Ivanka Trump criticised after tweeting false information about a 'mass shooting' in Chicago

In the wake of two mass shootings in the United States at the weekend, where more than 80 people were killed and injured in Texas and Ohio respectively, Ivanka Trump attempted to shed light on another act of violence that occurred in Chicago.

The so-called 'Windy City' experienced a devastating weekend where 59 people were shot, seven of which were killed. The incidents happened throughout the city and were not confined to one particular area.

BuzzFeed reports that so many people were involved in the incidents that hospitals in Chicago had to briefly stop taking patients. That being said ABC 7 Chicago has reported that it was not the deadliest weekend the city has seen in 2019.

While no one is downplaying these tragedies, Ivanka's attempt to draw attention to what was happening came across as tone-deaf, especially when she managed to get her stats completely wrong.

According to the president's daughter, seven were killed and 52 wounded after the shooting, which took place near a playground and seemingly nowhere else in the city.

Whilst there were indeed a number of shootings in Chicago between Friday and Sunday it's worth noting that the shootings were spread over a number of separate incidents.

According to The New York Times there were 32 separate shooting incidents in the city across the entire weekend, including a period of two-hours on Sunday that saw 17 people wounded in a the city's West Side.

Ivanka's attempts to draw attention to the shooting is noble but her poor research and lack of fact-checking just make the whole thing look slightly naive and foolish and even drew derision from Lori Lightfoot, the mayor of Chicago.

In a press conference on Tuesday, Lightfoot said:

She got the numbers wrong, she got the location wrong, that's the danger of trying to govern via tweet. Well, that's the danger of somebody with a platform and audience of that kind that doesn't know what they're talking about and getting the fundamental facts wrong.

It wasn't a playground, it was a park. It wasn't seven dead, it wasn't 52 wounded in one incident, and it's misleading. It's important, when we're talking about people's lives, to get the facts correct.

Eddie Johnson, Chicago police superintendent also criticised the 37-year-old for her tweets.

She's conflating the whole weekend activity into one incident and that's not what happened.

Ivanka is yet to delete the tweets and many have been quick to condemn her for trying to conflate a serious issue and spread further misinformation, with some also referencing her 'white nationalism is evil' tweets from a few days ago.

In response, the White House has published a statement where Ivanka expressed her appreciation towards Mayor Lightfoot but did not apologise for tweeting the wrong information.

Ivanka has appreciated getting to know Mayor Lightfoot, respects her commitment to addressing this issue and looks forward to continuing the conversation around this issue, workforce development and economic opportunity for all.

To the extent that her quote was misleading in implying that all of the shooting incidents occurred in one location, it remains important to note that there were 7 deaths and 52 wounded across the city, resulting in one of the deadliest weekends in the city this year.

Her point remains the same, we cannot ignore the gun violence that happens in cities across this country on a daily basis.

HT ABC 7

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