Word: Rahm Emanuel

 

Micah Uetricht, In These Times - A photo of Rahm Emanuel grinning widely while an African-American man stood next to him stone-faced, with the caption “The Mayor of Chicago Rahm Emanuel came by my job, still can't stand this muthafucka tho,” drew significant attention on social media.

The man, who was reached by In These Times via phone and asked to be identified only as “GQ,” works at a health food store on Chicago’s South Side. He said that the mayor had come in to the store several times in recent years, and when Emanuel stopped by two months ago, someone in the store suggested that GQ and the mayor pose for a picture. While GQ agreed, he says he wasn’t happy about it.

“He was smilin’ and cheesin’ and stuff,” GQ says. “I’m like, dude, come on: you’re only doing that because you’re trying to get elected. You’re trying to make it look like you’re a man of the people. But you’re not.”...

The photo is one of several that have circulated on social media of people of color standing near the mayor but looking unhappy to engage him. One photo shows Emanuel extending his hand to an African-American woman at a train stop, where Rahm has done much of his reelection campaigning throughout the city; the woman appears to refuse to shake his hand. Another has been interpreted by some on social media as showing Mayor Emanuel recoiling from a young African-American child, though it is impossible to know exactly what the mayor was reacting to.

GQ says that while he is no fan of the mayor, he doesn’t know a great deal about his challenger, Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, and doesn’t admire him greatly.

“The only politician I’ve got mad respect for is Elizabeth Warren,” he says. “I love her.”

While GQ is opposed to the mayor’s policies, he says he’s also opposed to Emanuel’s etiquette as a customer.

“He’s real cheap,” GQ says. The mayor is holding what appears to be a shake in the Instagram photo. “My friend who made the drink— [Emanuel] only tipped him like a quarter or 50 cents” on a drink he says cost $7. Reached via phone Wednesday night, GQ’s coworker confirmed this report, saying he has served the mayor multiple times and remembers one incident in which the mayor tipped him “37 cents” on the seven-dollar shake (though he said the mayor's security guards have left him sizable tips in the past).