1. A4 EZ M2 THE WASHINGTON POST . WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2016
One of those young people,
Frank Harris, 13, was sitting si-
lently on a street curb in
Bronzeville on Sunday, watching
his friends lock dance moves to-
gether. “Scared,” he answered
when asked how he feels living on
these dangerous streets. “People
keep dying over here.”
Darion Harris, 13, took a break
from roughhousing with his cous-
ins on the grass to admit he wor-
ries that a family member may be
one of the unlucky ones he hears
about on the news all the time.
He has a vision for a different
future, he said: “More calm,
silent, no shooting. Where you
just hear the birds chirping and
stuff.”
mark.berman@washpost.com
Berman reported from Washington.
ents rested on benches in a com-
munity garden and held smart-
phones up to video their children
playing.
“This is the first time we’ve
seen this kind of thing in years,”
Johnson said. “We wanted the
community to know it’s safe to
come out and have a good time.”
There were 92 killings in Au-
gust alone — one of the victims
who received national attention
was Nykea Aldridge, cousin of
NBA star Dwyane Wade, who was
fatally shot while pushing her
child in a stroller. That level of
ongoing bloodshed has filled
many Chicagoans with fear and
anxiety: In a survey earlier this
year, residents were found as like-
lytothinkyoungpeopleinthecity
would become victims of a violent
crime as graduate from college.
hood Saturday, Baskin said, “Peo-
ple are fed up.”
“We don’t care about their po-
litical agenda, we care about
lives,” he said.
In Bronzeville, six women
pooled $700 and rented a bouncy
house, hired a DJ and bought hot
dogs and other summer treats.
Kaaron Johnson, 28, said that for
toomanyyears,peoplewouldstay
indoors when street violence
mounted over the summer.
“When the amount of violence
skyrocketed this summer, people
realized if we don’t do something,
it’ll get out of hand,” she said. On
Sunday, teenagers formed a line
to synchronize dance moves
while younger ones learned how
to work the water nozzle on a
ladder truck from members of the
Chicago Fire Department. Par-
crossfire.
“Un-American” is how Hal
Baskin, 64, described the FOP
memos. A lifelong resident of En-
glewood who helped organize
several events in his neighbor-
ly,” he added. “We occasionally
get:‘Mostofthemdoagoodjob.’A
lot of time, when we hear some-
thing positive about the police,
there is the proverbial ‘but’ that
follows.”
A Chicago police spokesman
said the union’s calls on overtime
were not a factor in the weekend
deployment.
Manypeoplewhowerecooking
hot dogs, passing out school sup-
plies or watching their children
get free haircuts over the week-
endsaidtheydon’tblameindivid-
ual officers for the homicide toll
inChicago,whichisonpacetotop
600 in a single year for the first
time since 2003. Instead, they
reserve their anger for bureau-
cratic infighting amid the deaths
of innocents — grandparents to
toddlers — who were caught in
investigation into the depart-
ment continues.
Whatever the cause of the vio-
lence, it has become terrifying
and seemingly unstoppable, Jo-
nas Lee, 37, said as he watched his
two daughters in pink tiaras and
black leggings play with their pet
pug in the sunshine of Roseland
park during a festival Sunday.
“I don’t like them outside at
all,” he said of his daughters.
Last week, a woman was fatally
shot in the area. Earlier this year,
a friend of his family was shot in
the head while sitting on his
porch. “If it could happen to him,
it could happen to anybody,” Lee
said. His home is on the market,
and a move to Indiana is immi-
nent.
Compounding anxieties
among people in high-crime
neighborhoods is a series of mem-
os from the Chicago Fraternal
Order of Police that asked officers
to refuse voluntary overtime dur-
ing the holiday weekend, when
violence has historically spiked.
The memos spurred activist
Phillip Jackson to rally communi-
ty groups behind what he called a
“Community Peace Surge” — a
play on the titles of the “Purge”
movies, in which crime becomes
legal and violence takes over the
streets.
Through social media and
word of mouth, the idea grew into
a mixture of official events, like
the festival where Lee’s daughters
played, and homegrown activi-
ties, such as neighborhood cook-
outs.
Most people know that the po-
lice can’t stop the gunfire, said
Jackson. But he said it felt like
officers were abandoning their
posts during times of great need,
which he said confirmed the mis-
trustofpolicethatlingersinthese
areas.
Fraternal Order of Police Presi-
dent “Dean Angelo basically said,
‘You guys are mad at us, so we
won’t work,’ ” he said. “Yes, we are
mad at you for shooting down
young black boys in the street.
What is a community supposed to
think?”
The memos were not aimed at
City Hall — the union’s contract is
up next year — but were an at-
tempt to encourage those officers
who were uneasy after police
were attacked and killed in Dallas
and Baton Rouge to take some
time off, Angelo said.
“This isn’t a work slowdown.
. . . This is telling the guys you
take your family for granted, we
take ourselves for granted” too
often, Angelo said in an interview.
“We’vegotnosupportpolitical-
CHICAGO FROM A1
Many in Chicago blame bureaucratic infighting, not officers
said. Fox’s statement suggests
that it is open to settling other
cases, the lawyers said.
“What Fox is trying to do is
demonstrate publicly that this is
not business as usual,” said Amy
Bess, an employment lawyer at
Vedder Price. It is trying “to make
a statement to the public that this
company is turning over a new
leaf. It’s gotten rid of the evildoers,
and they’re now focusing on a
more positive, proactive, non-dis-
criminatory culture that is a good
place for women to work.”
Carlson’s suit brought forth at
least 20 other women who said,
usually anonymously, that Ailes
had harassed them during his
long career in television.
Although Carlson didn’t name
Fox or 21st Century Fox as defen-
dants in her suit against Ailes,
21st Century Fox will bear the
entire cost of the $20 million
settlement, both sides said.
Ailes received a $40 million
severance package and a continu-
ing consulting role at Fox News
when he resigned in July; he also
is also an informal adviser to
Trump’s campaign.
Van Susteren, who had publicly
defended Ailes after Carlson
made her accusations, said in a
Facebook post that she decided to
leave on Thursday.
“Fox has not felt like home to
me for a few years and I took
advantage of the clause in my
contract which allows me to leave
now. The clause had a time limita-
tion, meaning I could not wait,”
she wrote. She added: “I hope to
continue my career in broadcast-
ing.”
Fox said Brit Hume will replace
Van Susteren in the 7 p.m. time
slot, starting Tuesday night.
paul.farhi@washpost.com
Jena McGregor contributed to this
report.
embarrassing details about the
Fox newsroom, which Tantaros
described in her lawsuit as a
“sex-fueled, Playboy Mansion-like
cult.”
In another sign of the compa-
ny’s desire to put the issue behind
it, 21st Century Fox said Tuesday
that it gave monetary settlements
to “a handful” of Fox News em-
ployees who had complained
about being harassed by Ailes.
The company didn’t identify the
employees or the size of the pay-
ments, but it said the employees
came forward during an internal
investigationoftheclaimsagainst
Ailes.
Carlson sued Ailes on July 6,
saying she was demoted and
eventually let go from Fox after
she refused his sexual advances.
Ailes has repeatedly denied the
allegations.
The company’s apology to her,
which was attributed in a news
release to “21st Century Fox,”
read: “During her tenure at Fox
News, Gretchen exhibited the
highest standards of journalism
and professionalism. She devel-
oped a loyal audience and was a
daily source of information for
many Americans. We are proud
that she was part of the Fox News
team. We sincerely regret and
apologize for the fact that Gretch-
en was not treated with the re-
spect and dignity that she and all
of her colleagues deserve.”
The remarkable size of the pay-
ment to Carlson “clearly is a
recognition that she was right
that she was treated inappropri-
ately, and that in and of itself is
quite stunning,” said Debra Katz,
a Washington lawyer who often
represents plaintiffs in sexual ha-
rassment lawsuits.
Most companies don’t make
such a statement of regret be-
cause it could expose them to
some risk, employment lawyers
cable news landscape,” the pair
said.
Carlson received not only a
huge payout for settling her two-
month-old lawsuit, but also an
unusual public apology from 21st
Century Fox.
The swiftness of the settlement
attested to the company’s desire
to put an end to the damaging
publicity about Fox News’s work-
place culture. But it also said
something about the strength of
Carlson’s claims, said one attor-
ney involved in the matter. The
former “Fox and Friends” host
reportedly secretly recorded some
of her conversations with Ailes in
which he suggested that she have
a sexual relationship with him.
But the settlement precludes
further exposure of salacious or
doch who now run 21st Century
Fox. But Ailes’s various accusers,
including former host Andrea
Tantaros, have alleged that his
lieutenants — notably Fox News
co-president Bill Shine, legal
counsel Dianne Brandi and media
relations chief Irena Briganti —
abetted his behavior, raising ques-
tions about their long-term ten-
ure. (They have denied the accu-
sations.)
In a statement issued late Tues-
day, Shine and Fox News co-presi-
dent Jack Abernethy expressed
optimism about what lies ahead.
“Given we are on track to have our
highest-rated year ever and just
hit number one in basic cable for
the fourth time this year, Fox
News has never been stronger
and remains dominant in the
litical science professor at Fair-
leigh Dickinson University in
New Jersey. It hasn’t determined
how it will approach a Trump or
Clinton presidency, and the loss of
Ailes, who masterminded the net-
work’s tone and style for two
decades, complicates the chal-
lenge, he said.
Without Ailes, Cassino said,
Fox will remain generally con-
servative but could become
“muchmorelikeCNNorMSNBC,”
with a more varied tone and
message from program to pro-
gram, depending on the host.
It’s also not clear how much of
Ailes’s inner circle will remain
after the election. Ailes so far has
been the only senior manager
purged by Lachlan and James
Murdoch, the sons of Rupert Mur-
stars. Since Ailes’s exit, specula-
tion has mounted about the fate
of Fox’s three prime-time “fran-
chise” personalities: Bill O’Reilly,
Megyn Kelly and Sean Hannity.
O’Reilly, the most popular fig-
ure in cable news, has publicly
mused about retiring at the end of
his contract next year. Kelly,
whom Donald Trump has periodi-
cally attacked during the cam-
paign, is also approaching the end
of her contract with the network
and probably will command in-
terest from Fox’s rivals, such as
CNN or ABC.
The most stable of the trio
appears to be Hannity, although
there hasbeenspeculationthathe
might join a new media venture
launched by Donald Trump if
Trump loses the presidential race
to Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Hannity and O’Reilly have a
“key man” clause in their con-
tracts similar to Van Susteren’s
that would enable them to leave
Fox during a designated period.
(In both cases, Ailes was that key
man.) Kelly’s contract does not
include such a clause.
The departure of any of these
figures, coupled with the loss of
Ailes’s organizational and mes-
sage-making skills, would leave
Fox greatly weakened, analysts
say.
“It would be malpractice” if
O’Reilly, Kelly and Hannity’s
agents weren’t negotiating new
contracts for them now, said Dan
Cassino, the author of “Fox News
and American Politics.” “Especial-
ly at a moment like this, manage-
ment has to maintain the illusion
[to viewers] that everything is
fine. They cannot afford to lose a
prime-time host.”
Fox was already headed for a
turning point after the election in
November, argues Cassino, a po-
FOX NEWS FROM A1
Former Fox host who filed sexual harassment suit gets unusual public apology
2013 PHOTO BY SLAVEN VLASIC/GETTY IMAGES
Fox News’s parent company, 21st Century Fox, agreed to pay $20 million to former Fox host Gretchen
Carlson to settle her sexual-harassment claims against Roger Ailes, the network’s ousted founder.
ASHLEE REZIN/CHICAGO SUN-TIMES VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS
A woman sits on a curb in Chicago on Aug. 7 while police investigate a party where gunfire left a man dead and a woman hurt. Compounding anxieties in high-crime areas this
past weekend were memos from the police union that asked officers to refuse voluntary overtime during the long holiday, when violence has historically spiked.
“When the amount of
violence skyrocketed
this summer, people
realized if we don’t do
something, it’ll get out
of hand.”
Kaaron Johnson, 28
N3296x.75A
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