GIANNO CALDWELL: We marched for every family blue city politicians left behind

This weekend I marched through the streets of Chicago, a few blocks from where my innocent teenage brother Christian was murdered four years ago.

That loss is what led me to found the Caldwell Foundation for Public Safety, driven by one belief: that no family should ever have to go through what mine did. Community members lined the sidewalks and cheered as we passed. That moment told me everything I needed to know about who is truly fighting for these communities and who isn't.

I invited Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson to join us. I called their offices. I emailed them. I listed the invitation in my Fox News op-ed. I extended the invitation publicly on national and local television multiple times. They never responded. Not once. Not a word. Not an acknowledgment. Two of the most powerful elected officials in Illinois could not even extend the basic courtesy of a response to the families of murder victims gathering in their own city.

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Let that settle in. The governor of Illinois and the mayor of Chicago took an oath to serve the people of this state and this city. They had no answer for the mothers who have buried their children. No answer for the fathers who live with a hole in their hearts that never heals. No answer for the communities that have been failed by the same political machine for decades. They chose not to respond. Again and again.

Their silence was loud. And the community noticed.

This is what failed leadership looks like in real time. Chicago was once one of the great economic engines of the Midwest. Today it is a cautionary tale. Ken Griffin, one of the most successful investors in American history, lived in Chicago for more than 30 years before packing up Citadel and 900 employees and moving to Miami. He did not leave quietly. "I had two colleagues who had bullets fly through their cars," Griffin told Fox News. "I had 25 bullet holes in the front of my building where I lived. You can't live in a city awash in violent crime." Illinois has lost a net 1.6 million people to domestic outmigration since 2000, and Chicago's population is at its lowest level in nearly a century. The families who cannot afford to leave are the ones paying the price for every bad policy decision made by the people who were supposed to protect them. And in some cases, they are paying with their lives.

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Nearly 7,000 people have been murdered in Chicago over the last decade. Seven thousand. They are sons and daughters. Brothers and sisters. Friends and neighbors. People who deserved to grow old, to raise families, to build something with their lives. Darren Bailey, the Republican nominee challenging Governor Pritzker, captured the purpose of the march when he said: "People in Chicago shouldn't be living under a death sentence, and that's essentially what's taking place right now. Gianno's brother Christian should be here today, and this summer, and at this school, and he's not." He is right. Christian should be here. So should every victim taken from this city over the last decade. Bob Fioretti, the Republican candidate for Illinois Attorney General, put the current toll in stark terms: "So far in the city of Chicago this year, over 1,000 people have been shot. 220 of them have been killed. Last night alone in our city, there was one killed, six wounded. This is unacceptable."

Among those who spoke at the march was Apostle Anthony Wilson, a man of God and a grieving father who stood before the crowd and shared the story of his daughter Alicia Prince, murdered just two months ago. "No one should have to bury their child before their time," he said, pausing to collect himself before the crowd. Two months. Her family is still in shock, thrust into a reality too many families know all too well. Apostle Wilson's presence embodied everything this march was about. Not politics. Not party. A father demanding that his daughter's life meant something. That it must mean something.

Christian Maxwell, who is running for Congress in Illinois's 1st Congressional District, spoke to the heart of what is at stake for these communities. "Safety is not partisan," she said. "We want to fight for children to be able to ride their bikes and walk to school safely. That is not a hard thing to achieve when leaders are focused on the right outcome."

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Christine McGovern, who is running for Illinois State Senate in the district where we marched, spoke to something that too many people are afraid to say out loud. "They are so desensitized to what has happened," she said. "We cannot normalize the death of our kids on the streets."

These were just a few of the many voices who showed up to be heard.

As I led the march through the streets of Chicago, I called out what these communities have been saying for years but have not had a platform to say loud enough. We demand safe streets. Enough is enough. Save our streets. The crowd echoed every word. Because they have lived it. Because they are tired of burying people they love while elected officials offer nothing but excuses.

National and local media were there because this story can no longer be ignored.

We started at Morgan Park High School, where Christian walked the halls before his life was stolen. As we marched through the streets of Chicago, I thought about what it means to return to the place where everything changed. The pain never goes away. But this weekend it was joined by something else. Hope. Because when you see a community come out and cheer for a march against the very violence that has devastated them, you understand that the people have not given up. They are not waiting to be saved. They are demanding to be heard. And it is past time for those in power to listen.

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That leadership did not come from the governor's mansion this weekend. It did not come from City Hall. It came from the people who showed up, who linked arms, who said with their feet and their presence that they refuse to accept this as normal.

The Caldwell Foundation for Public Safety is not stopping here. We will continue to march in every city, in every state where our presence is needed most. The pain of losing a child to violence knows no zip code. Neither does our commitment to stopping it.

Governor Pritzker. Mayor Johnson. You had your chance to stand with these families. You chose not to, again and again. The people of Chicago are watching. And they deserve leaders who show up, not just at election time, but when it matters most.

For more information on upcoming events and how to get involved, visit this link.