Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) recently gave his thoughts as to why crime in the city he is now in charge of continues to remain high.
Johnson touted the week before Memorial Day weekend his "holistic" plan to address gun violence, which includes increased funding to local community groups to have them be among the first responders to prevent situations from getting out of control.
Beyond that, Johnson added that he believes the reason for such crime is the result of poverty and residents being traumatized by disinvestment, according to ABC 7 Chicago.
"Poverty didn't go away over the weekend. Like we understand that when communities have been disinvested in and traumatized, that you are seeing the manifestation of that trauma," Johnson said.
More than 50 people were shot, with 11 of them being killed, in Chicago over the recent three day weekend.
"The violence our city experienced this weekend is intolerable. It produced pain and trauma that devastated communities across Chicago, and my heart breaks for everyone affected. That's why as mayor, I am committed to leveraging every single resource at our disposal to protect every single life in our city," Johnson said in a statement. "This holiday weekend, thousands of police officers, first responders, city workers, business leaders, organizers, faith leaders, and violence interrupters tirelessly dedicated themselves to keeping Chicago safe. I offer my deep gratitude to all those involved. We have much more work to do, but the work performed by these individuals this weekend is the foundation for how we will ultimately secure safety together. "
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ABC News noted before this past weekend that saw a spike in shootings, homicides in Chicago had been down 7 percent from the 228 slayings that occurred in the first five months of 2022.
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