December 15, 2024 Category: Local Posted by: Teresa Emerson
[This is the second story in a three-part series about the roots and realities of gun violence in Black America.].
The losses suffered by Johnson-Harrell’s family illustrate how deeply gun violence has affected Black communities in Philadelphia and in other cities throughout America across generations. Despite being just over 13 percent of the U.S. population, Black Americans account for nearly 60 percent of firearm homicide victims each year. That equates to Black people being over 11.5 times more likely to be victims of firearm homicide than their non-Hispanic white peers. In Philadelphia, Black people have accounted for about 80 percent of gun homicides in recent years.
Over time, these intergenerational losses have left many families stuck in a seemingly unending cycle of trauma. The causes are complex, but a close look at the stories of Black Philadelphians points to a primary driver that has persisted for more than a century: racism.
Systemic exhaustion
The “100 Shooting Review Committee,” a 2022 report written by eight Philadelphia city agencies, concluded as much. It shows how the most racially segregated Philadelphia neighborhoods — which are also the areas in the city with the most gun arrests — face the highest concentration of 18 “indicators of disinvestment,” including poverty, dropping out of high school, and eviction and foreclosure. “Structural racism has caused disinvestment and poverty in specific areas of Philadelphia, which has, in turn, created the conditions in which shootings occur,” it stated.
https://philasun.com/local/the-intergenerational-fallout-of-gun-violence-part-2/
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