Back in June, President Trump used Twitter to officially announce America’s urban crisis.
He hit the ground running calling out the death and destruction in Chicago.
Trump made it clear that he was “sending in Federal help” to contain the dying city.
Crime and killings in Chicago have reached such epidemic proportions that I am sending in Federal help. 1714 shootings in Chicago this year!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 30, 2017
Since then, Trump’s focus has transitioned on to an international stage with North Korea’s ‘rocket man’ in a war of words battle.
The geopolitical tensions on the Korean Peninsula and elsewhere have distracted this administration from conquering the real out of control war on city streets.
According to The Daily Caller, Baltimore‘s homicide rate is now doubled Chicago’s in 2017.
Essentially, residents in Baltimore are twice as likely to be shot than Chicagoans. As the battlefield continues to expand, President Trump has yet to mention the chaos in Baltimore just 38 miles North of the White House.
As The Daily Caller points out, the soaring violence in Baltimore is occurring in a much smaller city of 621,000, when compared to Chicago of 2,700,000.
Chicago has suffered 503 gun homicides so far in 2017. With a population of over 2.7 million, the gun homicide rate is at just over 18 people per 100,000 residents.
Baltimore, however, has suffered 275 gun homicides with a population of just over 621,000, putting the homicide rate at more than 44 per 100,000.
The city is on track to break its all-time murder record originally set in 1992, when Baltimore had 100,000 more residents.
The author made a very interesting point, both cities are “long-standing Democratic strongholds”. Not surprising, Baltimore hasn’t had a republican mayor since 1947 and or voted Republican in a presidential election since 1956. On top of failed liberal policies, de-industrialization has stripped the cities of productivity and forced an alarming inequality gap in education, jobs, health, and wealth of residents.
For example, Baltimore has a population of 621,000 and out of that 63% are African American. In highlights below, 1/3 of the African American population has a net worth of zero, which equates to 130,000 residents. Opportunity for most citizens in the city are limited giving way to violent crime and an explosion in homicides.
Ever since the increased scrutiny of police following the 2014 shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri has led to an increased crime rate in both Baltimore and Chicago. In particular, Baltimore’s police department is under heavy scrutiny for planting drugs at crime scenes.
As the social contract between residents and police crack, this gives way to the ‘Ferguson effect’ of increased turmoil in inner cities.
Shown by The Economist, the Ferguson effect demonstrates how homicides in Baltimore have surged…
Perhaps President Trump was on to something in June when he called out Chicago’s urban war zone. Unfortunately, geopolitical tensions on the Korean Peninsula is of a much higher priority to this administration, as the real battlefield on America’s city streets goes unnoticed.
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