(Arab News) Mayoral candidate Raymond Lopez Wednesday denounced Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s targeting of the Arab and Muslim community as “disgusting and tasteless,” and vowed to launch a probe into her actions which [have] cost hundreds of job losses and millions in income and tax revenue.
Lopez added that his administration would restore the community’s festivals and cultural presence in America’s second largest city.
Last June, a task force of inspectors and police forcibly closed more than 150 Arab- and Muslim-owned businesses in what critics called a misguided effort by Lightfoot to crack down on street-gang violence. Because most of the stores are open 24 hours a day, street-gang members would often run into them in the middle of the night to escape police when violence took place.
