The rate of black homicide victims has returned to 1990s levels
Zachary Faria
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The gun murder rate of black victims has risen back to 1990s levels. But if you are waiting on Black Lives Matter or establishment media to sound an alarm over this, don’t hold your breath.
The surge in homicides hit black communities hardest, with data showing that there were around 55 black men killed by firearms per 100,000 — the highest rate since the mid-1990s. Before 2020, that number was about 35 per 100,000. The crime surge has been a massive concern in black communities, with 81% of registered black voters saying crime was “very important” to their midterm vote.
VIOLENT CRIME TICKS DOWN SLIGHTLY IN 2021, WHILE HOMICIDES JUMP 4.3%: FBI
So why hasn’t Black Lives Matter or our media, which were so invested in a “racial reckoning” and “racial injustice,” given this issue the focus it deserves? They would much rather scapegoat the police for their relatively rare police shootings than do anything about the extremely common shootings by others.
We have known for years that black people, particularly black men, make up a disproportionate number of crime victims and especially homicide victims. In 2020, black victims accounted for 54% of homicides, even though less than 13% of the U.S. population is black. Yet the homicide surge reflected poorly on the Black Lives Matter movement and the Democratic Party, so it was swept under the rug.
Instead, activists, establishment journalists, and pundits pushed the conversation toward defunding and abolishing police departments. The city of Minneapolis, which started the summer of Black Lives Matter protests and riots, attempted to abolish its police department, even though a plurality of 47% of black voters opposed the replacement Department of Public Safety and 75% of black voters thought the city should not cut down the size of its police force.
But the disregard for black victims of crime continued. When Ma’Khia Bryant was shot by a police officer as she attempted to stab a (black) woman, the Black Lives Matter chant went up again. Several media outlets compared the officer, who had saved a black woman’s life, to the officer who had killed George Floyd.
Meanwhile, everyone ignored the record number of homicides in Columbus, Ohio, just as they had everywhere else. Roughly 75% of the city’s homicide victims were black, but that was a non-story because it didn’t advance the media’s favored, fabricated narrative about widespread police misconduct.
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The homicide surge would politically hurt Black Lives Matter and the Democratic Party, but it actually harmed black communities far more deeply. Their real pain and loss should never have taken a backseat to political convenience, yet it continues to do so. If we want to have a real “racial reckoning,” then protecting black communities from violent criminals should be at the top of the list.