It is no longer news that the violence that plagued Chicago during the Aug. 3 weekend was one of
the deadliest weekends in the past two years in the city, ending in a spree of gun violence that left 74 people shot, including 12 dead.
In almost predictable fashion, news media picked up the story and ran with it, with the reports of the fatalities spreading into foreign media sites
like the BBC, which quoted pastor and emergency administrator Donovan Price equating the city to a “war zone.”
The story, like most stories surrounding Chicago’s gun violence, dominated the news cycle for a full 24 hours, maybe running into a second day. At this point, at least outside of the city, the chatter of what happened has ultimately simmered down, roiling underneath the silence until the next acts of violence shake the city.
But does Chicago deserve this level of scrutiny and the constant associations of violence to its name? Is Chicago really
that bad?
The short answer is, no. Chicago is not even remotely close to being the murder capital of the United States.
In April, the Trace, an independent nonprofit newsroom that focuses on gun-related news in the United States,
published a report on murder rates in U.S. cities, using data provided by local police departments and news reports. Chicago fell neatly just about in the middle of the pack. Outstripping Chicago in murders were: St. Louis; Baltimore; New Orleans; Detroit; Cleveland; Kansas City, Mo.; Memphis, Tenn.; and Newark, N.J.
https://www.theroot.com/why-does-violence-in-chicago-attract-so-much-attention-1828327783