The Current Crime Wave Is Unlike Any Ever Experienced in America
LewRockwell
This past week New Orleans reclaimed the title of America’s deadliest city after seeing murders jump 141% over the last couple of years. In New Orleans, the murder rate is a staggering 52 per 100,000 people. That compares to the national average of 6.9, the highest it’s been in a quarter century, and the 50 per 100,000 in Venezuela, the most dangerous country in the world.
If New Orleans were an outlier, it would be a shame; the fact that it’s not is a tragedy. Instead, New York, Chicago, Portland, LA, San Francisco, Philadelphia, and other American cities are part of the club. Crime has been up across America over the last two years, in most cases dramatically.
We’ve always had crime in America—such is the price of freedom—but what we are experiencing today is something altogether different. It’s not just crime. America can sometimes be a dangerous place. Everyone knows working the midnight shift at a convenience store is riskier than working the day shift at your local library, just as common sense tells you the odds of getting into a fight in a bar on a Saturday night are far higher than at church on Sunday morning.
And to be clear, this is not Antifa thugs and BLM cultists burning down cities. Protest, even violent protest, has been part of American history since its founding and is mainly event-driven, like Shay’s Rebellion, the Vietnam War protests, the riots after MLK’s assassination, or the acquittal of the police in the Rodney King video.
Image: Criminal (edited) by h9images.
No, this is something different. It’s one thing to rage against the machine; it’s another to commit violence against citizens, particularly when they are unsuspecting innocents or compliant victims. This is today’s issue, which we see taking place across the county, from urban jungles like New York City to Midwestern communities like Salt Lake City.
What America’s experiencing today is exponentially worse than the typical crime that America is used to—and the truth is, young Black men and, increasingly, young Black women are perpetuating most, although far from all, of it.
Violence is not only going to a new level in terms of frequency but also its locales. It’s no longer limited to dark corners or deserted parking lots. It now occurs in the middle of the regular hustle and bustle of Americans’ daily lives. It’s taking place in broad daylight, in full view of video cameras—often with others videoing the carnage to share on social media. Violent crime occurs on Main Street USA, in schools, drugstores, fast food restaurants, subway platforms, high-end retail stores and, of course, homes.
We see large groups of young people blitzing stores, grabbing merchandise off shelves, and running out with smiles on their faces. We see “shoplifters” methodically clear store shelves of merchandise and simply stroll out the door, unconcerned about getting stopped or arrested and often assaulting employees along the way.
Moreover, an element of violence seems unprecedented in its scale. Almost daily, we see random innocent people on subways or stairs or in restaurants getting shoved, kicked, or punched. We see fast food workers attacked as customers come over or around counters and spark mayhem. We see bus drivers attacked, shop owners beaten, and cops spat upon. Indeed we see countless instances where robbers beat or shoot victims even after taking whatever they were after. We also read daily of innocents of all ages killed in the crossfire while sleeping in their beds, standing in a bar, or sitting in their cars.
There also seems to be a racial element to this new crime wave, with black perpetrators targeting a disproportionate number of White or Asian victims. Make no mistake, though. Now, as always, the single largest group of victims of this crime wave is black citizens.
The question is, why is this happening? What has caused an increasing number of black Americans to believe they can rob, beat, and even kill their fellow citizens with impunity?
No doubt, there are countless contributing factors, from missing fathers to failing schools to social media, but those problems (at least the first two) have existed for quite some time. No, the reason for the sharp jump in violent crime and unhinged behavior on the part of large numbers of primarily young Black Americans is the Democrat proposition that everything bad that happens to Blacks results from racism. As such, Blacks are not responsible for their choices. Therefore, they should not be held accountable for their actions.
Ronald Reagan once said, “If you want more of something, subsidize it.” That is precisely what the Democrats have been doing with violent crime. While they are not yet directly paying criminals to attack their fellow citizens and rob local businesses, they are subsidizing crime nonetheless.
On the one hand, George Soros-backed Democrat prosecutors from coast to coast are demonstrating their pro-criminal empowerment bona fides by refusing to seek bail for most arrestees, refusing to prosecute countless misdemeanors, and simultaneously undercharging countless violent crimes as said misdemeanors. On the other hand, you have Democrats effectively decriminalizing an entire swath of crimes or eliminating bail for almost every offense.
Indeed, the lunatics running Illinois have just passed a law that eliminates bail for virtually every offense below 1st-degree murder and prohibits police from arresting or removing trespassers caught in the act while burglarizing a home or business. That means that, if someone breaks into your house in the middle of the night and you call the police, first, you’ll be lucky, given the Democrat “Defund the police movement” if police respond while the trespasser is still there and, second, police are literally no longer allowed to remove them from your home.
All of this is happening exactly when America’s cultural and political elites are telling young Black Americans that the system is rigged against them; that they’re incapable of succeeding when playing by the rules; that most white people hate them; and that, if they break the law, there are no consequences to be had. That is literally a recipe for societal collapse.
Today in Democrat-run America, only the criminals’ rights matter, never the victims…and the fact is that most of the victims of this American renaissance of violence are, in fact, Black Americans. That is, the new rules victimize the very people about whom Democrats pretend to care.
To accumulate power, Democrats have leveraged the fictions of “systemic racism” and millions of “White supremacists” running wild, and Americans of all races are paying the price. But this is exactly what happens when politicians pursue policies of balkanization and victimization, setting groups of Americans against one another to achieve power. The Democrats and their grifter partners thrive, while all of America’s citizens suffer.
America was founded on the principle that all men were created equal in the eyes of God and in the laws of man. While the execution of those truths has been imperfect from the beginning, it has consistently improved for over 200 years, bringing Americans freedom and prosperity unmatched in human history. Those benefits include black Americans, who make up fully 8% of American millionaires.
In just half a generation, Democrats have undone 200 years of progress and created a violent cage match between demographics in the public square. The result has been a body blow to civil society, mayhem in cities, and blood on the streets (most of it Black). Yet somehow, Black America continues to vote Democrat in Stalin-like numbers. Perhaps they should reconsider....
Original Article: https://www.lewrockwell.com/2022/09/no_author/the-current-crime-wave-is-unlike-any-ever-experienced-in-america/