one thing that i detest with every fiber of my being is when people who have never set foot in Chicago parrot the racist, classist "criticisms" without any consideration of where they originate from.

It's the same shit every time. Here's just a few comments I got when I brought up Chicago or mentioned I was from there:
- "Chicago is a shithole, the inner cities are infested with crime."
- "I'm surprised you didn't get robbed on your way out."

- "Probably the only place in the US I'd excuse owning a gun."
- "I couldn't imagine living there, it's so scary!"

And then there's this shitty map that someone (clearly not from here) conjured up - totally just a joke, not prejudiced at all.

EVERYONE talks about how much CRIME there is but failed to consider why there's so much crime in the first place, or maybe the reality of capitalists and cops siphoning resources that should be going to repairing disadvantaged communities ruins the fun for casual racists

also consider the FUCKING COPS.
you want to know why there's an "infestation of crime"?
MAYBE it's because there's an infestation of cops patrolling poor black neighborhoods; cops who have nothing to do with the communities that they patrol are are just there to fill the prisons.

maybe consider that Cook County Jail is the fourth most populated prison in the US. at least 67% of it's population (based on data from 2011 - it's likely higher now) are African-American.
if that isn't a sign of systemic racial injustice, i don't know what is.

and to circle back over to my point about classism?
there are AT LEAST 16 billionaires residing in the city of Chicago.
most of these "high crime shitholes", as i've had to hear some people say, are, again, poverty-stricken areas.

perhaps, and this is a wild fucking idea to some of you; people are fighting for their lives as a result of kleptocrats hoarding wealth for themselves? also the police budget in Chicago is $1.76 billion dollars.

but what do i know, i was just born and raised here. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

Chicago's problems don't start and end with "inner city crime", that's only a symptom of it.
if you want to address the real problem, dissolve the wealth of billionaires and defund the CPD. reinvest it in where it's needed most.

Stop leaving sections of the cities to rot and sending cops to clean up the mess.

Start funding opportunities for communities to rebuild themselves.

you're 100% guaranteed to see a sharp drop in crime rate when the needs of a city's denizens are accounted for