My wife loves the cactus salad at “El Milagro”, but when I have asked lately if we should go get some, she declines. Chicago is too dangerous to go, is her response, she was born in Chicago and her father was a police officer. So I can’t say that I blame her, going to 26th and California for cactus salad may not be worth the risk, especially since the shootings happen at all time of the day.
The number of murders in the United States jumped by nearly 30% in 2020 compared with the previous year in the largest single-year increase ever recorded in the country, according to official FBI statistics released Monday.
The data shows 21,570 homicides in the U.S. in 2020, which is a staggering 4,901 more than in 2019. The tally makes clear in concrete terms just how violent last year was.
Chicago alone accounts for 3.5% of the murders in 2020 at 774 of the 21,570. Chicago shootings were up significantly 3,237 in 2020 over 2,120 in 2019.
The overall violent crime rate, which includes murder, assault, robbery and rape, inched up around 5%, while property crimes continued their long-running decline and dropped 8% from 2019.
The murder rate is still below its historic peaks reached in the 1990s, but the figures from 2020 show the problem has become much more widespread. The historical high appears to be 1991 with 24,700 murders with 1993 at 24,530 a close second.
“In the ’90s, New York and Los Angeles accounted for 13.5% of all murders nationally. Last year, it was under 4%,” he said. “So it’s a lot more diffuse than it was in the ’90s.”
The politicians point fingers at one another and lay blame. While I get to watch the news and hear about little children dying from cowards that shoot from moving vehicles every day.