Gianno Caldwell slams anti-police narrative: 'Victims in Chicago are not screaming defund the police'
CHICAGO - Fox News political analyst and Chicago native Gianno Caldwell went off on the nationwide push to defund law enforcement, as the people of Chicago were struck by yet another violent and deadly weekend.
"I am p****ed the hell off with what I am seeing in the city of Chicago," said Caldwell on "The Evening Edit" on Tuesday night.
"The victims in Chicago are not screaming 'defund the police.' They're asking for more police," he told Fox Business host David Asman. "They're asking for responsible police in their communities because at this point they don't know if they are going to make it another week because their grandparent could be shot. Their nephew could be shot. Their 1-year-old brother or son could be shot."
"Last weekend 65 people shot, 18 fatally, including a 1-year-old, a 10-year-old, and 17-year-old," he continued, ticking off the grim statistics. "Two weeks ago, 104 people shot, 15 killed, including a 3-year-old and four teens. On May 31st, 18 people were killed in a single Sunday."
"You have to ask yourself — when does this end?" Caldwell said, "When the hell does this end? Do people care about their own lives? Rally and shout about 'Black Lives Matter,' but do you care about your own lives? Do you care about your brothers' or sisters' lives?"
For Caldwell, the rash of deadly violence that has plagued Chicago for years is strikingly personal.
In the Fox Nation documentary "The New Battle for Chicago," Caldwell returned to the streets where he grew up and the home were he was raised by his grandparents after his mother's drug addiction robbed her of the ability to care for her children.
"That back window on the other side is an area where one day my grandmother wouldn't let my mom come in the house because the drugs she was using and she didn't want us to see that," he said in the Fox Nation show. "My mom slept right outside the window over there crying because she couldn't get in."
For "The New Battle for Chicago," Caldwell interviewed local residents and politicians as well as drug dealers and gang members, and he was struck by the fact that the criminals did not hesitate to tell him about their crimes.
"I went out and interviewed the gang members who told me that they were perpetuating the violence," he recalled, explaining that criminals operate without fear of being turned over to police.
"People who didn't mind going on camera and talking about their exploits," he said, arguing that people in the African-American community know who the trouble-makers are.
"It is time to start working with the police, and that's what's necessary," he concluded, "because if you don't start talking to the police now, whether you be in a gang or not in a gang, or you just know the people, your family could be next."
To watch "The New Battle for Chicago" and learn more about Caldwell's investigation of the causes and cures of the violence plaguing Chicago, go to Fox Nation and sign up today.
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