Wed Jan 9, 2013, 09:01 PM

Families grieve as Chicago killings increase

Community organiser Darius McGraw was one of more than 500 people killed in the US' deadliest city in 2012

Chicago, US - A stack of glossy images showing an active and smiling young man is all that's left for Darius McGraw's family to remember him by.

On a cold morning in November 2012, 22-year-old McGraw was gunned down while walking to the home of his fiancée on Chicago's Southwest Side to pick up the couple's two-year-old daughter, Harmony.

According to a website set up by The Chicago Tribune to track homicides in the city, 513 people were killed in Chicago in 2012, most by gun violence.

The number is 15 percent higher than the previous year, and higher than more populous cities such as New York and Los Angeles - where the homicide rate has been decreasing in recent years.

More: http://aje.me/ZHq4l5

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10 replies	Author	Time	Post
Families grieve as Chicago killings increase (Original post)	UnrepentantLiberal	Jan 2013	OP
Aurora Homicide-Free: Illinois' Second-Largest City Finishes 2012 Without A Single Murder	dkf	Jan 2013	#1
Chicago is a wonderful city ...	LisaLynne	Jan 2013	#2
This one hits home	JustAnotherGen	Jan 2013	#3
Gun control	obama2016202428	Jan 2013	#4
You A Funny Little Fella, Ain'tcha?	The Magistrate	Jan 2013	#5
+1,000 Sir	malaise	Jan 2013	#7
2nd strongest gun control laws in the country	Recursion	Jan 2013	#6
Let me know when Chicago becomes a walled city. n/t	ellisonz	Jan 2013	#8
Maybe a moat?	moondust	Jan 2013	#9
End the drug war and start one on poverty and it will be like night and day.	TheKentuckian	Jan 2013	#10

Response to UnrepentantLiberal (Original post)

Wed Jan 9, 2013, 09:05 PM

dkf (32,612 posts)

1. Aurora Homicide-Free: Illinois' Second-Largest City Finishes 2012 Without A Single Murder

Chicago may have tallied astonishing homicide numbers in 2012--506 to be exact--but Illinois' second-largest city recorded an extraordinary figure of its own:

Zero.

For the first time in six decades, Aurora went without a single homicide in 2012, according to the Tribune. A city of 200,000, roughly 40 miles west of Chicago, Aurora last hit the murder-free milestone in 1946.

The city's last reported homicide was on Dec. 21, 2011, reports The Associated Press, when a 21-year-old woman died in a domestic violence attack.

Aurora's population has surged in past years, reports the Sun-Times, yet the city has managed to curb the homicide rate through a mix of efforts from community groups, schools, local law enforcement and even help from the FBI.

(Read more about the tactics Aurora has used to lower homicide rates.)

The homicide rate in Aurora peaked in the 1990s, with a high of 26 murders in 1995 and 1996, reports the Sun-Times. Massive sweeps on gang members and drug dealers helped narrow the rate to two murders in 2011.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/02/aurora-homicide-free-illi_n_2396554.html

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Response to UnrepentantLiberal (Original post)

Wed Jan 9, 2013, 09:08 PM

LisaLynne (13,257 posts)

2. Chicago is a wonderful city ...

with wonderful people in it. It is so sad that there is so much violence and that it is growing.

This post from earlier today was making a connection between the closing of schools and the increase in murders:

www.democraticunderground.com/10022159561

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Response to UnrepentantLiberal (Original post)

Wed Jan 9, 2013, 09:12 PM

JustAnotherGen (5,588 posts)

3. This one hits home

And this is what is wrong in Chicago:

Devastated communities

But not everyone sees more policing as part of the solution to the violence.

"The reason why the violence is getting worse is because more and more resources are being taken away from our communities," said Chris Bufford, a 26-year-old community activist who worked with Darius at the Southwest Youth Collaborative (SWYC).

In October, SWYC - one of the few organisations of its kind on the Southwest Side - was forced to close due to a lack of funds.

Bufford described SWYC as a space where many young people from the community would get services such as mentorship and tutoring. "And that's no longer there for them," he said.

In largely Black and Latino areas on Chicago's South and West Sides, where most killings occurred in 2012, it's common to see empty lots and boarded up homes and shops on nearly every street. In many neighbourhoods, liquor stores are some of the only places that can be found open.

Similar to my cousins death. But it doesn't matter - because it was only one