Chicago is not alright.
More people were murdered in Chicago in 2021 than have been for 25 years.
In 2021, 797 people were murdered in Chicago. That is 25 more than 2020 and the most since 1996.
The Chicago Police Department said that Chicago had 3561 “shooting incidents” in 2021, 300 more than 2020 and 1,415 more than 2019.
Most of the shootings involve gangs and organized crime. It’s not “gun violence”, it’s gang violence.
“We all know this has been a challenging year here in the city of Chicago,” Police Superintendent David Brown said at a news conference this week, per the AP. “Too many families are reeling from the loss of (loved) ones due to senseless gun violence.”
Brown added that most of the homicides stemmed from conflicts between rival gangs.
Brown is promising more cops on the street. Meanwhile, protesters, for once, are not denouncing the police.
There was a march on the city’s South Side to bring attention to the surge in gun violence involving children.
The number of shootings involving children 15 years old and younger has gone up 18% in 2021.
“It makes no sense that young kids are being shot down in Chicago in record numbers in 2021,” said Tio Hardiman of Violence Interrupters, Inc. “So we’re saying today, ‘no more kids being killed in Chicago in 2022.'”
Organizers have called the march “No Kids Die in the Chi.”
The only way to make that happen is to lock up criminals and keep them locked up.
Jesse Jackson, in probably the only positive thing he’s ever done, urged residents to turn in criminals.
Reverend Jesse Jackson said more needs to be done to get the people responsible for the killings off the streets.
“We must turn in killers. We must not be a sanctuary for killers,” Jackson said before marching with the demonstrators.
Somehow I doubt that BLM is on the same page.
And if Jesse Jackson had led a march denouncing a police shooting, the national media would pick it up. But a protest against crime is largely ignored. Still, the attitude of the participants is a shutdown of much of the BLM rhetoric.
While LaToya Smith says her brother’s presence is still very much felt, justice has so far been elusive.
“One thing the detective said, the first thing he said to me was, ‘What I’m going to ask you for is something you’re not going to want to give me – and that’s patience,’” LaToya Smith said.
Smith credits the Chicago Police detectives working on her brother’s case for keeping her up to date on their progress. But still, there are the unanswered questions; the hanging onto hope.
“I want the Chicago Police Department to find the killer, and I want them to be tried and I want them to be put in jail – because this is going to set an example to these kids that justice does work, that the police do work, that the police are on our side,”
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