Looting and destruction in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis cops have left Chicago with new “food deserts” and a worried community.
A local CBS affiliate in the Windy City surveyed the damage to local grocery stores and pharmacies along the South Side this week and found residents dazed and confused about the challenge of finding fresh food.
“Chicago now has food deserts in places that weren’t food deserts before,” reporter Marissa Parra said Wednesday. “Activist William Calloway says neighborhoods without access to pharmacies or grocery stores could get worse if the city doesn’t find solutions soon.”
“If you have people that are hungry, that are quite angry already, that could escalate to something more disastrous,” Mr. Calloway said.
Residents rattled off multiple businesses in the area that were ransacked and damage after Mr. Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, died during an arrest under the weight of four cops.
Former Police Officer Derek Chauvin was arrested and charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter.
His ex-colleagues — J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao — face charges of aiding and abetting second-degree murder and manslaughter.
“It’s kind of a sad thing to think about,” said resident William Wright told the station outside a Jewel-Osco grocery store on 75th Street.
“It’s not what you do. It’s how do you do it,” Wright said. “What did we accomplish, aside from take our property value down and embarrass ourselves?”
Ms. Parra concluded with the community’s “biggest fear … that some of these stores won’t come back.”
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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