(File photo: Joshua Lott/Reuters)
Chicago saw its deadliest weekend of gun violence this
year as protests, riots, and looting continued to rock the city after the death
of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer.
A total of 24 people were killed and at least 61 injured
by gun violence, more than half shot on Sunday. Chicago Police
Superintendent David Brown said that 17 of the gun deaths occurred on Sunday
alone.
The deaths included many younger people, including
several 18-year-olds and victims in their 20s. Among those injured were a
15-year-old and three 17-year-olds.
During the same weekend last year, a much smaller number,
52 people, were injured by guns, eight of whom died. Gun violence in Chicago
also spiked last weekend: 10 people were shot fatally and 39 more were injured
during the city’s deadliest Memorial Day weekend in five years. A 16-year-old
boy was among the victims.
Both peaceful protests and riots broke out in Chicago
during the last week of May in response to the death of Floyd, a black man, who
died in police custody after a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, knelt on
his neck for about nine minutes, including after Floyd passed out. Riots
have continued through both subsequent weekends in several other
metropolitan areas around the country, including New York City, Los Angeles,
Dallas, Seattle, Philadelphia, and Atlanta.
Hundreds were also arrested as rioting continued and
police enforced the city’s curfew.
Last weekend’s gun violence evoked memories of the
demonstrations of 1968, when rioting and looting spread across Chicago after
the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
“The one difference, in ’68 it was by and large the
African American community. In 2020, this is whites and blacks. In fact, there
are more whites than blacks involved in these demonstrations than blacks across
the world,” said Martin Luther King, III, King’s son. “The world has been
impacted by this incident.”
MAIREAD MCARDLE is a
news writer for National Review Online and a graduate of Thomas
Aquinas College. @johnsonhildy
_________________
RELATED
ARTICLE
As
the Nation Deals with George Floyd Unrest, Chicago Had Their Bloodiest Day in
60 Years
By Matt
Vespa | Townhall.com
Well, as the nation is engulfed in rioting over the death
of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis Police, we’re back to the Black
Lives Matter arena of discussion. Yes, Floyd was killed by the police. It’s all
on video. It’s ghastly. The officers were rightfully fired and charged. There
was pretty much universal agreement on that front. Floyd was unarmed, he was
arrested on the suspicion of using counterfeit currency, and somehow that led
to his death. Officer Derek Chauvin, who has been charged with second-degree
murder, while the three other officers were charged with aiding and abetting
second-degree murder. Sorry, there should be protests and anger over this; the
use of force was absurd. Chauvin kept his knee on the back of Floyd’s neck for
nearly ten minutes. But that all went out the door when the riots began. You
can peacefully protest all you want, but the moment you start to target cops,
commit arson, and loot—you’ve lost the moment. It’s time to re-establish law
and order.
And while the nation deals with the rioting, we’ve seen
how feeble Democrats are who run these cities. The mayor of Mill City appeared
to surrender portions for demolition by the mob. In Chicago, well, people
decided to exploit the unrest by committing 18 murders in 24 hours, the
bloodiest day in 60 years (via Fox
News):
Bloody
Chicago recorded 18 murders on May 31, making it the city’s deadliest day in 60
years.
The
dubious milestone was reached on a day Chicago was roiled by another round of
protests and looting following the Memorial Day death of George Floyd in police
custody in Minneapolis.
The
18 deaths tallied by the University of Chicago Crime Lab made May 31, 2020 the
single-most violent day in six decades, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Monday.
The Crime Lab numbers go back only to 1961.
On
May 29 and May 30, there were seven murders. In a city with an international
reputation for crime, the 25 murders on those three days made for the most
violent weekend in Chicago’s modern history, according to the paper.
“We’ve
never seen anything like it, at all,” the crime lab’s senior research director,
Max Kapustin, told the newspaper. “I don’t even know how to put it into
context. It’s beyond anything that we’ve ever seen before.”
Chicago’s next most violent day was Aug. 4, 1991, when 13
murders were recorded.
And yet, there’s probably going to zero outrage over
this, which is typical given that the Windy City has had many bloody holiday
weekends. As soon as summer hits, the city becomes a shooting gallery despite
having some of the most anti-gun laws on the books. And its police department
also has had issues, with the Laquan McDonald shooting that became a scandal
for the Rahm mayoralty when it seemed pretty clear he kept the dashcam footage
buried until after he was re-elected. McDonald was murdered by former Chicago
Police Officer Jason Van Dyke, who was convicted of second-degree murder and
sentenced to nearly seven years in prison.
