Chicago’s Violent Crime Is Fueled By Segregation

I can't say it enough.

Source: gettyimages.com

Before I begin, I want to thank my wife, Gwen, for insisting that I write something about Chicago’s violence today and its connection to the city’s long and troubled history Today’s article comes on the heels of a series about the potential of a 2016 Chicago Olympics, with its focus on the revitalization of the city’s south lakefront. Some recent events highlight the importance of equitable economic revitalization to become the city we need to be.

Last week the Chicago Park District announced that the 31^st Street Beach would close at 9pm for the Independence Day holiday weekend in response to violence at the beach. In the last month there were several shootings and fights at the beach, resulting in three deaths in separate incidents.

From an ABC7Chicago’s news report:

“Though it was initially reported that the curfew would last for 10 days, 4th Ward Alderman Lamont Robinson's office clarified that the curfew is in effect through Monday for the July 4 holiday weekend. The curfew could be extended, Robinson's office said, but that assessment will be made at a later time.

Additional police patrols are checking bags and monitoring the parking lots. There is also new fencing and the curfew imposed by CPD. Ald. Robinson has been calling for the curfew for several weeks.

“Nine p.m. is put in place because it takes an hour, almost two hours depending on how many people are at the beach, to clear the beach, and so what's happening is that at 11 p.m., the previous closure, the beach is not cleared until 12:30 a.m. or 1 a.m., and that's when we're seeing most incidents happen," Robinson explained.

At least five people were shot and one stabbed at or near 31st Street Beach in the month of June, with most incidents happening after 10 p.m. Because many of these take place in the parking lots, the Chicago Park District said no vehicles will be allowed in after 8 p.m. and all cars must exit the lot by 11 p.m.”

This is certainly a sad, troubling situation. This beach, located just three miles south of the heart of Chicago’s Loop, is just one of the dozens of beaches that stretch for 26 miles along the city’s Lake Michigan lakefront. It’s one of the assets that distinguishes Chicago from other large cities in the Midwest, and indeed in the country.

It’s located exactly where the Olympic Village for the 2016 Chicago Olympics would have been located.

I noted in part 3 of the Chicago Olympics series that the south lakefront had seen quite a bit of revitalization despite not getting the catalytic boost of Olympics redevelopment. In fact, prior to the alderman’s announced early closure, community members came out to the beach to show their support. They are likely more representative of the surrounding community than the beach attendees causing the problems:

“A coalition of faith leaders, local business owners, community members, alderpersons and patrons of Pier 31 gathered at the beachside bar and hangout in a show of solidarity.

"Absolutely no concerns about coming to 31st Street Beach. I've been coming to Pier 31 since its inception," said patron Michelle Wimberley.

The vigil comes after two fatal shootings in just days last week.

Nikki Hayes says she has seen business at the bar she has owned for 13 years drop off following the violent incidents.”

Of course, the violence is not restricted to 31st Street Beach. Today’s weekend violence tally found that 102 people were shot in Chicago between 6pm on July 3 to 6am on July 7, 17 fatally. That’s a 27% increase over last year’s July Fourth weekend tally.

A tangential note here. I really believe that Chicago’s gets top billing for violent crime among large American cities precisely because its crime stats are compiled in just this fashion. I cannot think of another city whose weekend violent crime stats are gathered this way, and I believe it started here in Chicago. Pair that with the fact that Chicago is the largest violent city, but not the most violent city, and you get eye-popping absolute numbers. Consider this table from a report done by the Rochester Institute of Technology’s Center for Public Safety Initiatives:

The center has been following 24 select cities since 2019. They aren’t necessarily the 24 largest cities, or most violent, but they are a control group used to evaluate change over time. In 2022 Chicago sat squarely in the middle when it comes to homicide rate – the number of homicides per 100,000 residents. There are smaller cities that can be deemed more violent than Chicago; perhaps even more than this list shows if it was expanded. But as the largest violent city, the sheer volume of murders, 604 in 2022, leads the way and thus stands out.

Violence is an American problem, not a Chicago one. It’s not a Black problem, either. It’s a segregation problem.

Back to the 31^st Street Beach. I’ve maintained for years that incidents like this are the direct result of segregation. It stems from the lack of connection to social networks and economic opportunity that far too many people suffer from in Chicago.  Decades of entrenched poverty allowed to fester, little economic or social mobility, and inadequate schools and public services, continues to impact the city today.

That’s still the case even as Chicago undergoes a huge demographic shift that I noted in my last piece in the Chicago Olympics series – the loss of disappearance of Chicago’s Black population over the last two decades:

“Chicago’s Black population… has fallen by 25% since 2000. The outflow means that Blacks slid from being the largest plurality in the city (36.4%) in 2000 to the second largest, behind Whites (33.1%) and in a virtual tie with Latinos (28.8% versus 28.7%) by 2020. The trend suggests that the number of Latinos has surpassed Blacks in this decade.

In absolute figures, that corresponds to a loss of more than 260,000 Black Chicagoans since 2000, while all other races and ethnicities gained 116,000. Any increase or simply the stabilization of Black population loss would’ve resulted in continued overall population increase for the city.”

The depopulation of Black Chicago, however, needs deeper understanding and context. First, it’s being led by the Black middle class, departing for suburbia (like, I admit, yours truly) or out of the region entirely. Despite this I also noted in the last piece that the south lakefront is doing quite well, with recent American Community Survey data showing that there’s been strong increases in the number of Black college graduates in south lakefront neighborhoods – one indicator of possible middle class income.

Which points to the second point – Chicago may be becoming stratified along lakefront/inland lines. From a piece I wrote about 2020 Census data on Chicago's residential density, I noted this:

“Chicago's quickly moving toward being a very dense city within a couple miles or so from the lakefront, and far less dense further in, with some exceptions. I'm finding that's also becoming true for household income, educational attainment, housing prices and rents, but that's another story.”

Emphasis added.

Specifically, Chicago’s lakefront, north and south, is growing in affluence. Chicago’s inland neighborhoods are becoming less affluent. The violent crime that is currently defining Chicago is largely located there, and is still impacted by the legacy of segregation.

A final note. If anyone involved in the violence that took place at the 31^st Street Beach had known about the history of the beach, perhaps they would’ve considered it a place for reflection, instead of recreation. It’s the closest existing beach to the starting location of the 1919 Chicago Race Riot, noted as the worst riot during the deadly Red Summer of 1919. I urge you to check out the work of author, journalist and photographer Robert Loerzel, who did extensive research on the riot’s starting point. Kudos to him.

The riot was triggered by a young Black bather drifting from the “Black” part of the beach, north of 29^th Street, to the “White” part to the south. Eugene Williams, the bather, was stoned and killed by a White man for the transgression. That sparked a riot that lasted for seven days. The damage? A total of 38 people were killed (23 Black and 15 White), an estimated 537 injured (two-thirds Black and one-third White), and somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000 residents, most of them Black, lost their homes.

In the words of Alabama Governor George Wallace said at his inauguration on January 14, 1963, “I say: segregation today, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.” Segregation still exists, it still dehumanizes, it still impoverishes, and it still kills.