Across the InterTubeDotNets you will see many journalists and elites joining in on the meme about what an awful year 2016 was. Yes, Donald Trump winning the presidency and a number of celebrity deaths have given our Betters a sorry case of the sadz. Meanwhile, out in the real world, on the West and Southside of Chicago, homicides and shootings saw their biggest spike in decades.
In 2015, there were 485 homicides in Chicago. In 2016 that number jumped 57% to 762 — more than New York and Los Angeles combined. Shooting incidents in a city with some of the most draconian gun control laws in the country, leapt from 2,426 in 2015 to 3,550 in 2016.
Between 75% and 80% of Chicago shooting victims are black.
So what changed between 2015 and 2016?
Both the current and former Police Superintendents agree on one thing, criminals have been emboldened by the Left’s current jihad against law enforcement.
Current Superintendent Eddie Johnson:
Johnson acknowledged in a recent interview with The Associated Press that officers have become more cautious — in part out of fear of becoming the next “viral video.”
That, he said, has “emboldened” criminals.
“Criminals watch TV, pay attention to the media,” he said. “They see an opportunity to commit nefarious activity.”
Former Superintendent Garry McCarthy:
Former Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy on Sunday blamed the Black Lives Matter movement for causing a rise in violent crime around the country.
During a radio interview with John Catsimatidis on AM 970 in New York, McCarthy blamed protests against police brutality in cities like Baltimore, Ferguson, Mo., and Charlotte, N.C., for creating a “political atmosphere of anti-police sentiment.”
“So what’s happening, and this is ironic, is that a movement with the goal of saving black lives at this point is getting black lives taken, because 80 percent of our murder victims here in Chicago are male blacks,” McCarthy said. “Less than half of 1 percent of all the shootings in this city involve police officers shooting civilians.”
While no one will argue that a small number of police officers have been responsible for some tragic and unjustified shootings, there is also no question that the response from the national media, President Obama, and Black Lives Matter has been hysterical, dishonest, and an act of mercenary partisanship. And in the city of Chicago, this politically-motivated and calculated overreaction has contributed to an atmosphere that dramatically and tragically increased the number of black men murdered by firearms, mostly at the hands of other black men.
Let’s also not forget that this false media narrative about white police officers hunting down unarmed black men was built on a foundation of audacious lies, weeks-long Fake News Narratives that proved to be completely untrue in Ferguson, Baltimore, and all things Trayvon Martin.
And who is paying the price for these lies? Innocent police officers who, in this CNN-manufactured climate, are living in an unspeakably dangerous world where ambushes are up 167%. And then there is the predominantly black residents of the West and Southside of Chicago, an area that has become a shooting gallery practically overnight — all based on leftwing lies told by high-ranking Democrats and their media allies.
Many of the Hollywood and media elites “literally shaking” over 2016’s this-or-that are personally responsible for their part in intentionally spreading irresponsible rumors and lies about American law enforcement. Unfortunately, they do not pay the price for their actions. Rather, it is the poor, black, and innocent who pay this price — those who “literally shake” every time the sun goes down and the shooting begins.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC
