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Chicago Gun Deaths Rise to 500, 13 Lives Lost Over Labor Day Weekend

Gun Violence Continues To Plague Chicago

Source: Scott Olson / Getty

Chicago hit a milestone over the Labor Day weekend, but not one to be proud of: They saw their 500th homicide of the year.

According to the Chicago TribuneChicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson told the press that the crippling gun violence isn’t a police issue per se.

It’s a society issue,” he said commenting on the 13 fatalities and 65 gunshot wounds the city saw over the recent 3-day-weekend. “Impoverished neighborhoods, people without hope do these kinds of things. You show me a man that doesn’t have hope, I’ll show you one that’s willing to pick up a gun and do anything with it.”

He added,”Those are the issues that’s driving this violence. CPD is doing its job.”

Johnson also stressed that he has never seen this amount mistrust for the police during his career, noting that incidents like Laquan McDonald play a role in that. But he pointed out that it also has an impact on the police too.

Of course, they’re human. They’re people,” Johnson said. “So of course, nobody wants to be the next viral video. These officers have families to take care of too.

Viral video like the Windy City police who were hi-fiving over the dead body of unarmed Black teen Paul O’Neal? Human like that?

You Go Boy! Amid National Pushback, Colin Kaepernick Jerseys Soar to #1 On The Niners Website

San Francisco 49ers v San Diego Chargers

Source: Harry How / Getty

Niners QB Colin Kaepernick may be facing a number of opponents who are upset because he’s refused to stand for the National Anthem, but it’s clear that plenty of folks including U.S. veterans and even POTUS have his back. 

If you needed more proof, it’s being reported that his sports jersey has soared to number one on the Niners website and number five of the entire league on NFL’s website, the New York Daily News wrote. Clearly, this spike in sales comes a week after the media reported that the 28-year-old refused to stand for the national anthem to protest police brutality and the treatment of “black people and people of color” in the country.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BJ9TKsVDdds/?taken-by=teamcolinkaepernick

“To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder,” he told NFL.com last week. 

“This is not something that I am going to run by anybody,” Kaepernick added. “I am not looking for approval. I have to stand up for people that are oppressed. … If they take football away, my endorsements from me, I know that I stood up for what is right.”

Carry on Colin!

Poll: Support for Black Lives Matter Growing Among Young White Adults

For the third day in a row the Black Lives Matter movement...

Source: Pacific Press / Getty

A recent poll has found that support for the Black Lives Matter movement has increased among young white adults.

According to the Associated Press, 51 percent of white adults between the ages of 18 and 30 said in a GenForward poll they now strongly or somewhat support Black Lives Matter. This is up 10-point percentage points since June. Meanwhile, pollsters also found that 42 percent said they do not support the movement.

But before we celebrate. these findings are still complicated and at times even contradictory. Sixty-six percent of whites were still under the impression that Black Lives Matter encourages violence against police, a notion that BLM leaders have strongly rejected. (Only 19 percent of Blacks believe that). Also, white respondents also felt that the killings against the police like in Dallas were more serious than those of Black people and Latinos.

Among people of color, 85 percent of African-American young adults support the protesters along with 67 percent of Asian and 62 percent of Latinos.

What’s behind the rise in support? One can’t know for sure, but we suspect the high-profile deaths Alton Sterling and Philando Castile played a role.

Homicide Deaths Rise To 500 In Chicago, 13 Lives Lost Over Labor Day  was originally published on hellobeautiful.com