Roy Exum
When seven people were shot – two fatally – in the College Hill area on Grove Street Saturday night, Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly went ‘robo-caller’ and dashed out a well-worn tape that said, “Chattanooga communities experienced life-changing trauma from incidents of gun violence this weekend. This is absolutely unacceptable - the gunfire, the killing must end. We all experience conflict in our lives but resorting to violence - particularly with a firearm that, in an instant, can reap irrevocable grief and pain - is never the answer.”
His statement, so reminiscent of other Mayors’ vacant comments for the last 20-plus years, went on, “I have full confidence in CPD’s ability to conduct a thorough investigation that will bring those responsible to justice, while also providing support to the friends and family who mourn.
Gun violence is a public safety and public health crisis that wreaks havoc on too many of our residents’ lives - we will address it head-on and with urgency.”
Saturday night’s shooting included two females who were 19 and 14. Earlier on Saturday, Jailen Wofford, age 21, was shot and killed at 3410 Campbell St. in East Chattanooga. So, that’s three people murdered over the weekend in what is believed to continue a rash of black-on-black shootings that keep Mayor Kelly’s city included in the “25 Most Dangerous Cities in America” on a per capita basis.
It is no secret, as the last two CPD Chiefs have lamented, the blacks-shooting-blacks crisis will continue until Chattanooga’s black community rises up and partners with the CPD in a demonstrable and fearless way. But as Saturday’s shooting melee was actually occurring the predominately black Chattanooga Clergy Association was holding a sparsely attended rally to bolster its racist attack on the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department. You can’t make this up.
Three black people were wantonly murdered on the same day, yet here we have the Chattanooga Clergy for Justice meeting at the Orchard Park Seventh-Day Adventist Church pounding the drum for local law enforcement reform. To begin, there is no racist evidence within the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department. Yes, there have been few - very few - altercations with unruly miscreants but that is universal, be it the Chattanooga Police Department, Highway Patrol, whatever. It’s tough work.
Again, the Chattanooga Clergy for Justice is a racial-minded group that includes no mainstream Chattanooga churches but is in a unique position to challenge the despair of black-on-black murders and shootings. To this date the black pastors’ group has been notoriously silent on the weekly murders and shootings, quite a stance on the biggest threat to Chattanooga’s predominantly black neighborhoods.
Face it, the shootings in America will only increase. The FBI’s 2000 figures have just been released and there is a 30 percent increase in murders for 2020, the largest single increase from the year before in the 60 years the bureau has kept statistics. That’s a solid five percent increase in violent crime in one year. Murders are up 20 percent in 2020 from 2019. (Right now, homicides for 2021 are up 4,032 from 3,341 in 2020 at this point on the calendar.)
According to the Gun Violence Archives, mass shooters are also on the rise. A Jan. 1-Sept. 15 look at this year shows a total of 14,516 have died from gunfire this year. That’s up about 1,300 since the same time frame last year.
Mass shootings, defined as an incident where four people or more are shot, are up 15 percent over last year. Four people were killed in McMinn County last week and Saturday’s College Hill slayings also are a mass shooting. That established, there have been over 500 mass shootings in the nation since Jan. 1, a 15 percent uptick over 2020.
Some lay the blame on the fact there were 23 million firearms sold in 2020 - a 65 percent increase over 2019 - but police attribute the shootings in “bad guns” - illegally obtained guns bought on the street. This year - with 2.2 million guns bought in January - will be less than 2020 but still more than in any other year other than 2020.
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From 6 p.m. on Friday until midnight on Sunday Chicago Police responded to 46 shooting incidents that resulted in 60 people shot, eight murdered. Thus far in September alone in Chicago, there have been 447 people shot and 78 killed. Year to date: 3,517 shot, 637 homicides. Race: 82.7 black, 13.5 Hispanic, 3.8 white/other.
royexum@aol.com