The increase in urban violence in the United States is stark in the numbers: the country has the highest number of gun deaths in 25 years. According to a report published this month by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), in 2020, the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, there were 19,350 firearm homicides in the US.
The result is 35% higher than in 2019. It is also the highest level in the last quarter century. According to CDC deputy director Debra Houry, the numbers are “tragically a serious public health problem in the United States.”
The report does not include data for 2021, although organizations such as The Gun Violence Archive speak of a higher number than 2020: about 20,600 firearm deaths last year. And the examples that violence is also advancing in 2022 do not stop appearing in the newspapers.
Violence takes over public spaces
On Sunday, a shooting on the New York subway ended with a 46-year-old man dead after a suspect shot at a train approaching a Manhattan subway station.
Earlier this month, also on the New York subway in Brooklyn, ten people were shot and another 13 suffered from smoke inhalation. At the time, police identified the suspect as a young black man and New York Mayor Eric Adams said the shooting was “a senseless act of violence”.
Also in May, the world was shocked by the death of 10 people in a supermarket in Buffalo, a city in the state of New York and run by Democrat Byron Brown. The establishment is in a neighborhood inhabited mostly by blacks. The victims, all black, were murdered by an 18-year-old white man, who was making racist offenses.
The next day, one person died, four were seriously injured and another was slightly injured in a shooting at a church near Los Angeles in Laguna Woods. All victims are of Taiwanese origin. The suspect in the attack has been identified by police as 68-year-old David Chou. According to investigations, the Chinese immigrant was driven by hatred against the people of Taiwan.
Analysts point to factors that may have worsened the situation in the country: the coronavirus pandemic, the economic crisis, and protests against racism and the death of George Floyd. This latest episode contributed to the decline in policing in cities, especially in those ruled by Democrats. Finally, this may explain the fact that, in different surveys, cities led by the Democratic Party are among the most violent.
Movements led to disinvestment and disrespect for the police
George Floyd was killed in May 2020 in Minneapolis by police officer Derek Chauvin, who knelt on his neck during an approach. The crime has mobilized protests around the world, including calling for a reduction in the power and number of the police. For this reason, Democratic congressmen and senators presented, two weeks after the crime, a bill to reform the police in the United States. Most Democratic cities then cut back on the police budget.
Quickly, the Minneapolis City Council approved the divestment in city security. At the time, the agency’s statement was as follows: “We don’t know what a future without police would be like, but our community does.” Democrat Bill de Blasio, former mayor of New York, also gave in to pressure from social movements and announced that part of the approximately six billion dollars earmarked for policing the city would be reverted to social projects.
The demonstrations calling for peace were held amid shootings near police stations, burnt-out shops and vandalism. At the time, US Attorney General William Barr said: “It appears that the violence is planned, organized and directed by anarchist and far-left groups, using tactics by Antifa (a conglomeration of left-wing groups that call themselves “anti-fascists”) to promote violence”.
It is natural that crimes committed by some police officers favor the leftist banner of weakening police power. But few stories have changed the structure of cities as much as the death of George Floyd, probably for carrying, at the same time, the anti-racist flag.
Armament grew among young blacks and immigrants
A study published by N.National Opinion Research Center, from the University of Chicago, indicated that one in five Americans bought a gun for the first time during the pandemic. The data also show that most of those who now have guns are young and black. The portion of the population that is more likely to be victims of violent crimes is precisely the one that commits the most crimes.
In an article published in Gazeta do Povo in 2020, echoing the demonstrations against the American police after the death of George Floyd, researcher André Luzardo brought evidence that the higher crime rate among blacks is what best explains the higher crime rate. arrest and police victimization of this group, not racism. From the statistics of National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) It’s from Uniform Crime Report (UCR)it showed that the representation of blacks among murderers was 1.9 to 4.1 times higher than in the general population in recent years.
Contrary to what the anti-racist demonstrations called for, then, weakening the police may have been a shot in the foot. This is because, according to Luzardo’s analysis, blacks are 1.13 times more likely to suffer violent crimes than whites and 6 times more likely to be murdered. Among black victims, 93% were killed by other black people.
There was a 56% increase in the number of immigrants arrested
Violence has also increased among immigrants. In October last year, more than 22,000 immigrants were in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers. It was a 56% increase since the beginning of the Biden administration, according to statistics compiled by Syracuse University’s Chamber of Access to Transactional Records. This may indicate that the Democrats’ immigration policy proposals also contributed to the rise in crime in the country.
Democratic cities are among the most violent
According to the FBI’s crime ranking, the city with the most violent crimes between 2020 and 2021 was Atlanta. Led by Democrat Andre Dickens, the city had 31 violent crimes for every 1,000 residents. In second place, with a rate of 18 per thousand people, was Memphis, whose mayor is also Democrat Jim Strickland. In third place, with 16 violent crimes per 1,000 residents was Philadelphia, a city led by Democrat Jim Kenney.
Already according to the list of the Statista Research Department, specifically about the year 2020, Memphis is in the lead, with 2,351 crimes per 100,000 inhabitants. Next comes Detroit, which is headed by Democrat Mike Duggan and has a ratio of 2,178 violent crimes per 100,000 people. St. Louis takes third place, with just over 2,000 violent crimes. In charge of the city is Democrat Tishaura Jones.
Cities follow national guidelines
Democratic agendas in cities are grounded in national priorities. The Biden administration brought, in 2021, bills with a profound impact on cultural and social aspects of the country. As far as immigration is concerned, the president took office by submitting a plan to Congress that provided for American citizenship to 11 million undocumented migrants. And despite the American president having said in 2020 that “the answer is to build trust between the police and the communities; the answer is not to cut police funds”, since he is in power he emphasizes that he prioritizes fighting racism. structural, citing the reform of the country’s police as one of the main paths. What the numbers show, however, is that his speech is not reflected in good numbers.
Since mid-2021, according to a survey by Ipsos (the world’s expert on public opinion), crime has become the number one concern of Americans (32%), ahead of extremism, climate change or debt, more particularly among the Democrats (39%). In addition, Americans said they expect a response from the government: 24% of the population is dissatisfied today, up from just 5% a year ago.
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