On a vacant block in the neighbourhood of Englewood, Chicago, 43 crosses represent 43 murders since January 1.
On each cross is a victim’s name, a person whose life was taken in a city accustomed to violence but never on this scale.
The Windy City is making a strong case for the unenviable title of America’s deadliest, overtaking other well-known crime capitals including St Louis, Detroit and New Orleans.
Just last weekend six people were killed and 47 more took a bullet but survived.
Among them was a 12-year-old girl who was centimetres from certain death when a bullet grazed her head, and a 16-year-old boy who was also lucky to live through a bullet that penetrated his neck.
Greg Zanis created a memorial on a vacant block in Chicago. Picture: Scott Olson/Getty Images
It’s little wonder Donald Trump keeps talking about Chicago. On Wednesday, during his first television interview since taking office as America’s 45th president, Mr Trump warned he would do “what he has to” to “fix the problem”.
That might include doing something rarely seen in America where cities tend to govern themselves. The president could send in the National Guard.
“I will send in what we have to send in,” he told ABC News’ David Muir in a wide-ranging interview.
“I want them to fix the problem. You can’t have thousands of people being shot in a city, in a country that I happen to be president of.”
Thousands is correct. And it wasn’t always that way. In fact, the rise in shootings and homicides jumped dramatically between 2015 and 2016, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Two years ago, there were 480 murders and 2964 shooting victims in Chicago. In 2016, there were 762 murders and 4338 shooting victims. Other notable statistics illustrate just how bad the situation has become.
On August 8, nine people were shot and killed, including a 10-year-old boy. It was Chicago’s single deadliest day. The city also recorded its deadliest month in 23 years in 2016.
Mr Trump’s focus on Chicago is in line with the “law and order” platform he campaigned hard on. He promised to reign in gun-related crime and during his first week he appears to be following through with that promise.
While Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said he’d welcome the assistance, others say Chicago is being unfairly maligned, arguing the sheer number of murders is naturally skewed to reflect poorly on Illinois’ biggest city because it’s one of the country’s most heavily populated — it is home to more than 2.7 million people.
FBI crime data shows that during the first half of 2016 there were 317 murders in Chicago compared to just 88 in St Louis, Missouri and 137 in Baltimore, Maryland.
But when the shootings are calculated as a rate per 100,000 people, Chicago ranked outside the top 10 with a murder rate of 11.6/100k compared to St Louis’ 27.75/100k and Baltimore’s 22.05/100k.
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park is a major tourist attraction in Chicago, an increasingly violent city.
While Mr Trump made it clear he wants to send in reinforcements, it’s not clear who that would be.
Heather MacDonald, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute, wrote in the Wall Street Journal that the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration are already embedded in Chicago where they work closely with authorities. Leaving only the National Guard outstanding.
Ms MacDonald said taking such a dramatic step would be a mistake.
“Doing so would require the declaration of a national or state emergency,” she said.
“However gruesome the bloodshed, there is little precedent for mobilising the National Guard to quell criminal gang violence.”
Chicago is first on Donald Trump’s list but it’s far from the only city where violence rules and law enforcement is stretched too thin.
As the new president narrows his focus on the Windy City, tweeting about his shock at the rising death toll and threatening a heavy-handed response, the rest of the country is watching and waiting.
Their city may be next. |
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