London's Mayor Is Fast Friends With Rahm Emanuel
(CBS) – Immigration and economic opportunity.
Those are two areas in which the mayor of London, in his first visit to a U.S. city, found common ground with the mayor of Chicago.
CBS 2's Derrick Blakley.
It was a tour created to reassure nervous investors that London hasn't shut down after "Brexit."
"We've been open to people, talent and ideas for a thousand years. That's not going to change," London Mayor Saddiq Khan said.
But during a whirlwind Chicago visit, the first Muslim mayor of London and the first Jewish mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, found a bond that transcends business.
"Our friendship is a message that's bigger than the Brexit vote," Khan said.
Khan, the son of Pakistani immigrants to England, and Emanuel, the descendant of immigrant Jews, toured the Chicago riverfront and talked with high-tech entrepreneurs.
In foreign policy speeches, Khan attacked Republican Donald Trump as a clarion of fear and division.
"I'm here to build bridges, not walls," the London mayor said.
Emanuel also took Khan to Englewood's soon-to-open Whole Foods store, where neighborhood entrepreneurs are supplying key products.
Thursday night, the two mayors hung out at the Green Mill jazz club. Emanuel said he's taking Khan to a Cubs game and to Emanuel's synagogue to pray: another powerful gesture of mutual acceptance.