Where’s the media’s nonstop coverage and outrage over the murder of a 9 year-old black boy in Chicago, shot multiple times in the face and back by a black 27 year-old gang member? Where are the marches led by so-called “black leaders” like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton? Where is President Barack Obama’s Justice Department’s investigation? Could it be that black lives don’t matter when murdered by other blacks?
On the afternoon of November 2, 2015, Tyshawn Lee, a fourth grader, went to play basketball at a playground near his grandmother’s house. Cory Morgan and other gang members allegedly lured Tyshawn into an alley where Morgan executed him at close range. The autopsy found that in addition to two other bullet wounds, part of Tyshawn’s right thumb was blown off, as he tried to defend himself against the rain of bullets.
Police believe Morgan murdered Tyshawn because his father was involved in a rival gang responsible for killing Morgan’s brother. The murder of this unarmed black child occurred in Chicago’s South Side, notorious for crime – a virtual war zone of blacks killing blacks. Auburn-Gresham, the neighborhood where Tyshawn was killed, is where gangs fight for control to sell drugs. Almost numb to gun violence, residents of the neighborhood expressed shock at Tyshawn’s murder, saying they’ve “never seen anything this violent.”
“Tyshawn Lee was murdered in probably the most abhorrent, cowardly, unfathomable crime that I’ve witnessed in 35 years of policing,” observed (now former) Chicago Police Superintendent Gary McCarthy.
Yet in the face of such a heinous act, we don’t see black people shutting down Michigan Avenue in anger, like they did over Laquan McDonald’s death. Nor do we see Democrat Congressman Bobby Rush – who, for decades, represented the district that includes Chicago – leading a protest like he did Black Friday with Jackson.
Don’t get me wrong: the shooting death of Laquan McDonald, a black teen, by Jason Van Dyke, a white Chicago police officer was awful. The officer’s life didn’t appear to be in danger in any way, yet he savagely shot McDonald multiple times. But the liberal news media’s obsession with cases like this one, of white police officers killing young black men, has conditioned news organizations to ignore murders of blacks by blacks and distort facts.
It’s an absolute false narrative to suggest that the majority of young black men being killed in America are being killed by white police officers. That’s beyond an exaggeration. It’s negligent reporting. More than 390 people have been killed in Chicago this year and the majority of them weren’t killed by white police officers. In 2012, the city was declared the murder capital of the United States with 503 homicides. According to the FBI, in 2014 Chicago had 411 homicides.
Why is McDonald’s killing – like those of Michael Brown and Freddie Gray before him – sucking up the liberal news media and black America’s attention – but not the murder of Tyshawn? Obama has become seized with the shootings of young black men, giving press conferences on the shooting deaths of Brown and Trayvon Martin. A representative from the White House attended Brown’s funeral. But Obama, who is from Chicago and served as a U.S. senator from Illinois, hasn’t made any public statement about Tyshawn killed in “an act of barbarism.”
Democrat Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel fired McCarthy, blaming him for blacks’ lack of trust in the police force due solely to the isolated killing of McDonald. The police superintendent put resources into arresting the other gang members involved in Tyshawn’s murder and pledged to destroy both gangs. Instead of firing McCarthy, the mayor should admit the real problem isn’t the police.
As Democrat politicians like Emmanuel and Obama feel a need to placate blacks, a broader question emerges. Is ‘Black Lives Matter’ a serious movement aimed at justice or a ploy for blacks to blame cops for black homicides – while news outlets make money at their expense?