A son of Robert F. Kennedy who's running for governor of Illinois has charged Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel with spearheading an effort to push African-Americans out of the Windy City and make it "whiter" and richer.
"I believe that black people are being pushed out of Chicago intentionally by a strategy that involves disinvestment in communities being implemented by the city administration," Chris Kennedy said at a news conference, the Chicago Tribune reports.
"And I believe Rahm Emanuel is the head of the city administration and therefore needs to be held responsible for those outcomes . . . We're cutting off funding for schools, cutting off funding for police, allowing people to be forced to live in food deserts, closing hospitals, closing access to mental health facilities.
"What choice do people have but to move, to leave? And I think that's part of a strategic gentrification plan being implemented by the city of Chicago to push people of color out of the city. The city is becoming smaller, and as it becomes smaller, it's become whiter."
Rahm's office quickly hit back, saying it was "sad" to see Kennedy — a Democrat who chairs the Kennedy family business, Joseph P. Kennedy Enterprises — "joining President [Donald] Trump and Gov. [Bruce] Rauner in using cynical, politically motivated attacks about Chicago's communities for his own personal gain.
"His divisive comments today are a direct assault on one of this city's greatest strengths — our diversity."
Kennedy is the eighth of 11 children of Robert Kennedy, the former Massachusetts senator and U.S. attorney general who was assassinated in 1968. He's also the nephew of President John F. Kennedy. Emanuel, also a Democrat, is a former White House chief of staff and Illinois congressman.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.