Three graphs in Sean Kennedy’s RealClearPolitics post on Chicago’s homicides tell a sad story. The first, reproduced above, shows the homicide rate per hundred thousand by race in 2005, 2010, and 2015. The second illustrates the homicide rate for the same three years by gender. The third illustrates the homicide rate for the same three years by age. The ages most affected by homicides are 15 to 24.
Those graphs can’t be explained by a corrupt or racist police force. They can’t be explained by politics. They can’t be explained by rates of gun ownership.
The homicide rate among whites in Chicago is about that in Belgium.
If present trends continue there will be 40% more homicides in Chicago than there were in 2015. There is a crisis under way. Young black men are killing each other.
That’s not even solely a factor of race. The homicide rate among rural blacks is about the same as among rural whites (with higher rates of gun ownership).
Until we start taking these facts seriously and tailoring our policies accordingly, we won’t be taking the problem seriously.
“Until we start taking these facts seriously and tailoring our policies accordingly, we won’t be taking the problem seriously.”
That probability is vanishingly small. No votes to be had there. Republicans are racist. Obama was thwarted at every turn. Only Hillary can fix it.
Case closed.
Also worrisome are the reports that kids under 12 are being targets for revenge/intimidation/sheer meanness killings. Yet, how to solve when the only respected rule is 9mm is troublesome in a liberal democracy, so, lets fail back to whatever the buzzwords du jour are while awards for Hand Wringing !st degree are handed out.
Other than scoring political points or making money, these people are not worth anybody’s time or consideration. Black Lives do not Matter. With a few exceptions, they are cheap and worthless. When they threaten a politician’s re-election, a black life is worth a few million dollars, but otherwise, their votes are all that counts.
I suspect that the path to a solution will require eliminating or decreasing the density of these communities. If you concentrated any other pathological condition like this, why would you expect it not to spread. The healthy poor black (white, hispanic, asian, etc.) people need to be able to get the hell out of the hot zone.
There needs to be a comprehensive plan that will involve some inconvenience and discomfort to people, and that is unlikely to be acceptable. The easiest solution is to throw money at the problem.