Another violent weekend in Chicago is met with silence from the mayor and local BLM
Jack Elbaum
Video Embed
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.
ABC Chicago reports that just last weekend, at least 52 people were shot — 10 fatally.
GAVIN NEWSOM’S 2023-24 BUDGET RECEIVES PUSHBACK FROM LOCAL LAWMAKERS ON KEY ISSUES
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. He started off on Saturday in Washington, D.C., where he spoke at the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Then, he was back in Chicago on Sunday to attend multiple musical performances and a few 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.
Of course, at the very least, it is the job of a mayor to relay information to his constituents. Ideally, one would go far beyond this and take real action to address problems facing the city. In the case of Johnson, he seems to be failing on both counts. He has no real plan to tackle the violence in Chicago, and he refuses even to speak substantively about it. This weekend, that meant complete silence. Last weekend, that meant a two-sentence cop-out statement that both misunderstood the problem and offered no path forward.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
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. Just a few days ago, it approvingly retweeted a picture of rioters burning down a building, and over the past few weeks, it has been promoting anti-police protests along with — I have no idea why — anti-Israel protests.
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.
Jack Elbaum is a summer 2023 Washington Examiner fellow.