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.”
GQ, who is in his 40s and lives in the city’s Back of the Yards neighborhood, repeats the charge that has dogged Emanuel throughout his reelection campaign: that he is most concerned with the city’s white, wealthy residents.