Dear Mr. Mayor,
We do not seek to argue for or against NATO. Instead, we pose the sharp albeit simple question: What value has the NATO conference brought to our city, and could we not have put our efforts elsewhere?
Months ago, we learned that you had made the decision to host the NATO conference in Chicago. In preparation, the city commissioned millions of dollars worth of riot gear and have since brought police battalions across state lines to maintain order.
As the past decades have shown, when world leaders, protesters and police officers converge, the consequences are often far from diplomatic. You knew this, of course, judging by your involved preparation and decision to pass anti-protest legislation in January.
On the eve of the first day of the conference, we have watched as swarms of blue-helmeted or black-clad, club-wielding police beat back hordes of protesters. Now, as we reflect on the second day of the NATO conference, tension remains thick in our city.
Most of Chicago is unworkable. Major roads are closed to traffic, businesses were shut, and our city taxes continue to go to fund the thousands of officers, the helicopters, and the endless list of unnecessary equipment that serves the mere function to maintain the status quo.
In a city struggling with crime, education, eroding infrastructure and soon to be insolvent pension systems, we ask: What is the point in adding activist and police violence and economic paralysis to the mix?
We are proud to call ourselves Chicagoans. Yet for the first time in our lives we are ashamed by the violence has occurred between citizens and police officers. Your decision to host NATO knowingly produced an environment in our city where vocal activists and law enforcement would not peacefully coexist. Reminiscent of our city’s long history, you prepared for confrontation when such conflict was needless. So we ask you again, what value has the NATO conference brought to our city, and could we not have put our efforts elsewhere?
Steven MonacelliMark Silberg Weinberg sophomore
