29 Comments

Mike, thanks once again for the act of journalism. Your efforts are appreciated.

Expand full comment

Lived in Philadelphia for 20 years; I used to love the city, its amenities and the richness of a city that is vibrant with a large black population. The Philadelphia of now seems worse than the years of redlining, with hyper-gentrified neighborhoods made up of mostly white transplants trying to assert dictatorial control while the outer neighborhoods suffer the homicide spikes and are draining residents again. Philly had finally arrested its population decline but now it is accelerating again. So many of my friends have now moved out and I am on my way out as well. The skyrocketing taxes and crime crisis that few want to acknowledge are the primary drivers.

Expand full comment
Apr 30, 2021Liked by Michael Tracey

Keep in mind that medical technology has vastly improved in the last several decades meaning people who were shot decades back and died, now live. (I think that may account in part to the lowish soldier deaths in Iraq....but huge maiming.)

Don't know how to factor that medical improvement into shootings/homicides, but if it weren't there, death rates would be probably higher. Is that a possibility?

Expand full comment

This is just great reporting, a world removed from "mostly peaceful protests" with fires burning in the background. EMBs comment and extended comment is just awful and gut-wrenching. As a father myself, I find myself hoping they grow up and get jobs as doctors of fireman in some small town of a few thousand, away from the rapid decline of western democracies, at least as far from it they can get for as long as they can.

Expand full comment

" He said we shouldn’t talk to journalists about this. We have a young kid and just want to make a living. "

---------

Don't talk to a corporate "journalist" regular people are their enemy.

Corporations want to get rid of public policing. They don't need or want an objective justice system when they can hire private security, mercenaries and hit squads to protect their gated communities. That's how it works in a third world country. They elites own the courts and judges, the police are next.

Expand full comment

Did the smarmy Brooklyn Journos heap praise on you for giving voice to actual civilian residents of Minneapolis, or nah?

Expand full comment

"If you want to stay employed and you don’t align with mainstream liberal takes on almost everything, it’s best to keep quiet and hope no one calls you out for it. In his words, “There’s too much risk.” He said we shouldn’t talk to journalists about this."

One of the best ways to lose your livelihood is to publicly share anything that may be perceived as wrong think. Those who use their real name on social media or those who will go on the record with a journalist are insane or blissfully ignorant.

I wouldn't have said that 5 years ago. Things have declined rapidly and it is continuing to escalate in private and public sectors. If you value anything that you have built in your life, you will stay off the grid to whatever degree is possible. No one is on your side except for you and yours.

Expand full comment

Love the moniker “Cool Kid Brooklyn Journos”. Very fitting.

Expand full comment

The increase represents around 4000 murders. Totally a worthwhile price to pay for Derek Chauvin to be in jail.

Expand full comment

When I read your last post, I though the caveat about police perspective felt out of place. I now understand why. Journalism is in a sad place.

Minneapolis has Mayoral and City Council elections this fall. It will be interesting to see if the people vote for change. I wouldn’t bet on it:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mayors_of_Minneapolis

Expand full comment

This is what you do best. Put you head down to the wind and keep pushing ahead. Really valuable work.

Expand full comment

Mike, thanks for your reporting on this. It's so easy (and lazy) for so called journalists to sit in studios or newsrooms in Altanta or NYC or DC and "report" without bothering with inconvenient things like facts. You are so right that they DO NOT CARE about the alarming increase in murders and other violent crimes. I wonder how many of them have returned to MN after the riots, then after the trial. I'd wager not many. They are so intent on their racialist narrative that they cant be bothered to report about the lives of non affluent black folks that have to live with the aftermath in the twin cities.

Expand full comment

Why they want to minimize the murder rate? The skyrocketing crime puts the lie to their ideology to be a lie, does it not? Bad people riot, evil people murder. Correcting injustice empowers good people, but that's not what we're seeing.

I hope EMB and her husband take their child and flee the city. I remember visiting NYC in '97 and a young male hipster was already idealizing the old "gritty" (murderous) New York City! One would be a fool to wait for these guys to "wake up": what's hell to you, is attractive to them.

Expand full comment

Thank you for your reporting on this topic. Homicide has such far reaching impacts. It undermines stability in the communities being impacted by it. How can this not be important?

Expand full comment

What's this? A journalist? Who knew they still existed? Thanks!

Expand full comment

The Cook Kid Brooklyn "journos" will never do anything like this because it would mean their worldview might be .... wrong. And they're never wrong. That twitter link to the guy with too much soy in the diet was indicative of someone who is in a safe area, not worried about much in terms of safety, and comfortable with the warm feelings of bonhomie that rise up tweeting about how he, The Secret King of Park Slope, is helping BIPOC.

It's how a site like heyjackass dot com can be out there, and is flatly ignored by any Corporate Cathedral press outlet. It has all the info on the daily Chicago shootings you could want. But it doesn't fit any cool kid narrative.

Keep doing your thing Tracey.

Expand full comment