Posted on 05/30/2022 4:48:55 AM PDT by blam
In the first week of May there were six homicides in Jackson, Mississippi. How many more will there be before the end of the month?
Last year Jackson had the highest homicide rate of any city in America, with 155 homicides. To put that grisly statistic in perspective, that was about the same number of homicides as happened in Atlanta, a city with almost four times the population.
As a recent arrival in the city, what shocks me is not the murder rate, but the attitude of those who make endless excuses for it.
Some officials invoke that catch-all excuse for every failure, Covid. Homicide rates did increase at the same time that there was a pandemic, but correlation is not causation. I am unconvinced that the virus somehow made people more violent.
Some of the Mississippi media seem desperate to avoid being seen to blame Jackson’s city leadership. Rather like the failure to provide the city with running water, everything but the city leadership is held responsible. Why? It does a disservice to Jackson residents.
Honest reporting should hold to account those making bad public policy choices today, and not insist on looking at everything that happens in Mississippi in 2022 through the prism of a distant past.
There is far too much wishful thinking when it comes to crime. If only, some imply, we had one more rehabilitation program or enacted another bill that purported to help ex-offenders all would be okay. Sadly, good intentions don’t cut crime. Being honest about the causes of crime might.
Responsibility for crime lies with criminals. Responsibility for failing to deal with criminals rests with those public officials mandated to run the criminal justice system.
Next time there is another killing, Jackson’s leaders will do what they always do. They will emote about it. What we need to hear instead is what they will actually do.
Here are five specific actions they could take that would cut crime in Jackson:
1.More police: Despite the often heroic efforts of individual law enforcement officers, there are simply not enough of them.
2.Prosecute: No matter how effective the police are at chasing suspects through the streets, there are serious failings when it comes to pursuing them through the courts. Who in Jackson has not heard stories of suspects being allowed to walk free?
3.Detention: The failure to have enough detention capacity in Hinds County is outrageous. Build it.
4.Clear the courts: The bureaucratic backlog in the courts is perhaps the single biggest impediment to effective justice. Clear the backlog of cases. If those that administer the court system can’t cope, bring in administrators that can.
5.Work with the state: Every city likes to manage its own affairs. I get that. But the state capital ought to be able to team up with state-wide officials, police forces and prosecutors to tackle a problem that impacts us all.
I live and work in Jackson – and I love to call this city home. Jackson might seem caught in downward spiral, but every city has the power to regenerate itself.
New York in the early 80s seemed caught in a spiral of decline. But the city revived once it got a grip on crime. The key to Jackson’s future is to follow this example.
ANY article about crime and murder in Jackson MS that doesn’t discuss the demographics of the city is ignoring the real reason for the problem. 82 percent black, 16 percent white. Add to that a mayor with the name Chokwe Antar Lumumba and I think we have the reason for the crime nailed down.
Likely more than 90% of the victims are of that group and near 100% of the trigger pulles.
“and the current mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, the son of longtime activist Chokwe Lumumba (formerly Edwin Finley Taliaferro, before changing his name after joining the Republic of New Afrika), who was mayor before he died.”
I just read a bit about New Afrika and the founders goal to make it a new separate black country.
I could easily go along with that, provided whites get their own 95%+ white country and keep it that way.
It’s become more than obvious that this dysfunctional interracial marriage isn’t working, has never worked and will never work. We’re constantly at each other’s throat.
Better for each side to go their separate ways
I don’t agree. Most black folks I know want the same things everybody else wants. It’s the professional grievance lobby that makes you think that all blacks are like that.
Post above says 82%. Close!
Because Republicans aren’t even trying to get their vote. Donald Trump did more for black outreach than any other Republican president in the past 100 years. However, the Swamp Republicans look at black people the same way they look at us Deplorables...that we’re “icky”.
“I don’t agree. Most black folks I know want the same things everybody else wants.”
Most blacks you interact with are not the average black. You’re making the common mistake of making the exception the rule
Wanting the same thing and how you go about getting them, and having the ability to get them, is the key distinction.
You want a smart phone and so does some Thug from the hood - wanting the same thing is a poor criteria for judging people.
“It’s the professional grievance lobby that makes you think that all blacks are like that.”
No disagreement there. And no I don’t think ALL blacks are like that, but unfortunately a very large portion are - they are “over-represented” in that regard, to use today’s euphemism.
But you have to ask yourself, why do such grievance lobbies exist in the first place. What grievances are they trying to address? And what is the ultimate source of those grievances. And can they really fix them?
The answers are in “The Bell Curve”.
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