The Strange Death of Liberal America

A dark-cloaked figure stalks America’s inner cities and yet no one claims to see it. It comes without warning to claim its next victim, who in a split second is gone, as if erased from the earth. Few will even notice the victim is missing–making it the perfect crime.

Behind the dark cloak lies a major American scandal, one being inexcusably ignored by the press, presidential candidates and Congress. This lack of attention is indefensible because it involves death, far more deaths than occurred when that bridge went down in Minneapolis last week and almost as many deaths as occurred to American troops in Baghdad so far this year. Perhaps because most of the victims are young black men has something to do with it, the way London had problems documenting Jack the Ripper because as one source put it, “the large number of horrific attacks against women during this era.”

In June, the FBI released its latest crime statistics. It showed that Philadelphia had the highest murder rate among the ten largest cities in the country. It also had the highest violent crime rate. The epidemic of violence in Philadelphia has earned it the dubious nickname of “Murderdelphia.”

There have been as many theories on the whys of this as there have been murders. One of the more plausible comes from James Alan Fox, a criminal justice professor at Northeastern University in Boston:

Violent crime is up in cities with populations larger than 250,000, which have lost about 10 percent of their law enforcement resources since 2000.

Rather than try to wade through all of the theories, I thought I would let the statistics speak for themselves along with some commentary from hip hop artists. The data come from FBI statistics gathered by the Violence Policy Center in a study released earlier this year. “Black Homicide Victimization in the United States” uses data from 2004, the latest year for which complete figures are available.

There’ll be no feet makin tracks here instead of me
But I can’t disregard just what the news says to me
I’m twenty-one, so I’ve reached my life expectancy
At any minute I could be in some shit that kills my skinny ass

The Coup – Not Yet Free

According to 2004 data (the most recent available) from the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), for black teens and young adults in the age groups 15 to 19, 20 to 24, and 25 to 34, homicide is the leading cause of death. (The CDC data is the major resource for ranking causes of death.) For blacks aged 15 to 24, 40 percent of all deaths (2,803 of 7,049) were homicides. Eighty-nine percent of these homicides were perpetrated with a firearm.

My people are poor community war
What’s the rivalry for?
The poor can’t afford
Self genocide

Aceyalone – The Hurt

According to the FBI Supplementary Homicide Reports (SHR) data, in 2004 there were 6,644 black homicide victims in the United States. The homicide rate among black victims in the United States was 18.71 per 100,000. For that year, the overall national homicide rate was 4.86 per 100,000. For whites, the national homicide rate was 2.97 per 100,000.

I’m only at the age of 10
And life already seems to me like it’s heading for a dead end
Cause my moms be smoking mad crack
My dad went out for a fast snack, and never brought his ass back
Nobody knows how I feel, it’s quite ill
Cause I had to steal to fill my stomach with a nice meal
Too ashamed to walk the streets
Wearing the same cheap sneaks and dirty outfits for weeks
Even my holidays got damaged
Cause on Christmas I asked Santa for a father and a hot sandwich

Big L – How Will I Make It

For homicides in which the victim to offender relationship could be identified, 74 percent of victims (2,360 out of 3,194) were murdered by someone they knew.

Down in my gutter
Just like others there’s teenage mothers
There’s dying brothers, shooting out with one another

Poor Righteous Teachers – Miss Ghetto

For homicides in which the circumstances could be identified, 70 percent (2,769 out of 3,977) were not related to the commission of any other felony. Of these, 60 percent (1,661 homicides) involved arguments between the victim and the offender. Twelve percent (344 homicides) were reported to be gang-related.

So many years of depression make me vision
The better livin, type of place to raise kids in
Open they eyes to the lies history’s told foul

Nas – If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)

In 2004, the national black homicide rate was 18.71 per 100,000. For that year, Pennsylvania ranked first as the state with the highest black homicide rate. Its rate of 29.52 per 100,000 was more than one and a half times the national average for black homicide victims.

Yo, we gotta start respectin life more y’all
You look at your brother man you gotta see yourself
Gotta see the God within him
Brothers gettin changed real quick over nothin
We losin too many of ours

Common – Respect for Life

As noted at the beginning of this study, the toll that homicide exacts on black teens and young adults in America, both male and female, is disproportionate, disturbing, and undeniable. (Conclusion to “Black Homicide Victimization”)

You already know lost the fight if you don’t know the cost of life
These kids is forced to fight a war they can’t outrun
Ain’t got no shoes but got a gun

Talib Kweli – Goin Hard

Three years after the data collected in the “Black Homicide Victimization” study, the Philadelphia murder count now stands at 249 according to the Field Negro who may be the only site on the web who keeps a daily total. According to the Iraq Coalition Casualty Count database approximately 299 American soldiers were killed in Baghdad during the same period.

The Congressional Research Office estimates for the Iraq War:

For the first half of FY2007, average monthly obligations for contracts and pay are running about $12 billion per month

One would assume a fair amount of that is going to Baghdad–say 20% or $2+ billion per month.

The total budget for Philadelphia for all of 2007 is $3 billion. The city receives about $1 billion in “revenue from other governments” which includes both state and federal aid. In other words, more money is going to Baghdad in a month than to Philadelphia in a year!

In testimony about Philadelphia’s 2008 budget, City Controller Alan Butkovitz stated:

Our Police Facilities audit uncovered that Philadelphia’s finest were working in some of the most hazardous, unsanitary and unsightly conditions possible. We highlighted the lack of adequate funding to correct these hazards and provide basic maintenance.

It was unconscionable that thousands of Philadelphia police officers — who risk their lives each and every day to protect the citizens of this city — were forced to work under these substandard – if not dangerous – conditions.

He said nothing about the conditions in the neighborhoods where some of them worked.