Can a leftist radical please explain to Chicago why they should defund the police?
You could forgive them for resisting when you look at the shooting sprees that have been unfolding in the city each weekend.
Year over year statistics starting in June 2019 through last month show that shootings and homicides are drastically increasing.
From the Chicago Sun Times:
Shootings and murders rose significantly in June compared to the same month last year, though overall crime is down at the halfway point of 2020, according to statistics released Wednesday by the Chicago Police Department.
The 9% drop through the end of June is for the general category including murder, criminal sexual assault, robbery, aggravated battery, burglary, theft and vehicle theft, according to a statement from police. Overall crime statistics for June alone were not immediately available.
Six months into the year, 329 people have been killed in Chicago, an increase of about 34% from the 246 homicides during the same period last year, according to police. Shootings in that period rose by about 42%, from 978 in 2019 to 1384 in 2020.
Shootings across the city increased by 75% last month alone, with 424 shootings in June 2020 compared to 242 in June 2019, according to police statistics. Murders in Chicago rose by 78%, with 89 reported in June 2020 compared to 50 in the same month last year."
A more grotesque figure is the number of children, infants even, being slaughtered by strays on a regular basis.
From local ABC7 in Chicago:
Seven children under the age of 18 have been killed in shootings in Chicago in the last two weeks as police prepare for a historically violent holiday weekend.
Balloons and doves were released as the community came together Wednesday for a vigil for 20-month-old Sincere Gaston. The toddler was killed over the weekend while riding in a car with his mom.
"I am lifeless," said Yasmine Miller, the boy's mother. "That was my world. They came and took a piece of us. Broke us. He stole my baby from me."
Gaston was killed by a stray bullet after someone opened fire on June 27 as he and his mother drove home from a laundromat. The baby boy's grandmother says his death comes almost six years to the day she lost one of her sons to gun violence.
"To have to do this again and watch my baby walk in the shoes I had to walk in," said Eve Binion, the child's grandmother. "Wake up every day and push yourself to keep moving. Enough is enough."
But amid the grief and the calls for those responsible to turn themselves in, there is anger as Sincere's father criticized investigators for claiming he was the intended target of the violence.
"I don't live no life of crime. I'm done with that, I've been done with that," said Thomas Gaston, the child's father. "Everybody judging me, treating me wrong."
You would think the mayor of Chicago, Lori Lightfoot would be too innundated with the choas in her own back yard to start politicizing the violence she is bearing witness to.
You would think wrong.
Once again, the Trump bogeyman looms large over the failures of a Democrat city.
Here's what Mayor Lightfoot had to say to the President following his concern over violent crime in her city, according to WBEZ:
The headlines about Chicago’s gun violence have once again caught the attention of President Donald Trump, who frequently criticizes the city and state leaders here. On Friday, he sent Mayor Lightfoot and Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker a letter about the ongoing violence, criticizing them for putting their own “political interests” ahead of the “lives, safety, and fortunes” of their residents.
Though the mayor responded to the letter on Twitter over the weekend, tweeting, “I don’t need leadership lessons from Donald Trump.”
But she made a point to address him directly on Monday, focusing on what she says have been failures of his administration. She blasted the president for trying to dismantle the Affordable Healthcare Act and suggested he use his time and energy supporting the reenactment of the Voting Rights Act. She implored him to stop “injury and harm to our immigrant and refugee communities,” and to stop “demonizing” members of the LGBTQ community.
Lightfoot also scolded members of the media.
“Please stop being enablers of the president and pretending that this man actually wants to be a partner with cities,” Lighfoot said, suggesting he is specifically targeting female mayors with his “misogynistic and racist rants.”
“The thing you need to remember, Mr. President, we are all tough, women, and we're not going to take any stuff from anybody,” the mayor added before unleashing one final insult.
“I will always honor the Office of the President, but please do not ask me to honor this occupant because I do not.”
Why doesn't Lightfoot and her ilk stop enabling the gangsters who are mowing down her citizens every week.
But hey, it must be Trumps fault, I'm sure they're doing drivebys because they couldn't keep their favorite doctor under the affordable care act.
O wait, that was Obama's lie.
He should definitely stop doing harm to "our immigrant communities," Lori, because it's definitely him spraying them with lead in your neighborhoods.
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