes it would mean less crime in his city and other cities.
Johnson spoke to CNN anchor Poppy Harlow on “CNN This Morning” Wednesday, where he said that the “full force of government” is needed to address crime in Chicago.
His 2024 budget includes $500,000 to create a Commission on Restoration and Reparations, he said to CNN.
“I’ve added a half a million dollars for restoration and reparations to address, again, the cycle of violence,” he said.
He linked other parts of his budget to the “cycles of violence,” which he attributed to “school closings, the closing of mental health facilities, which I’ve invested in now.”
“My full-out community safety plan not only gets at the root causes of violence in the city of Chicago, but we’re making critical investments,” he added.
“Those investments look like what I’ve presented in my last budget, a quarter of a billion dollars to address homelessness, $100 million for violence prevention,” the mayor said.
“We added $80 million more to our youth employment program, of which we hired 25,000 young people just this summer. That’s a 20 percent increase from the previous year,” he said.
‘I’m going to hire 4,000 additional young people this summer,” he said.
He said he also wants to “welcome” former prisoners back to the city.
“We have stood up an entire office dedicated to re-entry, so individuals who are returning to our communities who have been incarcerated because of failed policies, we’ll have a welcoming space for them,” the mayor continued.
Webb, himself a black man, was furious with the mayor’s proposal when he appeared on “Outnumbered.”
“I’m not a mathematician, but he is putting $100 million toward crime prevention, $500 million toward reparations. He wants to figure out how to properly compensate descendants of slaves. But he is not paying attention, he’s ignoring the crime problem. So he’s basically saying the crime problem is, what? Due to blacks in the city? So let’s pay them off, and maybe they will stop committing crimes,” Webb said.
“What is he doing? It is absolutely ridiculous. How about giving that money to the police and empowering the cops? You are laughing,” host Julie Banderas said, incorrectly stating the number, which is $500,000, not $500 million.
Conservative broadcaster David Webb shreds Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson for insinuating that paying off blacks with 'reparations money' will prevent them from 'robbing your store.' pic.twitter.com/uCmqRCdvGc
— USA Features Media (@UsaFeatures) December 30, 2023
“I’m not laughing at you… I’m sorry, spot on. High-five this woman all around, she just nailed it. The only thing he said in the beginning of that clip we played was government because he believes that government should control everything around you,” Webb said.
“And the point where the money is applied does imply blacks are the problem, and if you give them some cash, they won’t go rob your store,” the radio host said.
“This is ridiculous! This is what happens when you elect a socialist, and you get someone who is segregationist. He is not dealing with the illegal aliens in these poorer neighborhoods in Chicago, and the effects of that, winter is coming in the windy city, things will get worse for people who can’t afford heating, and they don’t do anything about the rise in crime because they keep reducing the police force by policy or the fact people don’t want to join the force. Who pays the price? 500 million. Divide that out by the number of poor people,” he said, again misstating the $500,000 number.
“Who gets paid? I’m a black man. Will I get any?” he said.
