Mayor losing support in Black community thanks to crime & school closings

[VIDEO] While crime has been an issue almost since Emanuel has been in office as mayor, many are not quite happy with the plan to close schools that has recently been released. Charles Thomas of our local ABC affiliate reports that these two issues are weakening Black support for the Mayor who was a former chief-of-staff to the 1st Black President of the US.

When President Barack Obama said that Emanuel would make a fine mayor for Chicago, the city's black voters took the president at his word. He won 59-percent of the black vote in the 2011 mayoral race.

Fast forward over two years to crime, unemployment and school closings and a major block in Emanuel's political base is showing weakness.

"You're hurting my community and I have a problem with that," Chicago Public Schools parent Michelle Young said.

The mostly African-American demonstrators noted correctly that most of the schools on the CPS underutilized list are in predominantly black neighborhoods.

"In any city that's as segregated as Chicago, anytime that you destroy black schools and destroy black communities you can't call it anything but racist," the Executive Director of Action Now Katelyn Johnson said.

Emanuel, who is currently on a skiing vacation with his children who attend private school, is getting the brunt of the racially-charged criticism.

"Why do we have to have 50 kids in a classroom? They don't have it in the white neighborhood," Young said.

Emanuel is also criticized for the rising violent crime rate and high unemployment rates in African-American neighborhoods.

Now, if this holds who might be able to step up to the plate and challenge the Mayor in 2015. That's the question we need to ask and not just register our dissatisfaction.