Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson was widely ridiculed for his comments this week about the city’s violent Memorial Day weekend. “We understand that when communities have been disinvested in and traumatized, that you are seeing the manifestation of that trauma,” Johnson said. He talked about his “holistic” approach to fighting crime, which means funding community groups. “Poverty didn’t go away over the weekend,” Johnson said.

“Yes, he actually said that, which goes a long way to explaining why gunmen patrol the streets with impunity,” a Wall Street Journal editorialsaid about those comments. The Journal went on, “Does the mayor have a date when he thinks poverty will vanish, the ‘trauma’ will ease, and the shootings stop? Is the July 4 weekend too soon, or will it be Labor Day?”

Unreported except by Center Square were Pritzker’s comments Wednesday that were to the same effect as Johnson’s. Asked if there’s more that should be done to reduce violence, he said, “When there is more poverty in a community, there is more likely to be criminal activity that arises in that community,” Pritzker said. “The more we can lift people up, and we are doing that in a number of ways, one of which is providing more education funding, early childhood education and alleviating some of the burdens on young families.”

That’s just “one of the ways” he is making public safety a priority, he said at the outset, and he did say that supporting the police is number one. But what are those other ways? He offered none except, like Johnson, spending on social programs and the “peacekeepers” who were ineffective over the weekend. How is he supporting police? The state has done nothing significant to help them. Instead, Pritzker and Johnson support the highly controversial Safe-T Act that will hamstring prosecutors and police if it survives current court challenges. Video of Pritzker’s full answer is here.

Yes, poverty contributes to crime and some social programs are part of a long-term solution. But, as with Johnson’s comments, Pritzker said nothing about lax prosecution by Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, personal responsibility, bad parenting, unwed births and other factors behind Chicago’s violence.

Also like Johnson, none of Pritzker’s comments were directed to those who need to hear a stern message, criminals themselves, to whom Johnson and Pritzker apparently ascribe no individual agency.