Chance the Rapper Is Against Chicago's Proposed $95M Police Academy

Outside of his award-winning music, Chance the Rapper has never shied away from an opportunity to support opportunities to help out youth in need, especially when said youth resides in his hometown of Chicago. Yesterday, Chance was on hand at a Chicago city council meeting to speak out against an issue that he feels strongly about: the proposed $95 million police academy and how it would change the landscape of certain neighborhoods, as well as the public school system.

Several reports have Chance showing up at the city council building with a large crowd in tow to discuss his criticism against a $95 million police academy that could soon go into development in the city's Garfield Park. Alongside Chance, a slew of activists from the VOYCE Project, For the People, Assata's Daughters and more were on hand. The full-length version of his speech hasn't been made available online as of this writing, but he reportedly called on Mayor Rahm Emanuel and other political leaders in Chicago to consider alternatives that would "transform the city without policing." Instead, Chance urged those who were in positions to make changes to the proposed plan to look at constructing resources for public school students like a pool, a museum, or a new library.

"The school, with just $100,000 in three years, is about to make some transformative changes," he stated. "It would be awesome, though, if we could get them pools at their school, or a new library, or a museum, or any of the things that are proposed in the budget for this $95 million cop academy." Later on in his speech, the rapper took direct aim at Emanuel, who wasn't present when Chance began speaking. "I guess the mayor had to step out when I walked in...but it's fine," he quipped. "I'll just speak to you: what are you doing? I've been asking for money for school for years and now you have $95 [million] for a cop academy?"

You can check out some Twitter documentation of Chance's visit to the Chicago city council meeting. Also, make sure you tune in to Saturday Night Live on November 18th to see the venerated emcee host the show alongside musical guest Eminem.

[Via]