Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett doesn’t like answering tough questions.
In a briefing with reporters last week, Abdul-Hakim Shabazz of IndyPolitics.org asked Mayor Hogsett how his administration is addressing the city’s astonishing murder rate, which reached a record-setting 245 in 2020.
“With our crime issue we’ve had lately in the city, what message have you had lately to residents to citizens that things will get better?” asked Shabazz. “Because obviously there are facts on the ground, but there’s also that public perception.”
Shabazz continued: “We had 214 murders last year, a new record. The most recent tragedy that we had on Adams Street. What message do you have that things will get better?”
The question sparked an angry response from the generally even-keeled Hogsett.
“Abdul, you’ve asked me this question 37 times and I’ll give you the same answer 37 times, replied Hogsett. “Where the hell is all of this coming from here?”
“I’ve never seen him lose it before.” Shabazz later wrote in a blog post. “I’ve seen him upset and emotional before at different events but not quite as upset as he seemed to be that day.”
Shabazz speculated that the mayor’s reaction was fueled by the January 24 murders of six people inside a home on North Adams Street on the city’s east side.
“It doesn’t surprise me that that would have been the tipping point and he just lost it,” wrote Shabazz. “I just happened to be in the line of fire.”
WIBC host Tony Katz addressed the dust-up between Mayor Hogsett and Shabazz in a commentary Monday morning:
“Maybe [Shabazz] has to keep asking you the same question, [Mayor Hogsett], because we have a problem with violence in the city of Indianapolis. And maybe you’re not capable of handling it.
“The fact that the mayor of Indianapolis is apparently more upset by the question than the actual problem itself is beyond troubling.
“You’re the mayor; the buck stops with you, sir.
“We are no longer ‘Naptown.’ We are a big city with challenges, and we have a mayor who once again is talking about reinvigorating a safety plan that isn’t working. We have an Indy City-County Council that paints slogans on streets – that’s their solution.”
Click below to hear Tony’s full commentary.
https://omny.fm/shows/tony-katz-and-the-morning-news/the-woke-are-coming-for-cobra-kai
