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Chicago Shootings – Note to Rahm Emanuel: You Gotta Do Better

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CHICAGO, IL - DECEMBER 31: The Rev. Jesse Jackson (L) and Rev. Michael Pfleger carry crosses as they march with other residents, activists, and family members of victims of gun violence down Michigan Avenue to draw attention to the city's rising murder rate on December 31, 2016 in Chicago, Illinois. Nearly 800 people have been murdered in the city this year and more than 4000 shot as the city copes with its most violent year in two decades. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

By Black Men In America.com

January 2, 2017

Chicago, Illinois is the 3rd largest city in America.  In 2016, the city set a record for murders with 4,331 shooting victims with 762 murders.  This was one of the most homicides in two decades.  In a report posted on Heavy.com, Chicago police confiscated 8,300 illegal guns in 2016, which was a 20 percent increase from the previous year. Police have blamed the influx of firearms in part for the murder increase.  The police commissioner has said that Chicago’s gun laws are too lax. Officers also confiscated more firearms in Chicago than New York and LA combined.

President-elect Donald Trump weighed-in via Twitter.  Trump blasted Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel for allowing his city’s murder and firearms shooting rates to spiral out of control.  Trump’s tweet read as follows:

We’re not a group that sides with Donald Trump, but the man raises a good point.  In the words of the late Richard Pryor we ask, “How long will this bullshit go on?”  Where is President Obama’s voice on the shootings in his adopted home town. As a former State Senator, he’s been silent on these shootings.  C’mon man!  The President has had a lot to say on why the Democrats lost the election and how his administration changed the direction of the country the past 8 years.  What about saying a few words on the record number of shootings and murders in Chicago?  Better yet, how about using those Presidential powers to get the Justice Department to help Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Washington, DC, Baltimore, etc.

About 47% of Chicago’s black men, ages 20 to 24, are unemployed, according to a report published earlier this year by the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Great Cities Institute. The national unemployment rate for young black men hovers around 31%.

  
The spike in crime comes at a time of upheaval and uncertainty in the Chicago Police Department, with officers trying to tamp down violence while also mending long-strained relationships with residents of some of the most troubled neighborhoods. In late December 2016, the mayor and the police announced that they would speed up a plan to expand body-camera use by police officers, ensuring that every patrol officer would wear a camera by the end of 2017.

 

 

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