Liberal Forum

52 shot. 10 dead.
It's not a good look. Summer has just begun.

Another violent weekend in Chicago is met with silence from the mayor and local BLM (msn.com)

It is summertime as usual in Chicago: For two weekends in a row, there has been a double-digit number of people killed in shootings around the city.This last weekend, at least 52 people were shot — 10 fatally.
On Saturday night, a man opened fire into a crowd gathered for a vigil, injuring seven and killing one. Earlier that day, in broad daylight, a 70-year-old man was shot in the chest and killed. Two 16-year-olds, one boy and one girl, were among the victims of the weekend’s violence. A 24-year-old was shot multiple times and killed while sitting in his car. As expected, most victims are young people in their teens, 20s, and 30s. Also, as expected, there are no indications that any arrests have been made.It is a terrible tragedy and a terrible reality that, at this point, this type of violence is so expected in Chicago that 52 people shot and 10 killed is apparently not worth a single headline from a national outlet. Is consistent human carnage supposed to be considered normal?Likewise, it is not surprising, yet thoroughly discouraging, that national advocacy groups such as the NAACP haven’t acknowledged the violence despite its vastly disproportionate effect on black residents. To be specific, out of 682 murder victims in Chicago over the past 12 months, 489 have been black. No other racial group has more than 62 victims. Nonetheless, NAACP has decided to spend time attacking Florida.
But while it is, of course, a problem that national media and groups such as the NAACP have ignored the recent violence, it is a scandal that it has been met with silence from the mayor of Chicago, along with the local Black Lives Matter chapter.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson was all over the place this weekend, attended several musical performances and several Pride events. Missing from his social media activity was anything having to do with the violence happening in his city. To make matters worse, it is not as if he held a press conference or made a statement and simply did not post about it. Rather, Johnson has been radio silent — acting as if everything is normal and going according to plan.
Another group whose silence has been nothing short of a disgrace is BLM Chicago. One should understand that the national BLM organization does not need to comment on every happening in every city. However, that a local chapter of BLM seems utterly unconcerned that almost exclusively black people are being killed every week in its own city is bizarre. The group's pinned tweet continues to advocate defunding Chicago police.  Johnson’s lack of concern with real public safety and BLM Chicago’s lack of concern with the consistent loss of black lives in Chicago, unfortunately, brings into question their real goals and priorities. It is not immediately clear what those goals and priorities are, but it is abundantly clear what they are not. This is a shame because the people of Chicago will continue to pay the price of inaction.
 
 

The Culling continues