Multiple children killed as crime spikes in Chicago
Fox Nation host Lawrence Jones on the violence and tragedy sweeping major cities.
Fox News contributor Lawrence Jones joined "Your World" Wednesday to discuss his conversation with the family of 7-year-old Natalia "Natalie" Wallace, who was shot and killed while playing outside of her grandmother's house in Chicago Saturday night.
"This is probably four or five times that I've been to Chicago to interview a family that has been impacted by something like this and it just doesn't stop," Jones reflected. "So a lot of people are feeling the pain, Neil, and they're wondering if their leaders will help make this stop."
The Chicago Police Department reported 87 people shot, 17 of them fatally, between July 2 and July 5. According to The Chicago Sun-Times, 19 people were shot and three killed on Monday alone.
Jones expressed his frustration that a Black child killed by violence in her community is not getting the same attention as the killing of a Black man by White police.
"The fact that there is not outrage universally when both things happen ticks me off because both of the lives matter," he said. "But it seems that in a time like this, both sides can choose which stories they want to cover.
"I'll continue to cover both because I value all lives, all Black lives ... and her life mattered too ..."
The contributor began to describe his experience while covering the shooting and his time with Wallace's family.
"I went there to visit the memorial and there was still blood on the ground ... someone still lives there. The families feel that they have to wake up and see that," Jones said. "I sat down with the family three hours before I interviewed with them just to reassure them that everything was going to be OK. You know what they were talking about? How they were going to reconstruct her so she could be presentable and send her off like the princess she was. But no one ever hears those type of conversations."
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Jones also expressed his frustration with both political parties, saying Republicans have yet to offer an alternative to Democratic leadership in cities like Chicago.
"Black communities have been experiencing this hopelessness for a long time," Jones explained. "That leads to crime. Any time you talk to any person that has studied criminal justice, there is a direct link to that. So how are we going to solve those issues? We've got to start having those conversations. And no political party wants to have that conversation."
Fox News' Julia Musto contributed to this report.
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