How Goes America The Bad And The Yearned-For?

"After George Floyd's murder a year ago, Atlanta’s mayor scolded the rioters who were smashing up parts of her city. “This is not a protest…This is chaos,” Keisha Lance Bottoms said. “If you care about this city, then go home.” The speech was so well pitched that some overexcited pundits wondered whether she might one day run for president. One year on, Ms Lance Bottoms has declined even to run for re-election as mayor, in part because Atlanta is suffering from a violent-crime wave which she has been unable to calm. One affluent neighbourhood is keen to secede from the city altogether."

"What is true in Atlanta is also true in other American cities. Property crimes are down, but violent crime has risen. Murders increased by about 30% between 2019 and 2020, a rise that shows little sign of slowing. This change puts at risk what has been perhaps the most benign social trend in America so far this century: the great crime decline. It also threatens liberal reforms."

The Economist

 

Major urban centres in the United States, most of them under Democratic governments are recording murder rates at unprecedented numbers. And there are fears that the rates may continue to mount and accelerate over the summer months in lock-step with the receding of pandemic restrictions. New York City saw its murder rate rise 45 percent last year -- a rate that has since steadily increased. The murder rate in Atlanta went skyward by 60 percent in 2021.

 

In the country, 275 mass shootings have taken place thus far in 2021 representing a 40 percent rise over a like period the year before. Ten of those mass shootings have taken place in Chicago alone. And many cities have fresh memories of violent social clashes, torchings and looting that took place last summer, causing billions in damages to retail establishments and government facilities. Police forces all over the country are in wary contemplation of a renewal of that social dysfunction in violent public disorder.

 

"Defund the police" demands echoed everywhere in the wake of the death of George Floyd. Violent street protests took place across the country, incited by the movement for Black Lives Matter, unleashing civil disobedience events and criminally violent physical attacks to round out the shrill accusations of systemic, ongoing racism. Black Lives Matter was on a roll, publicly supported by Congressional Democrats lending it heft and legitimacy.

 

In many urban centres black mayors and black police chiefs presided over the violence in a triple-bind of duty, past injustices and the 'woke' public mood. In some urban centres police see the benefits of early retirement, while others pursue the 'do less policing' potential inherent in countering public distrust and disdain alongside threats of public violence aimed directly at police. 

The stridently vocal left wing of the Democratic party exerts its influence on the governing Democratic White House openly advocating police defunding in response to their views of police as "systematically racist". This, while the violence and negative acting-out issues impact largely on the poorer black communities who voted for the Democratic nominee for president. Gun ownership has been targeted by the Biden administration as a solution to the murderous violence roiling America's streets.

 

After demonstrations like this there was a deliberate drawback of policing.  CNN

 

Inconvenient truths such as Chicago having the most stringent gun control laws and regulations in the country, yet it is the epicentre of the bloody crime wave, is largely ignored. And then there is the Democratic journey to reverse all the initiatives taken by the predecessor Republican government under Donald Trump, and two issues; 'the wall', and the surging influx of migrants and refugee claimants at the Mexican border are front and centre.

Illegal migrants game the American asylum process, and in addressing the issue of burgeoning illegals melting into the general U.S. population, Trump as president shut everything down. And then President Biden turned it back on, suspending the "Remain in Mexico" policy of the Trump administration that sought to prevent asylum claims without merit. With the wall construction stopped, would-be refugee claimants considered those changes represented a hearty welcome to their prospects.

Enthusiastic new contingents of would-be refugees from Mexico, Central America, Venezuela, Cuba and even Europe and Nigeria have swelled the ranks of the migrant-minded. Now, being swamped with migrants has resulted in mass apprehensions; 173,358 in March; 178,622 in April; and 180,034 in May. Closing in on a million since January; historically unprecedented numbers beyond which are those who successfully escaped apprehension.

Single males, unaccompanied children escorted to the border by "coyotes" are fulfilling the "open border" approach the Democrats have espoused. Although some of their humanitarian impulses are aimed directly at convincing segments of the population that a vote for Democrats is an assurance of a kinder, freer America, the message doesn't always resonate; Large numbers of Hispanic residents in Texas border cities tend to support "law and order" mayoralty candidates of the Republican breed.

 

Chicago police officers investigate an officer-involved shooting outside its 25th district station  

Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune via Getty Images

"The increase in homicides is large and widespread enough to raise serious alarms for criminologists and other experts. So what’s going on?"

"Some experts have cited the protests over the police killings of George Floyd and others — which could’ve had a range of effects, from officers pulling back from their duties to greater community distrust in police, leading to more unchecked violence. Others point to the bad economy."

"Another potential factor is a huge increase in gun purchases this year. Still others posit boredom and social displacement as a result of physical distancing leading people to cause more trouble."

Vox