FACTS
The city of Chicago saw 104 people shot over Father’s Day weekend, resulting in the death of 14 people, several of which were children – one, a three-year-old boy. Similarly, the city of Detroit saw 29 people shot, resulting in 4 deaths, including two children. According to the Detroit Police Department (DPD), shootings are up 55% since this same time last year. CNN reviews of police data showed Chicago’s shooting rate was up 33% since last year. Detroit Police Chief James Craig pointed to the national crises – COVID-19, quarantine, high unemployment, protests and riots – as a major factor in rising tensions.
LEFT
Michael Jackson, research intern with the liberal think tank Demos, writes that black on black crime is not the fault of the black community but rather the outcome of racism and years where “federal governments ignored Black victims of crime and dismissed whole urban areas as havens of pathologically violent criminals.” The Left condemns the notion that: “the physical survival and well-being of the black community in America is threatened more by blacks killing or stealing from other blacks (“threats from within”) than from external or systemic forces (“threats from without”). In addition, they accuse the Right of deflecting from the issues of racism and police brutality by attempting to bring up black on black crime.
Our city’s collective heart breaks to hear the unfathomable news of a 3-year-old boy who was shot and killed tonight on Chicago’s West Side. There are simply no words to describe such a heinous, unconscionable act of cowardice to shoot at a toddler.
— Mayor Lori Lightfoot (@chicagosmayor) June 21, 2020
RIGHT
David Brown, Chicago Police Superintendent, said that “gangs, guns and drugs” are responsible for the violence and stated, “We need violent felons to stay in jail longer.” Amid outcry from the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement over police shootings in the black community, the Right has criticized BLM and accuses them of being largely silent regarding black on black crime rates. Some have asked why it is not similarly decried by Leftist media that “94 percent of black victims were killed by other African Americans” and why some black lives – namely those killed by cops – seem to matter more than others.
“[The children] are not gang members. They have nothing to do with the ongoing disputes out there and they just get gunned down for no reason at all.”
Brendan Deenihan, Chicago Police Chief of Detectives
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