Charlie Kirk blames Chicago gun violence on “a lack of father problem in the Black community”

Kirk also partially blamed “anti-police rhetoric” and “the Obama national platform”

From the August 9 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends:

Video file

CHARLIE KIRK (FOUNDER, TURNING POINT USA): It's a real tragedy going on in Chicago right now. What I was really struck by is there was not this huge call for gun control, even from the citizens of Chicago. Being from Chicago, we have seen the carnage increase over the last couple of years, and it really is a broken culture problem. And the common theme after talking to my fellow Chicagoans is that we have a lack of father problem in the Black community, especially in Chicago. And just one quick statistic, in the 1960's, the single motherhood rate in Chicago and across the country was about 18 percent in the Black community. Now it's over 75 percent. Think about that. In Chicago, only 25 percent of young Black youth will even have a father in the household, and that has contributed to this endless cycle of gang violence and gun violence. And there's a lot of frustration amongst us Chicagoans about the lack of action from the mayor's office to address this problem correctly. But the bottom line is a broken culture problem. 

BRIAN KILMEADE (CO-HOST): Charlie, do you believe that it's okay in Illinois to let Black people shoot Black people and there's not enough outrage from the people in power and the people of wealth? Is that the sense? Just contain the violence in one region? 

KIRK: It sure feels that way. It feels as if we've become desensitized to this pattern of violence in certain parts of Chicago. And these are our fellow Americans. This should be deemed absolutely unacceptable. But here's probably the most startling statistic. Zero, that's how many arrests have been made from all these shootings over the last weekend. Zero. That means these criminals that -- over 70 people shot, over a dozen people killed. No one has been arrested. And so it's the same people committing the same crimes. And I want to make this perfectly clear. Most Chicagoans are law abiding, hard-working, gritty, forward-thinking, creative people. Most Chicagoans are not criminals. It is clustered to a couple hundred very, very bad people. And by the way, this war on police will not help us go after the criminals, and as a Chicagoan I'm disgusted by the lack of action from the mayor's office towards this problem. 

KILMEADE: What do you mean about police? You think the police have been just pushed back? They know they're not going to -- no one's got their back so why risk their careers in a region that no one cares about? 

KIRK: That's right. And it's the rule of law. So look, there's this divisive anti-police rhetoric, the police are less likely to actually go do their job. And they -- if you go into these neighborhoods and you start to forge positive relationships with the pastors and the aldermen and decision-makers on the ground with law enforcement, that will bring down crime. You look at what Mayor [Rudy] Giuliani did in New York in the early 2000s, that's how he cleaned up the streets. He did not divide people based on racial ethnic lines, he built strong partnerships and he cleaned up the streets. Chicago's doing the exact opposite. 

AINSLEY EARHARDT (CO-HOST): Is this the first time you've heard that area talk about how they're not happy with the mayor? Because people have wondered in other parts of the country why this mayor continues to get reelected when you see these crime numbers. 

KIRK: There was unbelievable anger and disgust towards Mayor Rahm Emanuel. It's important to remember, Rahm Emanuel was the chief of staff under Obama in the very first couple years. This is almost the Obama policies in action on a very micro level. And you've seen murders go up, you've seen homelessness go up, you've seen schools closing, the education go down. This is the Obama national platform centralized in one city, and there's broad disgust behind the lack of action from Mayor Rahm Emanuel. 

Related:

The Guardian: Low-income Black fathers want to be good dads. The system won't let them

Chicago Tribune: The dangerous myth of the 'missing Black father'

Previously

Laura Ingraham: Is “Black-on-Black crime ... a bigger problem for the community than just the racism that you claim is in the criminal justice system?”

Turning Point USA and Campus Reform are defending a Florida professor with ties to a white nationalist group

Video: Coverage of gun violence must include police violence against Black people