Taking A Knee on Chicago Carnage [OPINION]

Another bloody weekend in Chicago.

The Chicago Tribune says at least 73 people were shot and at least 11 died in the Windy City over the weekend. The Trib says at least 16 of the victims were teenagers, and of those, a dozen or more were 17 or younger. The youngest was 11.

The newspaper says there have been at least 339 homicides in Chicago so far this year. At least 285 people have died from gunfire.

What is sad is that prior to this latest spike in violence, Chicago homicides had actually been on the decline since a near-record 780 people were slaughtered in 2016. Last year there were 682, and so far this year, the number of homicides was projected to be even lower. Fear of revenge killings could impact those projections.

The Tribune says the overwhelming majority of homicide victims are young black men who are killed by other young black men. And yet, the media would have you believe that young black men are being randomly butchered by white cops, and that Trump is a racist.

Has anyone spotted Colin Kaepernick in Chicago? How about Spike Lee? LeBron James? Jesse Jackson? How about Al Sharpton? No, huh? Surely Rosie O'Donnell and Alyssa Milano have led marches in Chicago? What about Meathead or Micheal Moore? No? I know Trump offered federal assistance, including police personnel, and was roundly rejected.

Maybe someday all of the smack-talking liberals and elitists will decide it's truly time to address the real problem of black-on-black homicides in the ghettos and killing fields of this nation. But for now, another football season is about to begin, and I suspect the do-good crowd will prefer to just take a knee again.

Barry Richard is the host of The Barry Richard Show on 1420 WBSM New Bedford. He can be heard weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. Contact him at barry@wbsm.com and follow him on Twitter @BarryJRichard58. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.