St. Louis, Missouri was part of the Louisiana Purchase in the early 1800s, and in 1803, the city became the point of embarkation, under President Thomas Jefferson, for the Corps of Discovery led by Lewis and Clark.
Today St. Louis is the “unchallenged” murder capital of the U.S. Francis Menton, aka Manhattan Contrarian, stresses what a feat this is, given that Detroit, Chicago and Baltimore are vying for this inauspicious title.
St. Louis has a newly elected mayor, Tishura Jones. Ms. Jones and her fellow progressives are propelling a drive to defund the police and cut funding from the police and transfer it to “affordable housing.”
The number of murders in St. Louis was 194 in 2019 and 262 in 2020. For a city of only about 300,000 people, those numbers represent rates per 100,000 of 64.5 and 87.2.
The Manhattan Contrarian cites statistics from the St. Louis police department showing the repercussions of these remarkable murder rates on black lives.
That is, he wonders, if anyone out there cares…
Here are statistics for 2021 through May 25 (today)
There have been 75 murders so far this year, meaning that they’re already at 25 per 100,000 and we’re not yet through May.
Given that murders tend to concentrate in the warmer months, they are likely on track to equal or exceed last year’s carnage by end of this year.
The official statistics include a racial breakdown of the 75 victims so far this year:
- 1 Asian
- 1 Hispanic
- 3 white
- 70 black
Where Is the Outcry?
Slightly less than half of the city’s population is black. But in a progressive fantasy-land, nobody is willing to do anything serious about it, warns the Manhattan Contrarian.
There is encouraging news, however. Today’s WSJ front-page headline, reads:
“Cities Reverse Defunding the Police Amid Rising Crime”
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