CNN Blames "Deadly Streets" For the Violence in Savannah, GA (With the Real Culprit Being Deadly Blacks)

Was reading a CNN article about how majority black Savannah, Georgia has "Southern Charm, Deadly Streets…"

Do the streets eat people? Are the streets booby trapped or are there IEDs strategically placed throughout Savannah that make these streets so… deadly?

Nope. 

The answer is quite simple. 

Black people make the streets dangerous. [Leaders seeking ways to save Savannah's young black males, SavannahNow.com, May 2, 2016]:

Black males ages 30 and under are more likely to be the victims of violent crime in Chatham County and far more likely to commit those crimes than any other segment of the population, statistics show. 

And black males account for 67 percent of those in the Chatham County jail.All of that despite the fact that blacks ages 10-29 years account for less than 10 percent of the local population. 

“There’s something wrong with this scenario,” said Savannah Mayor Pro Tem Van R. Johnson II. “We are tired of hearing about black kids being shot, kids dying. 

“I am a black male, and I can never be all that I can be as long as they’re not all they can be.” 

Johnson, who is a board member of the National League of Cities, recently brought together a group of local officials and citizens for a session with league Senior Fellow Leon Andrews Jr. to look for common grounds for discussions of how to deal with a troubling issue that Johnson said reaches the entire community. 

A common thread was that the problem affects the community, and rather than a need for more studies there is a pressing need for solutions that can work. 

“Don’t create another task force or another meeting,” Andrews urged the group meeting at the Hyatt Regency Savannah.  

Savannah Mayor Edna Jackson added, “It’s going to take the entire city and county in this. … It is about African-American males in this community.  

“It is better to ask our young people what they want and plan with, not for them.” 

Local, national trend 

In fact, Johnson said what we are seeing in Savannah mirrors the experience nationwide — in part the disproportionate amount of violence and incarcerations of black males. 

In Chatham County, for example, the 67 percent of black males in the local jail’s population of 1,490 inmates compared to only 19 percent who are white males. 

“The problems of the 10 percent are affecting the other 90 percent of our community,” Johnson said. 

“This is a national problem,” he said. “We only see it in Savannah.” 

Johnson said the current national discussion involving white police officers and black male victims frustrates him but is beyond the local reach, and he said the core problem is long in the making. 

“I’m concerned and outraged about it,” Johnson said. “It’s disturbing. (But) I can’t do anything about that.” 

So far this year, he said, 23 black males have been the victims of homicides with 16 of those under the age of 30 and four between ages 12 and 16.  

“That we can do something about,” Johnson said. “Black lives matter regardless of who takes their lives.”  

He recalled recently attending the funeral of a 15-year-old black male who was killed while playing with a gun. 

“It’s tragic,” he said. “Mothers should not have to bury their kids.”  

Stats tell story 

The raw numbers are not good. 

• Nationwide, homicide is still the leading cause of death for black males ages 15–34 

• In some states black men are incarcerated on drug charges at rates 20 to 50 times greater than white men despite studies showing that people of all colors use and sell illegal drugs at remarkably similar rates. 

• In major cities ravaged by the war on drugs, as many as 80 percent of young black males now have criminal records that are subject to what some critics call “legalized discrimination for the rest of their lives.” 

• If current trends continue, one in three young black men will serve time in prison.In Savanah/Chatham County, the numbers are similarly concerning. 

• Homicides remain the third highest cause of death for black males from 2009-2013. 

• Among youths ages 30 and under, black males are more likely to be the victims of violent crimes — 49.4 percent — as well as perpetrators of violent crimes — 78.6 percent. 

• So far in 2014, 23 black males have been the victims of a homicide in Chatham County. Of those, 16 were under age 30, four were 16 and younger. 

• In 2013, 1,335 young black males ages 21 and under were arrested in the county. 

• Of the Chatham County jail population of 1,490, 991 or 67 percent are black males. 

Johnson said the issue is exacerbated by the local avoidance of talking about the problem. 

Whites fear discussion will label them as being “racist;” blacks fear being labeled as “Uncle Toms, forgetting your roots.” 

“We say it’s OK to talk about it,” he said. “We have to do better than this.” 

“We’re not here to point blame,” Johnson told the group. “We’re talking about solutions. We have to do this together. We have to do this as a community.”

I've been to Savannah a number of times, having spent a lot of my time in college visiting the city and enjoying River Street (in middle school, we visited the city on a field trip and I had the pleasure of seeing a rather large busted chick flash some of her friends while boating on the Savannah River, a memory which has always endeared me to the city).  

But there is one problem in the city, which is also a problem for Detroit, Memphis, Indianapolis, Birmingham, Baltimore, and… every other city in America with a large black population. 

Whoops. 

Gave the problem away. 

Blacks. 

The streets don't make Savannah a violent place; the streets aren't killing black people and driving away tourists and working to depreciate property value (thereby depleting tax revenue); it is black people and black people alone who are responsible for the violence in Savannah. 

Make Savannah Great Again by pointing out the reason Savannah is no longer great is due entirely to its now majority black population.