While the Left continues to stand on the graves of African-Americans who have died in officer-involved shootings, every week in Chicago there are dozens of new graves for blacks, particularly young black males, largely ignored by Black Lives Matter activists and Democratic leaders. The reason, of course, is the anti-police “systemic racism” narrative, which the devastating facts involving gang violence and black-on-black crime in cities controlled by Democrats doesn’t fit neatly into.
A new report from the Injury Prevention and Research Center in Chicago found some stunning, though not surprising, trends in the homicide rate in the city. Over the last decade, the per capita homicide rate has risen slightly overall, but among African-Americans, the rate has skyrocketed.
The study found the overall homicide rate of 17.3 homicides per 100,000 residents in 2005 had ticked up a little to 18.8 homicides in 2015. Among whites, the rate had actually declined over that time to 2.7, while there was a small increase among Hispanics to 11.3 homicides per year. Among African Americans, however, the rates by 2015 had risen to a stunning 46.5 per 100,000 and had climbed almost 10 times as much as the overall rate. That increase has occurred despite an overall decrease in the city’s black population.
“The rate for blacks in Chicago jumped from 36.1 homicides per 100,000 residents in 2005 to 46.5 a decade later,” explains the Chicago Tribune. “Other studies have shown steep drops in the city’s African-American population in recent years, but crime figures remain stubbornly high in many largely black neighborhoods.”
The worst hit are young African-Americans, the most likely to be involved in gangs, which plague many black neighborhoods in the city. In 2015, the homicide rate of 20 to 24-year-olds across all racial groups was 64.3 per 100,000. From 2009 to 2012, Chicago saw a 25% increase in gang activity, with an estimated 100,000 gang members as compared to the city’s 12,000 police officers (see graphic below via ABC News).
Despite Chicago having some of the strictest gun laws in the country, the study notes that 90 percent of the homicides in 2015 involved firearms.
The Tribune underscores that while the Chicago murder rates are devastating, they’re not as horrific as the 1990s. According to Chicago PD numbers, during that time there were more than 900 homicides in the city per year; now that numbers sits around 500. Under the leadership of Rahm Emanuel, the city appears to be steadily returning to its murderous heyday. Other than within the violence-plagued city itself, however, don’t expect to hear much from the Left on the lives lost every week in the Democratic stronghold of Chicago.
Source: The Daily Wire
