They 'Failed' Them? McDonald's CEO Blames The Death Of Two Black & Latino Children On The Parents

McDonald's' CEO Chris Kempczinski is under fire for his racist texts sent to Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot in April.

The text referred to two children Adam Toledo and Jaslyn Adams, who were shot and killed.

The message read: "p.s. tragic shootings last week, both at our restaurant yesterday and with Adam Toledo. With both, the parents failed those kids which I know is something you can't say. Even harder to fix"

Representative Bobby Rush of Illinois made this statement:

"The Black community deserves and demands far better responses and far better treatment from McDonald's and its top leaders. As a Member of Congress and a Black man who has long fought against racism and discrimination, I join with others in demanding that Chris Kemczinski be fired or step down immediately."

The CEO offered an apology after meeting at the company's headquarters.

and said:

Team,

I recently learned that a text message exchange between me and the Mayor of Chicago was made public. The text exchange took place after I had welcomed Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot to MHQ in April. The preceding day, a shooting at a McDonald's Drive Thru in Homan Square took the life of 7-year old Jaslyn Adams. This tragedy came soon after 13-year-old Adam Toledo was fatally shot by a police officer in Little Village. These horrible deaths were painful for Chicago and our McFamily, made more so by the fact that they were both just kids. In the text exchange, I thanked Mayor Lightfoot for the visit and reflected on our conversation about the recent tragedies, commenting that "the parents failed those kids." When I wrote this, I was thinking through my lens as a parent and reacted viscerally. But I have not walked in the shoes of Adam's or Jaslyn's family and so many others who are facing a very different reality. Not taking the time to think about this from their viewpoint was wrong, and lacked the empathy and compassion I feel for these families. This is a lesson that I will carry with me. As we think about the challenges facing our communities, and the senseless surge in gun violence that is affecting so many children, it is also clear to me that everyone has a role to play. We're a Chicago company, born and raised. There is so much about our city to make us proud. That doesn't negate that there is also much that needs to be addressed to ensure our best days are ahead of us. And I can't think of a more urgent priority than ensuring these tragedies come to an end. Quite simply, it is on all of us to do better for the children of our communities. I am committed to working with civic leaders and elected officials to understand what that means for McDonald's, and I will be asking all of you to join me in this pursuit.

Media mogul Byron Allen took out several full-page newspaper ads condemning the actions and behaviors of Mcdonald's CEO.

👀 Watch the 11.11.21 edition of #RolandMartinUnfiltered

#RolandMartinUnfiltered partnerNissan | Check out the ALL NEW 2022 Nissan Frontier! As Efficient As It Is Powerful! 👉🏾

⭐️ Become a member of the #RMU #BringTheFunk Fan Club right here on YouTube or with a credit card via Square 👉🏿 Every dollar that you contribute helps to make #RolandMartinUnfiltered possible.

Support #RolandMartinUnfiltered and #BlackStarNetwork via the Cash App ☛ or via PayPal ☛

Download the #BlackStarNetwork app on iOS, AppleTV, Android, Android TV, Roku, FireTV, SamsungTV and XBox

-

Get a FREE trial to Amazon Prime on us

Check out #RolandsBookClub and some of his favorite tech gear

✅ Join the #RolandMartinUnfiltered #BringTheFunk Fan Club to support factbased independent journalism

✅ Join the Roland Martin and #RolandMartinUnfiltered mailing list

#RolandMartinUnfiltered is a daily show broadcast from Washington, DC, that will focus on news, politics, culture, entertainment, social justice, sports, education, business, and finance. If it’s important to you, we will cover it.

The Roland S. Martin YouTube channel is a news reporting site covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.