A total of 762 homicides were recorded in Chicago in 2016 -- more than the figures for New York and Los Angeles combined.
"The nation's third-largest city also saw 1,100 more shooting incidents last year than it did in 2015, per data released on Sunday by the Chicago police department. The statistics underline a story of bloodshed that has put Chicago at the center of a national dialogue about gun violence."
"The numbers are staggering, even for those who followed the steady news accounts of weekends ending with dozens of shootings and monthly death tolls that hadn't been seen in years. The increase in homicides compared to 2015, when 485 were reported, is the largest spike in 60 years."
So, what is the response or non-response of our nation's political and so-called Civil Rights leaders? Same sh-t, different day.
Senate leaders John McCain, Chuck Schumer, Lindsey Graham and Bob Menendez are more concerned about Russia's recent alleged hacking of our presidential election than they are about Black lives and gun violence in Chicago; more concerned about registering their protest and condemnation of Obama's abstention vote on the recent resolution condemning Israel's expanding occupation of Palestinian lands than the national tragedy of increasing gun violence.
Why do we say this? Because their silence and inaction is deafening!
Where are the leaders of the Black Lives Matter Movement?
Time for a reality check: More Black lives are lost in one week, collectively in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York City by Black gun violence against other Blacks in one year, than the total of all the killings of African-Americans, nationwide this past year by police!
Time to recognize that gun violence has reached a moral, if not a health emergency equivalent to the Ebola and Zika virus. Time to declare a National Health State of Emergency.
As our nation approaches its annual holiday commemorating the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. on his 88th birthday, it would the highest form of hypocrisy, moral corruption, and prostitution of his commitment to non-violence and social justice for our national government and political leaders not to urgently address the ubiquitous gun violence in Chicago and other major cities across our nation.
Again, if not now; when?