" Enough is enough ! " From Atlanta to Georgia, to Chicago in Illinois, to Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, the same expression keeps coming up. In several major cities in the United States, the weekend of July 4, National Day, usually marked by various celebrations, has taken on the appearance of tragedies. Nearly 160 people were shot dead and some 520 others injured over the weekend, according to the Gun Violence Archives.
What darken a little more this sad record: several children are among the victims. Children whose "Hopes and dreams were dashed by the barrel of a gun", Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (Democrat) denounced on July 5.
“Our thoughts and prayers are no longer enough at this point. The pain itself is no longer enough. We have to do better. "
According to the Giffords Law Center, an average of 1,500 children die from firearms each year in the United States, most often in the context of family dramas.
Between the evening of Thursday July 2 and Sunday July 5, Chicago police have identified forty-seven shootings, details the American daily The Wall Street Journal. They made a total of eighty-seven victims, including thirteen minors. A 14-year-old boy and a 7-year-old girl were among the seventeen people killed in the violence. As of June 20, nine youths under the age of 18 have died in the third most populous city in the United States, reports The New York Times. "The city of the wind becomes the city of blood", the Reverend Michael L. Pfleger, from the megalopolis of Illinois, noted in the New York daily.
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"You can't blame a police officer"
In Atlanta, eleven shootings broke out between July 3 and July 5. They killed 31 people, five of whom were killed. Among them, an 8 year old girl. Little Secoriea Turner died in the back seat of the family car, while her mother was driving around a fast food restaurant where, a few weeks earlier, Rayshard Brooks, a 27-year-old African American, had been killed by two bullets in the back by a white policeman.
Since his death, a group of armed protesters have occupied the premises, in some cases threatening those who approach it, reports the local newspaper. AJL (Atlanta Journal-Constitution). And the publication wondered: why, when tensions were known, did city officials allow them to stay on the site and block part of the road with heavy guns? TheAJL received no response from the police or the city’s mayor, Keisha Lance Bottoms (Democrat).
However, during a press conference held the day after the death of the girl, Sunday July 5, Ms. Lance Bottoms explained that the police had not been able to do much in the face of these protesters, who demanded a reform of the police and the creation of a memorial for Rayshard Brooks. Georgia is also a "Open and carry State"in other words, licensed gun owners are allowed to carry them openly in public space. The site has since been vacated.
Atlanta police lieutenant Pete Malecki says the fatal shots were fired intentionally after the car in which Secoriea Turner and her mother were passed "Makeshift roadblock manned by many armed individuals". Investigators released a photo of a suspect: a young black man, wearing a white T-shirt and black pants, armed with an AR-15 automatic rifle.
Mayor Bottoms & Interim Chief Bryant speak on 8-year-old murdered over the holiday weekend. https://t.co/iCjls5QC47
"You cannot blame a police officer, you cannot say that this is criminal justice reform", hammered the mayor of the city.
"These are people with guns who shot a car with an 8 year old baby. (…) We hurt ourselves more than any policeman. "
After this deadly weekend and while the capital of Georgia has recorded seventy-five shootings in the past few weeks, the governor of the state, Republican Brian Kemp, declared a state of emergency there on Monday 6 July.
Decrease in police legitimacy
The New york times recalls that before the appearance of the Covid-19 epidemic in the United States the number of homicides was already increasing nationwide in 2020. And, if the containment measures made it possible to reduce the progression in April (- 22%) and in May (- 10%) in most of the country's major cities, they started to increase again after the first lifting of travel restrictions.
In Los Angeles, California, for example, homicides jumped 250% in the first week of June compared to the previous week.
The week of 5/31 to 6/6, homicides went up 250% and victims shot went up 56% compared to the previous week. The p… https://t.co/DJOnpad2vr
"The increase in armed violence comes at a time when heat is rising – literally and figuratively – on the streets", argues CNN. In these cities, the recent explosions of violence are indeed exacerbated by the crises which shake the country.
The Covid-19 pandemic brutally affected the most vulnerable communities. Across the Atlantic, the disease kills blacks four times more than whites, a reality that reveals the systemic inequalities that plague American society and stir up anger.
In addition, distrust of the police was heightened in the wake of the death of George Floyd, an African American who was asphyxiated under the knee of a white policeman in late May in Minnesota. Interviewed by CNN, Thomas Abt, researcher at the Council for Criminal Justice, suggests the link between "The legitimacy of the state, in particular that of the police", and levels of violence.
“We have seen a significant increase in homicides after the unrest in Ferguson (after the death of Michael Brown in 2014), Baltimore (after the death of Freddie Gray in 2015), Chicago (after the death of Laquan McDonald in 2014 ) and other places. We may face the same situation. "
Surplus of 2.1 million weapons in circulation
Especially since the health crisis was also marked by a rush of arms and ammunition. The information site The Trace, which specializes in monitoring gun violence in the United States, said that between March and May 2.1 million weapons in addition to the usual demand were sold. A study from the University of California at Davis estimates that these "Excess purchases" are associated with more than 775 gunshot wounds – some of which have been fatal.
Faced with an outburst of violence in Chicago, city police commissioner David Brown said on July 5 that he would assign more officers to the tension-ridden west and south districts. But, he warned, the maintenance of order cannot replace the fight against poverty, the lack of job offers or even the difficulties of access to health care, especially mental. "I have never seen such a mixture of despair, sadness and anger", thus summed up at New york times the Reverend Michael L. Pfleger.
