Chicago figured out how to build a skyscraper and reverse a river’s flow, but it has not found the killers of these woman, most of whom were Black.

I don’t give a damn who’s tired of hearing it. I’m not gonna stop saying it: If 51 dogs were slain and discarded in trashcans, abandoned buildings and vacant lots across Chicago, set on fire and dismembered, this city would be up in arms.

Why not for at least 51 women slain here since 2001, and whose murders remain mostly unsolved?

Why not for their families who seek solace and justice for these daughters whose innocent blood cries out from their cold graves?

Can you hear them?

Imagine their last gasps, amid the torture they suffered from their murderer who strangled or asphyxiated them, desecrated them?

Can you envision their final desperate struggle? Hear their cries for help before they at last succumbed to death — the light of life seeping from their frightened eyes? Visualize their last moments in the hands of someone who hated them rather than being embraced by someone who loved them?

I can. I must.

The cold. The desolation of their bodies dumped, half dressed, defiled. The pain. The shame. Crying out for help. And yet, no one came. No one answered.

Why shouldn’t this city now have to answer?

The depravity. The inhumanity. This stark insanity of a city where they could figure out how to build a skyscraper, reverse the river’s flow, and design a world-class skyline that shimmers. A city that cannot find — at least has not found — these women’s killers.

And why not?

What if it were 51 women mostly white instead of 51 women mostly Black? What if they were mostly middle class instead of mostly poor and working class?

What if they lived and died in a posh Near North Side neighborhood, or along the Magnificent Mile, rather than on the South and West Sides on poverty’s isle? Would these murders still be largely unsolved? Might this city then care?

What if these women had not been all summarily — and falsely — characterized as “prostitutes” and “drug addicts”? Would we be so easily dismissive of their fate? Would we still deem them as perhaps “less than,” if not altogether “disposables,” rather than as flesh and blood and heart and soul, created in the image of God?

What if “she” was your daughter, your mother, your sister, your aunt, your granddaughter, the girl next door? What if we could see in the eyes of those among these victims whom life may have pushed into the gutter, the soul of a broken woman, not just some “whore”? Then would this city do more?

For Lollapalooza and an assortment of downtown entertainment fests, resources flow. And when murder, rape or a string of robberies occur beyond the hood, no stone is left unturned. Those victims garner headlines and nightly news because they are of a different hue, or well to do.

Remember Jussie Smollet and how quickly police got to the bottom of the truth?

But Black women and girls disappear, or are raped and murdered damn near everyday. And what does the city do?

All the official hand wringing and explaining sounds like one big excuse. And the inability to solve the murders of the 51 just evidence that this case is clearly not a priority for the mayor, or the police, or for far too many.

Maybe I’m wrong. What I do know is that some don’t want to hear it anymore. In so many words and with looks of dismay they say, Shut up, John Fountain, you’ve already said that. Write about something else, let it go.”

I can’t. I won’t. And I don’t give a damn what “they” say. I said it again. And I’m gonna say it some more.

Email: Author@johnwfountain.com

John Fountain led his class at Roosevelt University in a yearlong project on the 51 murdered Chicago women, To view the project, visit: www.unforgotten51.com

Send letters to letters@suntimes.com.

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Murders spiked in major American cities since the death of George Floyd amid a push to slash police funding, according to a new analysis. The rise in homicides in 10 major cities last year coincided with police making fewer arrests and stops, the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund found. In Chicago, for example, arrests and stops dropped by 53 percent while murders rose 65 percent, when comparing June 2019 through February 2020 and June 2020 through February 2021. In Minneapolis during the same time period, arrests and stops decreased by 42 percent while murders increased 64 percent. Chicago cut approximately $59 million from police in its 2021 budget, largely by axing vacant positions in the force. Minneapolis, which slashed $7.8 million from its police department in December 2020, approved an infusion of money a month prior and backed away from one proposal to decrease the number of police officers and another …

All of the weekend’s fatal shootings happened during the 24-hour period on Easter Sunday.

Chicago saw an especially bloody Easter Sunday with at least seven people shot and killed citywide during the 24-hour period.

At least 27 others were wounded in other weekend shootings, none of which were reported by police as fatal.

Easter weekend was more deadly, but saw less shootings, than last weekend when 36 people were shot, four of them fatally, between 5 p.m. Friday and 5 a.m. Monday.

Englewood homicide

The last murder on Easter Sunday was a 45-year-old man gunned down in Englewood on the South Side. About 11:25 p.m., the man was found in the 6800 block of South Throop Street with gunshot wounds on the chest, Chicago police said.

He was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, police said. The Cook County medical examiner’s office hasn’t released his name.

Man dies after being shot 14 times in Roseland

Before dawn Sunday, a man died after being shot more than a dozen times, and another man was critically wounded, in Roseland on the Far South Side. A 31-year-old man was arguing with two people about 1:30 a.m. in the 200 block of West 108th Street when one person fired multiple shots at him, police said.

He suffered 14 gunshot wounds to the upper body and was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn where he died. His name hasn’t been released.

A 45-year-old man who tried to intervene was also shot, police said. He suffered two gunshot wounds to the chest and was taken to the same hospital in critical condition.

Fatal Austin shooting

A 28-year-old man was fatally shot Sunday after getting into a fight in a parking lot in Austin on the West Side. Jakub Marchewka of Belmont Craign was in a parking lot about 4:30 a.m. in the 3500 block of North Austin Avenue, when he got into a fight with a person who pulled out a gun and shot him in the chest, authorities said. He died at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood.

Brainerd homicide

Sunday evening, a 25-year-old man was found fatally shot in Brainerd on the South Side. About 6:15 p.m., officers found Dashawn Norman of Brainerd unresponsive in the backyard of a residence in the 9300 block of South Throop Street, authorities said. He was pronounced dead with a gunshot wound to his head at Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.

Man killed in car in Little Village

A 28-year-old man was found fatally shot inside an SUV Sunday in Little Village on the Southwest Side. About 12:15 p.m., officers found Brian Guerrero sitting unresponsive in the front passenger seat of a GMC Envoy in the 3600 block of West 32nd Street, authorities said. He died of a gunshot wound to the back of his head at the scene. The rear window of the vehicle was damaged from gunfire.

Man fatally shot while driving in West Pullman

A 38-year-old man was fatally shot Sunday while he was driving in West Pullman on the Far South Side. About 2:15 p.m., Octavius Mitchell of West Englewood was stopped in the middle of the street in the 11500 block of South LaSalle Street, authorities said. After a brief conversation with a man who approached his vehicle, the man fired shots and killed Mitchell, authorities said. No arrest was announced.

1 dead, 1 wounded in Humboldt Park shooting

Two people were shot, one fatally, in a drive-by Sunday in Humboldt Park on the West Side. They were in a vehicle driving north on Humboldt Drive about 8 p.m. when two males approached from behind on orange dirt bikes and began to fire shots as they drove past the driver-side door, police said.

Elijah Mena, 19, was struck in the neck and taken to Stroger Hospital where he was pronounced dead, authorities said said. The 20-year-old was taken to Saints Mary and Elizabeth Medical Center in critical condition.

Nonfatal shootings

In nonfatal shootings, a 24-year-old man was critically hurt Saturday evening in West Town. About 7:25 p.m., he was standing in an alley in the 2000 block of West Maypole Avenue, when he was approached by a man who pulled out a gun and fired several shots at him, police said.He was struck once in the abdomen and taken to Stroger Hospital in critical condition.

Security guard shot in West Town attempted robbery

A security guard was shot during an attempted robbery Sunday morning in West Town. The 22-year-old was reporting to work about 6:20 a.m. in the 100 block of South Western Avenue when a vehicle approached and the people inside tried to rob him, police said.

One of the suspects opened fire, striking the man in the thigh and lower leg, Chicago police said. The security guard returned fire, but it was not immediately clear if anyone was hit. The man was taken to a hospital in critical condition.

Kennedy Expressway shooting

Saturday morning, a person was shot on the Kennedy Expressway in Avondale on the North Side. The person was shot about 6:35 a.m. as he drove south on Interstate 90 near Belmont Avenue, Illinois State Police said. He was taken to a local hospital with injuries that were thought to be non-life-threatening.

Cragin shooting

A 25-year-old man was critically hurt in a shooting over an hour earlier in Cragin on the Northwest Side. About 5:15 a.m., the man was in the 5000 block of West Deming Place when someone fired shots, police said. He was struck in the abdomen and taken to Illinois Masonic Hospital in critical condition.

Loop shooting on Lower Wacker Drive

Earlier Saturday, a 29-year-old man was wounded in a shooting in the Loop. The man was a passenger in a vehicle about 3:30 a.m. on Lower Wacker Drive when he heard shots and felt pain, police said. He was shot in the knee and taken to Stroger Hospital, where his condition was stabilized.

First weekend shooting reported in Austin

In the weekend’s earliest reported shooting, a man was seriously hurt in a shooting Friday night in Austin on the West Side. The 54-year-old was standing near a home about 7:45 p.m. in the 1700 block of North Mason Avenue when he heard shots and felt pain, police said. He was struck in the leg and taken to Loyola Medical Center in Maywood.

Read more on crime, and track the city’s homicides.

Chicago has experienced a significant spike in shootings in March, with police data and other reports showing the numbers are their highest in four years.

There have been 233 shooting incidents and 298 victims in all of 2021, police data shows, according to CNN. There were 146 shootings and 175 victims in March of 2020, according to the report. In March of 2019 and 2018, there were 136 shooting incidents, respectively.

Shootings were up 50% between March 21 and March 28 when compared to data from 2020, according to police data. When compared to data over 28 days between 2020 and 2021, shootings were also up 60%. Data shows there has been a 4% increase in shootings over the past four years.

Murders have also skyrocketed in March when compared with previous years. Murders were up 150% between March 21 and March 28 when comparing data from 2021 and 2020. Murder rates were up when compared through a three-year change, but murders have declined by 1% when looking at a four year change, according to police data.

A 27-year-old man faces a count of first-degree murder in the death of 11-year-old Ny’Andrea Dyer.

A man has been charged with murder after allegedly firing the stray bullet that struck and killed an 11-year-old girl during a shootout last month at a Far South Side gas station.

Marcus Starkey, 27, faces a count of first-degree murder in the death of 11-year-old Ny’Andrea Dyer, Chicago police said.

He also faces counts of attempted murder and aggravated battery for allegedly wounding the 18-year-old man he was targeting March 1 at a gas station in the 100 block of West 127th Street.

This database lists names of every victim who was killed by another person within city limits. It is to be a comprehensive page compiled from information provided by disparate law enforcement and regional agencies that have a role with respect to Chicago homicides, including gun violence. The page will be updated daily, initially with information from the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office and updated with additional reporting.

Amid Capitol riot, FBI released files from Kennedy-era investigation into Nancy Pelosi’s father. In a 1961 memo to the White House, an agent summarized allegations that Thomas D’Alesandro, Jr. took payoffs from applicants to the police force, and helped to hinder the investigation and prosecution of crimes. (Full Article Here.)

While Washington, D.C. was riveted Jan. 6 on events at the U.S. Capitol, the FBI quietly released a trove of files from an “urgent” — yet seemingly controlled — investigation 60 years ago into Nancy Pelosi’s father.

The files reveal the results of an intense two-month investigation into Thomas D’Alesandro, Jr., a Maryland politician who served in a long career as a member of Congress and mayor of Baltimore.

John F. Kennedy’s White House ordered the investigation after JFK planned to appoint D’Alesandro to a government post. A routine FBI name check revealed “allegations” against D’Alessandro, according to a Feb. 6, 1961 teletype from “FBI Director.” The director at the time was J. Edgar Hoover.

The “urgent” teletype seemed to signal the goal of ensuring that D’Alesandro would be appointed to a government watchdog board that reviewed defense contracts. . .

“There have been allegations that D’Alesandro has associated with the Baltimore criminal element and [redacted] and the son, Franklin Roosevelt D’Alesandro, had been arrested for rape,” an agent wrote on page 14 of the trove. The allegations may have been rumor, the agent noted.

Elsewhere in the trove, agents wrote about the son, who was arrested and acquitted on charges that saw others convicted of raping two young girls, aged 11 and 13. The young D’Alesandro, who died in 2007, also was tried and acquitted of perjury in relation to that case. . .

The following year, the memo notes, D’Alesandro was reported as the main speaker at an event for the International Workers Order, an insurance organization placed on a list of subversive organizations by the U.S. attorney general in 1947 and later disbanded by order of the New York State Insurance Department for being too closely aligned with the Communist Party, in violation of regulations prohibiting political activity in the industry.

The FBI did not disclose why the entire collection was released on Jan. 6, and did not immediately respond to Just the News.

Thomas D’Alesandro died in 1987, at age 84.

Speaker Pelosi did not respond to questions from Just the News. (Full Article Here.)

The Files

Nancy Pelosi’s Father’s FBI Files Showing Deep Communist Roots

Portland isn’t even safe for left wing journalists anymore. Justin Yau, best known for his Twitter account @PDocumentarians and occasional contributions to left wing propaganda rag Willamette Week, has now been targeted and attacked by antifa and Black Lives Matter terrorists. *PEACEFULLY*, of course. And oh yeah, he happens to be Asian. This went down at today’s protest in outer Southeast Portland, where police shot and killed a man.

He’s a partisan left-wing “journalist” who films what antifa tells him to film. As soon as that line is crossed they take him out.

— Wear a Mask – Save a Life (@FauciSexual) April 17, 2021

Now all of a sudden people in the left wing media, such as Mike Baker, are shocked to see the mobs turn against them. This after years of these same “journalists” and media outlets explaining away and excusing the mob violence from left wing militants, and often times encouraging the carnage.

Alex Zielinksi, far left apologist for the Portland Mercury, is “at a loss”:

Why is the fact that they get financial compensation for doing cop work a valid reason for them to keep doing it?

— West Philadelphia hate account (@17795C) April 16, 2021

Coverage of protests get allies arrested. Documenting can also be harmful.

— MackYak (@112112B119119) April 16, 2021

Why? Evidently they are mad that the Portland Police twitter account was sharing his videos, and even using one as possible evidence in the recent arson committed at the police union building. He apparently deleted the primary video that got everyone upset.

Pretty sure this was in response to him not taking down a video that PPB retweeted

— Green Socialist (@ProtestaBloc) April 16, 2021

.@PDocumentarians, why did you delete your video evidence of #antifa criminal activity after @PortlandPolice retweeted it? You identify as a journalist. Do you have affiliations with antifa that aren’t declared?

— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) April 14, 2021

Yau had been receiving veiled threats in recent days.

justin yau sucks and consistently posts faces but it ain’t pretty deleted the tweet ppb quoted after they did it. def a case for like, not taking videos at all

— lil veggie fights fascism (@acabapril) April 14, 2021

Literally no threats in those pics, only demands to have consent respected. If you were a real journalist you’d know consent before filming and publishing faces is standard.

But you’re a hack and a fraud so

— not a cat (@UselessPouch) April 14, 2021

retweet this so it shows up on justin yau’s tl challenge lmao https://t.co/3B9H3iPNG8

— lil veggie fights fascism (@acabapril) April 13, 2021

As of this writing none of the Portland area media have officially acknowledged this attack in any published article. In fact, Yau himself contributed to the write up about the protest on Willamette Week’s website, yet he and his bosses apparently refuse to call out the violent mobs. No mention of it in Alex Zielinski’s write up on Portland Mercury. Ditto for Zane Sparling’s write up in the Portland Tribune. The paper of record, The Oregonian, also leaves this part out of their story by Maxine Bernstein. No tweets about this from Shane Burley either, who has pinned his career on books about strawmen “fascists” that he believes are everywhere.

Either the local media are afraid of the antifa mobs and they don’t want to be beaten and robbed next, or they are trying to ignore and downplay the violence.

More than 1,000 people were arrested across the country in connection with the protests, according to a human rights group that monitors political repression.

MOSCOW — Thousands of supporters of imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny marched in central Moscow on Wednesday as part of nationwide demonstrations calling for his freedom as his health reportedly is in severe decline while on a hunger strike.

More than 1,000 people were arrested across the country in connection with the protests, according to a human rights group that monitors political repression. Many were seized before the protests even began, including two top Navalny associates in Moscow.

Navalny’s team called for the unsanctioned demonstrations after weekend reports that his health is deteriorating.

People convicted of felony murder in Colorado would no longer face a mandatory sentence of life without parole under a bill passed by the state legislature this week and sent to Gov. Jared Polis for his signature.

Under the state’s current law, a defendant can be convicted of felony murder if a person is killed during the commission of a felony — including arson, robbery, burglary, kidnapping, escape or sexual assault — even if they weren’t the one directly responsible for the victim’s death.

Senate Bill 21-124, which, if signed by Polis, will take effect Sept. 15, would do away with the mandatory life sentence by making felony murder a Class 2 felony instead of Class 1. The sentencing range for Class 2 felonies is eight to 24 years, though if it’s a crime of violence, that range changes to 16 to 48 years.

Sen. Pete Lee, D-Colorado Springs, one of the bill’s sponsors, said the punishment should fit the crime and the individual’s guilt.

“Felony murder was striking with a broad sword,” Lee said. “It would give life without (parole) regardless of culpability, so I wanted to put felony murder in a category where the sentence could be proportional to the culpability of the person who committed the offense.”

Lee explained that a majority of felony murder cases involve young men of color who are typically of low income. Adolescent brains do not have a fully developed prefrontal cortex, which impacts impulse control and sensation-seeking. Additionally, Lee said young men are heavily influenced by their peers, resulting in criminal actions that they may not have done as individuals.

“Kids that do… felony, fatal, stupid things when they’re 16, 17, 18, 21 years old are not the same people that they will be when they’re 30, 40, 50 years old,” Lee said. “We’re no longer throwing away people who are redeemable.”

If signed, the new bill will only impact people charged with felony murder after the law takes effect and will not change the sentences of defendants who already have been convicted.

Judge Peter Cahill on Monday addressed crazy Maxine Waters’ demand for a first-degree murder conviction or else. Judge Cahill found the comments unhelpful and added: “I wish elected officials would stop talking about this case. … Their failure to do so I think is abhorrent.“ But Waters is just a 217-year-old congresswoman. I wonder what the judge would think of our 217-year-old president weighing in on the case before there was a conviction. Which is what Joe Biden did today. But if you ask Jen Psaki, she says “nuh-uh.”

REPORTER: The president has talked about the importance of an independent judiciary. Why is it appropriate for him to weigh in on the verdict, even though the jury is sequestered?

PSAKI: He totes didn’t do that.

He totes did.

Pro-Biden media outlets are even running with headlines Biden ‘praying’ for Chauvin conviction; evidence ‘overwhelming’:

While he did not explicitly use the words “guilty” or “evidence,” there was no mistaking the president’s meaning.

Leaked documents from the Philadelphia public school system shows Philadelphia’s Office of School Climate and Culture has introduced that teaches children from kindergarten through second grade about George Floyd and Black Lives Matter, and warns about a “pyramid of hate” that starts with racial stereotyping and jokes and ends in “genocide.”

Documents obtained by reporter Christopher Rufo show that teachers are encouraged to ask the four-year-old children if they have heard of Derek Chauvin and George Floyd, and asks them to “share their feelings” about the Chauvin trial verdict.

Students are then shown a slideshow that reveals a “social story for George Floyd,” and encouraged to “take action.” Teachers are to instruct their toddler pupils to “talk with others about what happened to George Floyd and the goals of the Black lives Matter movement, as well as to “get involved in local activism on these or other issues of injustice.”

Teachers are then told to teach the kindergarten students about the left-wing “Pyramid of Hate,” which claims that a lack of “awareness of privilege” ultimately leads to “genocide.”

According to Rufo, “the teachers are asked to discuss the ‘Pyramid of Hate’ with the children as young as four years old, teaching that ‘our society’ is built on ‘biased attitudes,’ ‘systemic discrimination,’ and ‘bias-motivated violence,’ which can lead to ‘genocide.’”

“I’ve emphasized for a very long time that there’s a big difference between the phrase ‘Black lives matter’ and the organization Black Lives Matter. I don’t think there’s anybody who disagrees with the phrase ‘Black lives matter’. But the organization is really essentially very far left, even Marxist in their ideology. They used to actually admit that on their website before we started bringing it to people’s attention and they took it down. If they really wanted to be useful they would recognize that they need to get involved with places like Chicago and places where black lives are being snuffed out on a daily basis.” ~ Ben Carson