The Most Tragic Victims of America’s Murder Spree: Black Children

My friend Daniel Horowitz of the Conservative Review is an incredibly diligent and resourceful investigator of crime data.  He has given me permission to repeat here his story today about the gruesome toll our present murder spree is taking on those least able to protect themselves  — black children.  As Daniel observes:

[F]ireworks were not the only munitions shot over the July 4 weekend. Statues weren’t the only things felled by anarchists and criminals roaming…the streets. This weekend was a bloody one across the country, with [dozens of] shootings in America’s cities, including New York, [once] considered the safest American city for a generation. Once again, African-American victims, including a number of young children, paid the price while the anarchy was excused and even legitimized by the media and politicians.

As Daniel shows, the roster is dreadful:

Secoriea Turner, an 8-year-old girl, was murdered while in the car with her mother near the burned-out Wendy’s in Atlanta, the site of the Rayshard Brooks shooting, which has had the effect of sidelining the police. Three were killed and 20 injured in shooting stemming from the unrest in the area. According to Atlanta police, murders are up 86% over 28 days last month compared to the same time last year. Aggravated assaults increased by 22% and burglaries by 14%.

Royta Giles Jr., an 8-year-old boy, was murdered at a Birmingham mall while with his parents at the food court. Three other innocent people, including another child, were wounded in the shooting.

Jace Young, a 6-year-old boy, was watching fireworks Saturday night with his family in San Francisco when he was gunned down. No arrests have been made, but in a city that heralds criminals and criminalizes the police, I’d be shocked if the perpetrator wasn’t a career criminal let out of jail….

A 7-year-old Chicago girl was shot and killed on July 4 while playing in her back yard. In total, 70 were shot and 14 were killed over the July 4 weekend in the war zone we call Chicago.

Also in Chicago, last week, a career criminal was charged with shooting two teens to death at a candy store. The man was sentenced to probation 18 months ago for a gun felony, despite his prior record, and got no jail time, which allowed him to remain on the streets to allegedly commit this double murder.

On Friday, New York City police arrested a 35-year-old man for allegedly slashing a 2-year-old boy in the face while he was sitting in a stroller earlier last week in Manhattan.

On Saturday, Davon McNeal, 11, was visiting family in southwest Washington, D.C., when he was killed in a drive-by shooting.

Last week, a black mother and her unborn twins were killed when she was attacked by her former boyfriend in Mansfield, Texas, in a carjacking. The suspect had a criminal record.

It’s often said nowadays that we need a national reckoning.  Indeed we do.  We need a reckoning by asking ourselves why we are tolerating this disfiguring violence against children when we know, from our experience of only a few years ago, that with more police, more proactive policing, and more sobriety about incarcerating dangerous hoodlums we can do so much better.