Althouse: "Black Lives Matter — really! In my hometown, Chicago, they are being extirpated at an alarming rate."

December 7, 2016

"Black Lives Matter — really! In my hometown, Chicago, they are being extirpated at an alarming rate."

"The discourse about race, violence, and the value of human life has been held hostage to partisanship — Black Lives Matter vs. Blue Lives Matter. We can do better than that. The election is over. And, the body count mounts. I'm interested now in SOLUTIONS and, frankly, I don't give a damn where they come from. Obama ignored this catastrophe unfolding in his adopted home town for nearly a decade. At the moment, I'm inclined to #GiveTrumpAChance to 'fix it.' Anybody with a better idea? Speak now."

Writes Glenn Loury, linking to "Chicago tops 700 homicides — with a month to go in violent 2016."

89 comments:

rhhardin said...: The chip on the shoulder is great for democrats but is a killer for blacks.

Furthermore the dems know it.; 12/7/16, 6:40 AM
Curious George said...: "Obama ignored this catastrophe unfolding in his adopted home town for nearly a decade."

So did you Loury. And everyone on the left. The problem will not be solved by a POTUS...; 12/7/16, 6:48 AM
Bob Ellison said...: "Extirpated" is the wrong word. That word implies a deliberate act on a particular type of person or thing. You would say the Nazis tried to extirpate the Jews.

Blacks in Chicago are killing each other. It's not mostly race-hate. Just killing.

Glenn Loury is not a knee-jerk leftist. He comes across to me as someone who thinks freely.; 12/7/16, 6:56 AM
TrespassersW said...: Why is the carnage in Chicago (and other D-governed metroplexes, for that matter) ignored? Simple.

It doesn't advance the preferred narrative.; 12/7/16, 6:56 AM
David Begley said...: 1. Stop committing crimes.
2. Stop using illegal drugs.
3. Finish school and take it seriously.
4. Stop having babies out of wedlock.

If Obama had given a speech listing my points very early in his term he would have made a difference.; 12/7/16, 6:56 AM
TreeJoe said...: An individual urban center's extreme violence problem is up to POTUS to make recommendations about?

Chicago isn't a state. It's a city. It falls under the leadership of the local elected people (Rahm Emanuel currently...which btw speaks worlds about Obama's former chief of staff) and THEN state leaders. Neither of which have done anything effective.

It has some of the stiffest gun control laws, as do the surrounding areas in Illinois...

So what we have left is addressing it via actual economic forces + effective policing and community strategies.

I'm all for Trump helping out one of our great cities but let's not pretend it's his job to lower crime in a specific city and hold him accountable for/against this. Neither was it Obama's.; 12/7/16, 6:57 AM
exhelodrvr1 said...: Baltimore is worse on a per capita basis; 12/7/16, 7:02 AM
MacMacConnell said...: Chicago politicians don't give a shit, local politicians actually actually vie for black gang support in elections. I imagine this happens in most blue cities.; 12/7/16, 7:02 AM
Tarrou said...: Honestly? It's a cultural problem. That means it can't be solved by outside incentives. Maybe helped a bit in marginal places, but if you wonder why bulls keep getting stabbed in Spain, the poverty rate is not your explanation.

My theory is that the "Racism dunnit" baseline assumption of black america has robbed them of any sense of agency in their own problems. If only white people weren't so racist, a black cop who reports to a black police chief wouldn't have killed a black kid in a black city run by a black mayor overseen by a black attorney general appointed by a black president which caused black people to burn out all the asians in town. Come now.

So, as a non-black american, here's my sincere hope and wish, that y'all figure your shit out and get this culture of violence, dependence and crime under control. But I don't think anyone else can help. It's not up to white people to fix the issues in black cultures, and it's impossible in any case. Black people control the politics everywhere they are a majority, which is in all these cities. Not even the President can change much of anything.; 12/7/16, 7:14 AM
Clyde said...: @ TreeJoe

I agree with you 100%. Most problems are local, not federal, and should be solved at that level.

@ Tarrou

And I agree with you as well. The pathologies within the black community are deep-rooted. Nobody can fix it but them.; 12/7/16, 7:25 AM
TreeJoe said...: Oh, and P.S., Chicago had implemented all of the policies Obama had advocated for as a way to reduce murders. Yet murders went up. So what exactly was he supposed to do, admit failure and change tacts? In 8 years, did Obama ever do that?; 12/7/16, 7:27 AM
Tank said...: Tank has a friend who lived in Chicago until a couple of years ago. Tank asked if he and his neighbors were concerned about all the murders there. He said, "No, it's just blacks killing blacks." For context, he voted for Hillary.; 12/7/16, 7:33 AM
Drago said...: David Begley: "1. Stop committing crimes.
2. Stop using illegal drugs.
3. Finish school and take it seriously.
4. Stop having babies out of wedlock

If Obama had given a speech listing my points very early in his term he would have made a difference"

"Your" points have been uttered by most conservative thinkers of all stripes for quite some time, as you are probably aware.; 12/7/16, 7:39 AM
MikeR said...: Glenn Loury is the man, always has been. Best bloggingheads, no question. He said there that he Had a Dream: Trump will take his plan of fixing infrastructure and use it to fix the inner cities. Tell the young men there: We're spending 3/4 of a trillion dollars over the next few years. You can have most of it. We don't care what you were doing till now. You need to do this: Get up for work at 7 am on time every weekday, and work till 4 pm. You go with us where the work is. You'll get paid $20/hour starting pay, that's $40,000/year, more if you move up in responsibility, and you'll learn skills that will help you the rest of your life.
I was very opposed to the First Stimulus Bill, and want the budget balanced. But this is a good use of my money.; 12/7/16, 7:43 AM
Laslo Spatula said...: Lamar Gonna Set You Straight....

God, I am so tired of you White People. It comes down to Pride, people: Real Pride. You White People dismiss anything the Black Man can have Pride in, then wonder where all that pushed-down resentment comes from: somehow you fuckers can’t never figure that out…

Know what gives a Brother in the Inner City some Pride? Having a White Woman as his girl. No offense, beautiful Black Women, but when a Brother has himself a White Girl he feels a sense of Achievement, and then he spends his time putting up with White Women crazy shit rather than shooting shit up, you feel me…?

If you White People were serious about stopping Inner City violence you’d be hooking up the Brothers with your White Women — especially the Blonde White Women, a lot of the Brothers like them best — and you White Men would need to start hooking up with the Beautiful Black Women — especially the dark chocolate, you all just can’t have Halle Berry lattes…

Because what is White Privilege if it ain’t keeping the White Women to yourself? Time to share the wealth, motherfuckers…

Now, I know a lot of you are thinking: Lamar, are you fucking with us? Maybe I am, Maybe I ain’t: the fact that you can’t figure it out shows how fucked up you truly are…

You think you got Problems? Fuck You.

I am Laslo.; 12/7/16, 7:45 AM
AllenS said...: Maybe gang bangers should be taught how to shoot better. That just might speed up the process of eliminating gang bangers.; 12/7/16, 7:45 AM
JCC said...: When you engender an environment of violence, as gangs and drugs will do, and then mix in an apathetic, intimidated police department whose officers are reluctant to engage, you get mayhem.

True, the executive branch of the Federal govenment really has little responsibility for what is happening or how to affect it, but the DOJ has interjected itself into this farce by criticizing the cops and seeking to curtail their activities.

Sooner or later, some adult in the room will stand up and take charge. Don't expect that from within the municipal or county structures in Chicago.; 12/7/16, 7:51 AM
Francisco D said...: Mac,

As a native Chicagoan, I can assure you that things have changed over the past several decades. It's pretty clear that gangs have political influence with aldermen/women today that they did not have in the past. Everyone knows it, but it is Blacks killing Blacks and most liberals just want to make sure they live in a safe area.; 12/7/16, 7:56 AM
Brando said...: The sad truth is probably nothing can fix it, and the murders will decline on their own when the shooters run out of targets. Eventually there just won't be any more innocent bystanders left to absorb bullets, much like a stretch of forest that runs out of deer after it's been over-hunted.; 12/7/16, 7:58 AM
traditionalguy said...: Why not outlaw shooting guns in Chicago?; 12/7/16, 8:03 AM
Brando said...: "Why not outlaw shooting guns in Chicago?"

Better to smash the trigger finger of everyone found will an illegal weapon.; 12/7/16, 8:07 AM
Big Mike said...: @Althouse, next time you have one of those "talking heads" things with Loury, ask him whether he'd be willing to lead a revolt against the Democrats' preference for teachers unions over Black people. As long as Blacks rank below teachers unions, Hispanics, college-educated snowflakes, etc. in the Democrat coalition, ask him what he expects.; 12/7/16, 8:13 AM
David Begley said...: Drago,

But the message must come from the mouth of the historic first Black President. The message, however, would certainly be more interesting if Laslo's suggestion was incorporated as the fifth point.; 12/7/16, 8:15 AM
Freder Frederson said...: Black people control the politics everywhere they are a majority, which is in all these cities.

First off, Chicago is not a majority Black city. Secondly, last time I checked Rahm Emanuel is not Black, nor is the majority of the Chicago City Council.

So what the hell is your point?

As a native Chicagoan, I can assure you that things have changed over the past several decades.

Yes, the murder rate is still lower than it was in the early '90s.; 12/7/16, 8:18 AM
My name goes here. said...: Here's a question. If the new president had his new Secretary of Housing and Urban Development implement a new plan that would take federal dollars and use imminent domain to acquire say 10 square blocks in the middle of the richest, and safest part of Chicago and move everyone in the 10 most shooting prone blocks that receive any sort of federal assistance to the newer richer location.

Use block grants to get mass transit to service those new areas if necessary. Nobody needs to be stranded in their new location.

How quickly would change happen in Chicago then?; 12/7/16, 8:22 AM
Etienne said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/7/16, 8:23 AM
Bob Ellison said...: Let's go big-league. Just outlaw being mean in the entire USA. That would solve everything!; 12/7/16, 8:31 AM
Guildofcannonballs said...: http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2008/07/10/castrati_thursday_rev_jackson_threatens_to_castrate_obama2

Obama had no reason to believe Jackson was joking.

I fear for Tim Kaine.; 12/7/16, 8:35 AM
Big Mike said...: Short term Chicago can do something that seems counterintuitive. Make it easier to legally buy a gun, make it easier to get a concealed carry permit, provide low cost training in safe handling of firearms and defensive shooting, and gun crimes will actually fall. The problem in Chicago is that pretty much the only people with guns are people who acquired them illegally. Outside of police there is no one except other criminals who can shoot back. And the police can't be everywhere.; 12/7/16, 8:36 AM
William said...: @Freder: There were over 4000 shootings in Chicago last year. The lower murder rate from the nineties is due to advances in the treatment of gunshot wounds and not due to an increased number of gang members with peaceable natures.; 12/7/16, 8:42 AM
Roughcoat said...: It has some of the stiffest gun control laws, as do the surrounding areas in Illinois...

Nah. Not to worry. I live in a western suburb of Chicago (in Cook County, no less), own several firearms -- which are easy to purchase legally if you're a law-abiding citizen with an FOID -- and am in the process of getting my conceal/carry permit. The gun laws are only prohibitive in Chicago itself, within the city limits.; 12/7/16, 8:47 AM
Laslo Spatula said...: Lamar Gonna Set You Straight....

Give a Black Man a White Woman and now he ain’t got time for any territorial shit. White Women: you all know they are Crazy. Maybe not Crazy all the time, but the Crazy is in there like a fucking Jack-In-The-Box — it’s always there, waiting to come and pop out on ya, no matter how slow you turn the crank…

So now the Brother is spending all his time trying to keep the bitch happy, and you know White Women: they ain’t never happy. There’s always a flaming hoop she’s waiting for you to jump through, don’t matter your skin color. That’s right: the Brother got done pussy-whipped, he ain’t got time now to be on the streets, White Bitch be mad if he comes home late smelling of malt liquor and the chronic…

The Pussy Whip of the White Woman: who’da thought that it would be the Solution to the Black Man’s problem? Shit, this makes me scared…

You think you got Problems? Fuck You.

I am Laslo.; 12/7/16, 8:49 AM
Michael K said...: most liberals just want to make sure they live in a safe area.

That doesn't work as well anymore. My sister still lives there and I grew up there. The black gangsters are now spreading out into white and mixed middle class neighborhoods because that's where the money and stuff worth stealing is.

Freder has it all figured out. 700 murders in 11 months is an improvement over the last Democrat president.

A very racist account of being a white teacher in an all black school in the south has the following exchange: "What would happen to all of you if white people just all disappeared ? We be fucked!"

The left has taught the blacks that they are dependent and nothing they do is worth while. Even black parents, like the mothers of Ben Carson and Charles Payne, who want their kids to get educated and succeed in life are accused of "acting white."

I examine recruits to the military. Black applicants seem to me to be fewer than we would expect. We get more Chinese than blacks. The black kids I do see applying to join, I have a good deal of regard for. They have stayed out of jail and off drugs.

I had one young man about a year ago who told me he had been in foster care since the age of three and he had 17 half siblings. He also said "I don't care if I ever see any of them again." I wished him well. He was trying to get his life on track.; 12/7/16, 8:49 AM
MayBee said...: Here's the crazy thing: for how hopeless so many of these people might feel, there is so much opportunity out there. You could live such a less-awful life if everyone would just stop it. Go to school, raise your kids, stop caring about whether someone from another block steps foot in your territory.

It doesn't have to be like this. There's another option out there, another reality available.; 12/7/16, 8:55 AM
Roughcoat said...: Chicago is not a majority-black city, nowhere near. It's my understanding that the city is divided 30/30/30 between whites, blacks, and Hispanics. Please correct if I'm wrong about that. In any case, what I'm right about, is that there are huge swaths -- in Chicago we call them "neighborhoods," LOL -- that are all white or nearly all white or majority white. Not surprisingly, these are for the most part very pleasant neighborhoods, very peaceable and tranquil and lacking in violence. That's the Chicago way: neighborhoods that totally different from each other. The good neighborhoods of great old houses and good apartment stock, lots of trees -- they're indistinguisable from the leafy suburb where I live. I'd live in one of them if the taxes in Chicago weren't so high. But in my suburb I have much more house for my money than I could ever get in Chicago, with a back yard and much lower taxes, much lower overall cost of living -- and I can own firearms. Also, most of the people who live in my suburb are either Irish-Catholic refugees or the children of Irish-Catholic refugees who fled the Irish neighborhoods in Chicago (e.g., Englewood and Marquette Park, to name but a few) when they were destroyed by the unscrupulous block-busting techniques of the late 20th century. Those neighborhoods are now black or Mexican, overrun by gangs and gang warfare and drugs, and torn by violence. As for me in my cozy western suburb -- it's like I'm living in a throwback of a good old Chicago Irish-Catholic neighborhood in the 1950s. Which is a very good thing indeed.; 12/7/16, 9:01 AM
Original Mike said...: "Obama ignored this catastrophe unfolding in his adopted home town for nearly a decade."

He couldn't use it to cudgel his enemies.; 12/7/16, 9:04 AM
ga6 said...: "Baltimore is worse on a per capita basis"

But we will catch up!! We are tired of this "Second City" status. A new States Attorney was just sworn in; a Mosby look and sound alike. He first statement was to announce she was re-opening a Police corruption case years old with the Officers already convicted and in prison. No mention of dead black children

The Chief Cook County pol, Ms Perwinkle has been on a four year crusade to empty the Cook County jail, they just started to tear down three of the buildings there with two more on the way out; I Bonds for everyone. The Cook County Sheriff Mr Dart agrees with her and like to host cookie parties for the existing inmates.

The current Mayor has budgeted millions to enforce his version of a sanctuary city and said he will not cooperate with the Feds in these matters.

The Police Department is smaller by at least 2000 bodies from the turn of the century. Hiring is a problems because not enough people apply who can pass a background check and drug test. So the "experts" are no pressing for the city to ignore criminal convictions and drug use. This was tried in the past 112 years in Washington DC and New Orleans, did not work too well (google/bing are your friends)

The city has been filling the manning shortages for the past ten years with
voluntary overtime at time and an half or forced cancellations of regular days off at time and a half. The city requirement that Police and Fire live inside the city limits aids in the filling of the manpower shortages, you have kids and care you send them to Private School, so the overtime pays their tuition.

I will not touch on the morale issues, take too long. But one example: a West Side congressman had a teen age nephew who was killed in a drive by last month. The side of his office building was/is decorated with a mural saluting "Chairman Fred".
Fred Hampton founder of the Black Panther party.; 12/7/16, 9:16 AM
Guildofcannonballs said...: You people have learned nothing.

LBJ ruined it, and you bet that honkey ass of yours Trump is gonna fix it.

"Derp derp POTUS is impotent and no constitutional authority derp derp."

OBAMA IS OVER, GET THIS THROUGH YOUR THICK SKULL.

While you people were bitching about Taft, Buckley founded a movement. It wasn't shit neither.

That time, indeed having now passed, is what allows us our chance to build non-shit movements AND I INTEND TO DO SO IN EARNEST.

You shall follow in glowing admiration of my devotion to Christian principles.

Lucky sob.; 12/7/16, 9:28 AM
Brando said...: "That doesn't work as well anymore. My sister still lives there and I grew up there. The black gangsters are now spreading out into white and mixed middle class neighborhoods because that's where the money and stuff worth stealing is."

I'll second that. I don't live in DC anymore but follow the local news closely and a lot of places that were long gentrified (we're talking Foggy Bottom/Georgetown and the better parts of Cap Hill) have been plagued by roving marauding "kids" (not the toddler kind--these "kids" can pack a wallop) committing violent assaults and robberies. Now attacks on Metro are even happening during morning rush hour--something unthinkable just a few years ago.

As I said above, I don't know if there really is a solution anymore--more effective policing would be nice, and of course I'd also as a private citizen be allowed to defend myself, but when the criminals are ascendant and the normals live in fear, the city goes back to rot. Sucks, but such is the situation when the violent run wild.; 12/7/16, 9:36 AM
Paul Snively said...: Glen Loury defending Trump, and John McWhorter defending violent anti-Trump protests.

Gotta admit, I didn't see either of those coming. And as a fan of Dr. McWhorter's, it saddens me to say it's considerably diminished my respect for him.; 12/7/16, 9:48 AM
n.n said...: Moral, natural, and personal imperatives. Go forth and reconcile. There is no other Choice.; 12/7/16, 9:50 AM
David Begley said...: Brando

Charles Bronson has a solution.; 12/7/16, 9:55 AM
Darrell said...: So the PoPo are the ones killing people in Chicago? Did not know that. . .; 12/7/16, 9:58 AM
Francisco D said...: Freder,

The murder rate has been declining across the country for over 20 years due to demographic changes and stricter sentencing guidelines. Chicago seems to be fighting against that trend.; 12/7/16, 10:00 AM
Brando said...: "Charles Bronson has a solution."

He does! Though I'm not counting on the arresting detective being like Vincent Gardenia and letting him quietly take his business to another city (didn't he go to Chicago at the end of the first movie? I forget).

I'm in the 'burbs now, but I've seen news reports of carjackings in Baltimore (and sometimes we have to go into the city) even with one victim being a city councilwoman. I'd like to see my state change its gun laws to something more reasonable than "hope the thugs also follow out strict gun laws and also that they won't find some other way to prey on those physically weaker or less brutal than them".; 12/7/16, 10:12 AM
Thorley Winston said...: I agree with Clyde, TreeJoe and Tarrou. This is primarily a local and cultural problem. It will change only when the people who live there decide to fix it themselves.; 12/7/16, 10:21 AM
Anonymous said...: Brando said...
"Why not outlaw shooting guns in Chicago?"

Better to smash the trigger finger of everyone found will an illegal weapon.

That was the old English legend, that the French used to cut the first 2 fingers off of each English/Welsh Archer they captured to prevent them from pulling another bow. Hence, the legend of Agincourt, that the English Archers saluted the French Knights with what we now call the V for Victory symbol. "Hehe hoho, You rich froggy twerps, see we still gots our fingers, so step right up, this bodkin's got your name on it"; 12/7/16, 10:21 AM
Anonymous said...: AllenS said...
Maybe gang bangers should be taught how to shoot better. That just might speed up the process of eliminating gang bangers.

Times, they are a changin, hey Allen?

In our day, the brothers got several weeks of intensive marksmanship training from a professional like me, then a 12 month practicum, provided by a local VC Regiment...

Now the Bro's don't even know how to hold an M1911A1 up and down, much less practice good trigger control.; 12/7/16, 10:25 AM
Paul said...: Well now you see why Obama and the Democrats have abandoned the blacks for the Mexicans.

Soon the blacks won't be much of a minority and thus the Dems want to shift to a new 'victim' group cause there are more votes to be had!

Bye bye blacks. Dems have a new plantation.; 12/7/16, 10:27 AM
Gahrie said...: The second thing Trump should do after being sworn in is to tell Ben Carson that he wants the welfare rules changed immediately so that they reward two parent families instead of punishing them.

The first is to sign an executive order immediately repealing all of Obama's executive orders.; 12/7/16, 10:44 AM
Ipso Fatso said...: Chicago does not have a gun problem. Chicago has a black males with guns problem. For 2015, 79% of those murdered (402 out of a total of 502) in the city were black with the overwhelming majority killed by their fellow blacks. Blacks make up 33% of the population as do whites. In the same year 18 whites were murdered or 3.7% of the total.

Why is it that a significant percentage of black males need to solve their differences using violence? I don't know the answer to that question but it is a question that is not being asked by the black community and their media and academic enablers.; 12/7/16, 10:57 AM
Seeing Red said...: Beirut By The Lake II.; 12/7/16, 11:07 AM
Seeing Red said...: Jane Byrne had a solution.; 12/7/16, 11:09 AM
Michael K said...: it is a question that is not being asked by the black community and their media and academic enablers.

They don't want to know the answer. I grew up in Chicago and have previously related my story of socializing with young back guys when I was 18. We had no problems and I was never in fear. I would not dream of doing that now.

Johnson and the War on Poverty destroyed the black family, which was still intact in the 1950s.

The young back men running loose in the "inner city" are feral animals raised with no competent male models.

The black kids who want to go to school and make something of themselves are prey in those schools. That's why vouchers would help.; 12/7/16, 11:13 AM
Brando said...: "That was the old English legend, that the French used to cut the first 2 fingers off of each English/Welsh Archer they captured to prevent them from pulling another bow. Hence, the legend of Agincourt, that the English Archers saluted the French Knights with what we now call the V for Victory symbol. "Hehe hoho, You rich froggy twerps, see we still gots our fingers, so step right up, this bodkin's got your name on it""

I like that legend, though read somewhere (Snopes?) that in reality the French just executed archers they caught because as poor men they weren't worth the ransom and even if they couldn't hold an arrow they'd still be able to hold spears and be too dangerous to let free. But I like the idea that the two fingered salute coming from the 100 yrs war.

Not that I'll ever be Mayor but my solution is after first violent crime, the thug gets hands smashed with a hammer. If they can still mug with broken hands, the second offense gets one leg smashed. If they can still mug with broken hands and hopping on one foot, then they get to be the new mayor because that's pretty impressive.

I'm sure the city council will have problems with me appointing a crippled mugger to be the mayor, but I doubt they'd have the nerve to tell him.; 12/7/16, 11:14 AM
Michael K said...: Not that I'll ever be Mayor but my solution is after first violent crime, the thug gets hands smashed with a hammer.

I like the "Casino" treatment of cheaters at blackjack. That seems to work pretty well.; 12/7/16, 11:42 AM
Roughcoat said...: Remember, the French won the Hundred Years War. The English lost. Badly.

There's a lesson in there somewhere.; 12/7/16, 11:49 AM
Brando said...: "I like the "Casino" treatment of cheaters at blackjack. That seems to work pretty well."

I liked the second guy who very quickly decided he'd rather give up his winnings and keep both hands. Brutal, but hey--you don't cheat a mobbed up casino. It's the first thing they teach you in cheating school.; 12/7/16, 11:50 AM
Brando said...: "Remember, the French won the Hundred Years War. The English lost. Badly.

There's a lesson in there somewhere."

Yes, no land wars in Asia. Very, very far western Asia!; 12/7/16, 11:50 AM
holdfast said...: I read an article some time ago that said that 10 or 20 years ago there was a big, and generally successful, push in Chicago to arrest and convict the leadership of the big gangs. The result was a much more fractured collage of smaller gangs that are always in competition for territory, and with few mature "cooler heads" who would rather let slide a "dis" than risk business losses. Hence at least part of the increase in violence.

Found it:

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/the_next_20/2016/09/is_chicago_s_ghastly_murder_rate_the_result_of_its_1990s_anti_gang_policies.html

Also, I feel like @Laslo / @Lamar is sort of phoning in the patois - needs more "y'all"s and tothe uses of apostrophes.; 12/7/16, 11:53 AM
Brando said...: "I read an article some time ago that said that 10 or 20 years ago there was a big, and generally successful, push in Chicago to arrest and convict the leadership of the big gangs. The result was a much more fractured collage of smaller gangs that are always in competition for territory, and with few mature "cooler heads" who would rather let slide a "dis" than risk business losses. Hence at least part of the increase in violence."

Interesting--to the extent it is gang related and not random violence, there's something to be said for the stability of gang control. Good business requires less violence.; 12/7/16, 11:56 AM
Roughcoat said...: you don't cheat a mobbed up casino. It's the first thing they teach you in cheating school.

They should also teach you not to rob an Outfit kingpin's house.

Case in point: The crew that robbed Tony Arcardo's home.

Fate: Faces blow-torched off ... before [brutally] executed.

Question: What were they thinking?!; 12/7/16, 11:57 AM
Bay Area Guy said...: I'm interested now in SOLUTIONS and, frankly, I don't give a damn where they come from.

Here's some solution for American blacks:

1. Stop voting Democrat en masse. This is a political mistake. Dems take you for granted, GOP doesn't need or try to help you.

2. Support school vouchers. Fight for them.

3. Stop focusing on racism as the source of your problem. It once was a terrible problem, but so much progress has been made, that it's no longer a big problem.

4. Culturally, re-dedicate the institution of marriage.

5. Culturally, re-dedicate the role of fathers in kids' lives

6. Culturally, move away from gangster rap, drug use, ghetto mentality.

7. Shift affirmative-action from admitting less qualified blacks to prestigious schools (where they often can't compete and drop out) to helping black high school kids study and graduate.

8. Stigmatize gangs, trouble-makers, criminals, men who father lots of kids.

9. Embrace hard work and capitalism.

These suggestions, if adopted over time, would produce tons of benefits within the black community, in my opinion.; 12/7/16, 12:01 PM
Lyle Smith said...: Amen and God bless Glenn Loury... he's come a long way from arguing with that UPenn law professor, on BHTV, who writes about the reality of black crime and violence.; 12/7/16, 12:06 PM
mikee said...: One might look for the return, under a Republican president, of large puppets carried by antiwar protesters, poor race relations being the fault of the federal government, and the economy being bad. These three things have not been seen for 8 years now.

Like the swallows to Capistrano, the theater of outrage returns.; 12/7/16, 12:12 PM
Gahrie said...: One might look for the return, under a Republican president, of large puppets carried by antiwar protesters, poor race relations being the fault of the federal government, and the economy being bad. These three things have not been seen for 8 years now.

Poverty and homelessness will suddenly become big news beginning in January also.; 12/7/16, 12:19 PM
Gahrie said...: Not that I'll ever be Mayor but my solution is after first violent crime, the thug gets hands smashed with a hammer. If they can still mug with broken hands, the second offense gets one leg smashed. If they can still mug with broken hands and hopping on one foot, then they get to be the new mayor because that's pretty impressive.

How Islamic of you........; 12/7/16, 12:22 PM
mccullough said...: There were 480 homicides and 2900 shootings in Chicago in 2015.

About 90% of this violence is gang related. The police solve about 25% of homicides the last few years but know who the perpetrators are. When gang members kill bystanders, then the police put pressure on the gangs to give up the shooter. Otherwise, its mutual combatants shooting and killing each other.; 12/7/16, 12:33 PM
Martin said...: 2 observations, by a lifelong Chicagoan.

1. Obama also ignored it for 4 years as a US Senator and 6 as an Illinois State Senator. So, not merely 8 years, more like 18 years. During which time much of the current problem was created by badly conceived housing policies that Obama supported.

2. Some local politicians are in bed with the gangs, who provide money, muscle, and GOTV assistance at election time. Yes, the police often know who are the perps, but they do not hold back on their own volition as mccullough writes in an earlier comment, it's only when a sympathetic innocent gets killed that the pols feel the pressure and let the cops do their jobs. Chicago Mag had a good expose back in early 2012, iirc, and nothing has changed for the better.; 12/7/16, 1:13 PM
Meade said...: "Glen Loury defending Trump, and John McWhorter defending violent anti-Trump protests."

If John McWhorter has ever defended violent protests or violence of any sort, I missed it.; 12/7/16, 1:37 PM
Alex said...: So is this Bloods vs Crips type of thing?; 12/7/16, 1:44 PM
Paul Snively said...: Meade: If John McWhorter has ever defended violent protests or violence of any sort, I missed it.

It's certainly possible that we heard this differently.; 12/7/16, 3:02 PM
Sam L. said...: Not to mention all the black babies aborted this year.; 12/7/16, 3:30 PM
Meade said...: Paul, McWhorter defends violent protest? Can you give me a specific point during the diavlog with Loury? I can't find it.; 12/7/16, 4:02 PM
walter said...: Guildofcannonballs said..OBAMA IS OVER, GET THIS THROUGH YOUR THICK SKULL.
--
Pretty rich from the "Bush's fault" side of things.; 12/7/16, 4:31 PM
wildswan said...: The Ferguson effect led to a sharp increase in the number of murders in many large cities. In cities where police pulled back from policing streets as BLM wanted and became 911 responders, the murder rate rose sharply within the last few years among inner city blacks. Unless the trend is reversed there will soon be more murders per year than there were in the 1990's. But no big city Democratic politician will acknowledge this. Because power and position matter to them, not black lives.

Heather MacDonald has documented all this. The increase in murders was caused by a change in policing enforced by the Justice Department, a change which liberals wanted and it goes on because as usual the liberals are ignoring the consequences of their policies. I hope that Trump, and Jeff Sessions can at least reverse the trend. Ben Carson could then work on jobs.; 12/7/16, 4:52 PM
Paul Snively said...: Meade: Can you give me a specific point during the diavlog with Loury?

Literally? No; that would be really weird, and I certainly don't think Dr. McWhorter would explicitly condone that sort of evil. I mean, more generally, that I formed the impression that he's aware of the violence at these protests, and seemed more concerned with supporting the legitimacy of the protests than with condemning the violence. At least, so it seems to me.

Now, to be fair, there certainly is the risk of subjecting the legitimate protest Dr. McWhorter wishes to defend to the "heckler's veto" of legitimate, but indiscriminate, concern about a violent minority co-opting such protest, and it may very well be that if Dr. McWhorter had said something that struck me as more to that effect, I'd feel differently about his comments. But you go to interpretation with the text you have.; 12/7/16, 5:25 PM
Kirk Parker said...: Roughcoat,

Surely under current IL law, people living inside Chicago city limits have the same gun rights as elsewhere in the state... don't they?; 12/7/16, 5:46 PM
Michael K said...: They should also teach you not to rob an Outfit kingpin's house.

Case in point: The crew that robbed Tony Arcardo's home.

I would hate to be the guys who kidnapped Steve Wynn's daughter a few years ago. They went to prison but I wonder if anyone has hard from hem since they got out.; 12/7/16, 7:58 PM
Jupiter said...: "The election is over. And, the body count mounts. I'm interested now in SOLUTIONS..."

I suspect that if Chicago passed a law against being a member of a gang, and enforced it by throwing all the gangsters in prison for very long terms, that would solve the problem. Of course, the American judicial system would not allow that. Some of the many fine attorneys Althouse has trained would nip that in the bud.

So, I guess the question is, what are the solutions that are consistent with the requirement that we treat black people as if they behave just like everybody else? Of course, there are no such solutions. They don't.; 12/7/16, 8:15 PM
Michael K said...: "what are the solutions that are consistent with the requirement that we treat black people as if they behave just like everybody else? Of course, there are no such solutions. They don't."

Vouchers and private schools (Catholic in Chicago) would help a lot. There are mothers and a few fathers who want black kids to do well in schools and make something of themselves.

What ever happened to reform schools? Why not take these budding gangsters and put them in a military-like facility with high fences and either teach them to behave or let them kill each other ?

There are too many politicians pandering to this element. Trump might attract a serious black following if he adopted some positions like this.; 12/7/16, 9:26 PM
Francisco D said...: Michael K,

I am glad that you are back on this site, as I am happy that the trolls have abated, now that the election is truly over.

-Former Rogers Park and Lincoln Park kid; 12/7/16, 9:46 PM
Bad News Billy said...: 1. Stop the insanity of ridiculous anti-gun laws and let the people be able tp protect themselves.
2. Ask the parents when they are going to start to bring up their children as their grandparents (maybe) did rather than let the government do a piss poor job? This is the real root cause.; 12/8/16, 6:31 AM
JCC said...: @ holdfast -

There is, of course, a flaw in that article from Slate (shocking, I know). The murder rate while Chicago was supposedly being controlled by just a few, centralized and powerful gangs, was higher than it is now, possible excepting 2016. But throughout the intervening years of fractured gangs - because the leadership was imprisoned - murders were down from the pre-gang leadership focus of law enforcement. So that's just Slate spouting off in a typical criticism of the (supposedly) monolithic power structure.

Crime rates tend to be cyclic. Crimes, especially messy, public crimes of violence go up or maybe drug OD deaths spike. Eventually, the public becomes fed up and demands action. Elected officials yield to public opinion, pass some laws, fund some agencies, redirect others with management changes, and voila! Crime goes down as prison populations go up.

You'll know this is happening when police agency heads stop talking about "diversity" and "fairness", and instead, the rhetoric is about enforcing laws and locking people up. Chicago is still about being a sanctuary city, or "curing poverty", about black lives matter (because...cops), not really about the slaughter in the black community yet. They'll get there sooner or later, or the wealthy and middle classes will abandon the city center.

@ Kirk Parker -

"people living inside Chicago city limits have the same gun rights..."

I don't know if your question was serious. In Chicago, even off-duty police going to court cannot carry a firearm uness they're in uniform. The ban on firearms within Chicago is absolute, except for on-duty law enforcement and the tiny number of carry-permitted.; 12/8/16, 7:23 AM
Rusty said...: Michael K said...
They should also teach you not to rob an Outfit kingpin's house.

Case in point: The crew that robbed Tony Arcardo's home.

I went to through high school with the son of Tony Arcardo's chauffer. His dad was a very nice, funny and generous man. Who looked and talked like you'd expect an outfit enforcer to look and talk. There are still a few blocks in Melrose Park where you can be questioned for just being in the neighborhood.; 12/8/16, 7:45 AM
TMLutas said...: Second City Cop is a must read blog for understanding why Chicago's security situation is so dysfunctional. There are a lot of different things wrong in Chicago that created the current bloodbath.

http://secondcitycop.blogspot.com; 12/8/16, 8:57 AM
kevino said...: And, yes, I plan to send a letter with the details as soon as Trump takes the oath of office:

If you really want to reduce the level of violence, there is a simple solution. It doesn't tread on anyone's Constitutional rights, and it doesn't require new laws. History shows that it worked well in Boston and New York City (before "stop and frisk"). It works like this: (1) find probable cause (which is easy); (2) arrest of firearms possession; (3) the offender will almost always be a felon; and (4) prosecute in Federal court, where the penalty for a felon in possession of a firearm is a ten year mandatory sentence. The overwhelming majority of the firearms homicides are related to the drug trade or gangs. Prosecuting for drug trafficking is very difficult, while getting felons on firearms possession is very easy. And it's effective: Boston and NYC had high levels of violet crime in areas controlled by gangs. Putting their foot-soldiers away for ten years caused the gangs to melt like snow.

There is only one problem with this: putting violent offenders behind bars in not popular with many politicians. Certain politicians prefer to make deals with the gangs. After all, the best way to stay elected is to keep the blood flowing in the streets to keep the citizenry sufficiently frightened. And some politicians are simply opposed to imprisoning people who vote for them -- no matter how violent those individuals may be. Better to talk about phony solutions, like re-implementing the failed gun control laws of the past.; 12/8/16, 11:47 AM
Bad Lieutenant said...: Jupiter said...
"The election is over. And, the body count mounts. I'm interested now in SOLUTIONS..."

Kill: two-man teams
Capture: four-man teams; 12/8/16, 3:30 PM
Bad Lieutenant said...: Hey Lamar,

Okay, but only the fat ones, and no redheads.

Deal?; 12/8/16, 4:05 PM