Full disclosure: I have a super crush on Chance the Rapper. In part because of his adorable face, but mostly because of his ongoing efforts to rescue the city he grew up in from total despair.
chance the rapper receives chicago’s outstanding youth of the year award from the mayor rahm emanuel in 2014
So when I learned of an online campaign to get the musician to run for Mayor of his hometown, Chicago.
The website Chano4Mayor.com developed by four 20somethings, states that Chicago needs a new mayor in 2019 — a sentiment echoed by the rapper himself in a story in Complex magazine last year — given the closure of schools and mental health clinics, and systemic problems in the Police Department.
“We want a mayor who will fight for public education. We want a mayor who will reinvest in black and brown communities on the South and West sides. We want a mayor who will address our epidemic of gun violence without the brutality of police or prisons,” said the site, which went live Sunday.
Its creators think Chance is the right person for the job, pointing out the work he has done to give back to Chicago, not the least of which was a promise of $1,000,000 of his own money to help inner city schools. My man walks the walk.
The Lollapalooza headliner sits on the board of trustees for the DuSable Museum of African American History and will be grand marshal of this year’s Bud Billiken Parade.