My family has deep roots in the great city of Birmingham, Alabama. I consider it a dishonor not to have been in the city when the Confederate Memorial was dismantled during the Terror of 2020 to stand and fight the dismantling of this glorious monument. Instead, I watched in horror as some of the most beautiful monuments in all of America were desecrated.
We have lived under an immense pressure valve for decades and it came to a boil during the spring/summer of 2020.
So much has been lost during the chaos of the past few years, but the one thing that remains is truth.
And the truth behind it all: It was never about saving America, but surviving the end of the American Experiment. That’s the legacy of George Floyd. And the 2023 homicide numbers in 69 percent black and 23 percent white Birmingham, Alabama are a reminder of the world created in the absence of those who remember the past and dare believe their posterity deserves a better tomorrow.
Birmingham homicides in 2023 dropped for first time in 5 years: Here are the 135 victims, by Carol Robinson, Al.com, January 1, 2024
Birmingham’s homicide tally in 2023 dropped for the first time in five years after years of steady increases brought the deadly toll to a historic high.
The city ended 2023 with 135 homicides, a 6.25% decrease from 2022 when the city had 144 homicides, marking the deadliest year in recent Birmingham history.
The 2022 homicide total surpassed the highest number recorded in recent memory—41 in 1991. Birmingham’s all-time record for homicides was in 1933 with 148 slayings.
“We increased every year over the past four years up through last year so to finally be showing a decrease is a good thing,” said Birmingham Police Chief Scott Thurmond.
“Americans tend to think that crime is rising, but the evidence we have right now points to sizable declines,” Asher wrote in Substack.
Double-digit drops were reported in major cities such as New York (11.42% as of Dec. 24), Los Angeles (15.45% as of Dec. 23) and Chicago (12.7% as of Dec. 27), Forbes reported.
Thurmond, in part, attributes the Birmingham decrease to increased efforts by local, state and federal law enforcement agencies to work together.
“We’re combining all of our resources and looking at the people who are causing the problems and trying to go after those people—our trigger pullers,” he said.
For the 126 criminal homicides, July was the deadliest month with 15.
Homicides in the other 11 months were: January, 10; February, 2; March, 11; April, 11; May, 11, June, 10; August, 10; September, 10; October, 12; November 12, and December, 12.
The majority of the killings—54—took place between 3 p.m. and 11 p.m. There were 36 homicides between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m., and 36 between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m.
Of the victims, 96 were Black males, 19 were Black females, four were white males, one was a white female, four were Hispanic, and two were listed as “other.”
Of the known suspects, 76 were Black and four were white.
Handguns were used in 79, while rifles were used in 43, and a shotgun was used in one. Blunt force trauma led to two deaths.
The West Precinct, the city’s largest geographical area, had 51 homicides. There were 30 in the North Precinct, 21 in the East Precinct and 15 in the South Precinct.
Majority of Birmingham’s 2023 homicides still unsolved
Thurmond said the majority of motives are unknown, but eight were revenge killings, nine resulted from fights, six resulted from robberies, five were domestic-related and two involved drugs.
Twenty-three of the murders happened inside a residence, while 19 happened outside of a home.
There were 52 people killed in the street, 17 in parking lots, six at commercial properties, three at city parks and two at convenience stores.
Suspects have been charged in only 38.1% of the 126 criminal homicides and 78 remain unsolved.
Detectives are working hard to make arrests, Thurmond said.
“We have a very good idea who is responsible but it’s about being able to prove it,” Thurmond said. “We know Person A shot Person B but we don’t have someone willing to come to court to testify.”
The average age of homicide victims in 2022 was 30. That increased to 33 in 2023.
“That’s people who should know better,’’ the chief said. “You should have enough sense not to engage in these types of activities that could lead to someone losing their life.”
Thurmond said police leaders meet each day to look at crime trends for the previous 24 hours and talk about ways to reduce homicides.
“Was there a way law enforcement could have intervened prior to the crime taking place?” he said. “Almost every time, we can never find a way of where we could have intervened.”
“The biggest thing is you’ve got people who know each other,” Thurmond added.
“We don’t have strangers killing strangers, so how do you stop two people or a group of people with an ongoing feud from shooting at each other or killing each other?” he said.
There were 135 homicides in Birmingham, Alabama in 2023: “Of the known suspects, 76 were Black and four were white.” So 55 homicides have no suspect in the 69 percent black city, where 95 percent of known homicide suspects are black.
White people long ago left Birmingham and rebuilt it across the mountain in Vestavia Hills, Mountain Brook, and Hoover (blacks, of course, followed). What segregationists long ago warned would happen came true in black politically controlled Birmingham. It doesn’t matter if Confederate Monuments come down, black people will still kill one another at rates beyond the comprehension of the civilization white people create in the absence of blacks.
