Bill Maher says high Chicago crime rate isn’t talked about enough

HBO host Bill Maher wondered why more people – including celebrities – don’t speak to the devastating crime wave that’s gripped Chicago and led to countless tragic deaths.

The comments came during the most recent episode of “Real Time with Bill Maher” when the well-known commentator delved into the topic of growing violence across the country before zooming in on the Windy City.

“But why isn’t anyone ever talking to, like Chicago, like most of the shootings are young black men killing other young black men,” Maher asked his panel. “Is that not correct?”

“Yeah, that’s correct,” Brown University economist Glenn Loury replied.

“OK, much more than what the cops do,” Maher said. “Why doesn’t anybody talk about that? Why aren’t there, you know, a hundred, giant black celebrities who would have the respect of those people say ‘what are you doing to yourself, why are you killing each other?’”

“I feel like it’s never addressed,” Maher said.

When the other panelist, University of Washington international studies associate professor Daniel Bessner, said further investment would help address the problem, Maher pushed back.

He noted one in three children in the country can’t read at a basic level of comprehension and 85% of black students lack proficiency in reading skills.

“We already spend a lot of money on schools. So, are you going to keep telling me more money will fix this because I feel like this is much more connected to the problems of people who can’t read,” Maher said. “Yes, they’re going to have problems with gainful employment, and it seems like, you know, a lot of times the solutions that come from the left seem symbolic. They don’t seem like we’re addressing what really needs to be done, which is get kids learning, get them reading, get them to have a job.”

He further said, “It doesn’t seem like the money is getting to this problem if 85% of black students lack proficiency in reading skills.”

Loury, who also hosts a podcast, believes Democrats like mayor-elect Brandon Johnson in Chicago need to speak more forcefully about getting crime under control.

If lawmakers want to enact sweeping structural changes, they need more voters to show support for it, he said.

“It requires Democratic politics to get behind it and in order to get a majority of the voters in Chicago, or any place else, to get behind anything that is going to cost them, they have to feel safe,” Loury said.

“They have to feel that the people in charge are on their side. And that’s why Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson needs to come and give speeches saying this is contemptible behavior, we won’t tolerate it in our city. The reason why we have cops is precisely in order to stop this from happening and if you do it on my watch you’re going to go to jail.”

Chicago saw less murders — at 695 — last year than in 2021, when the city saw 804, according to Chicago police crime stats. Still, the 2022 murder rate is higher than the pre-COVID rate in 2019.

The high crime rate helped contribute to Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s reelection loss earlier this year.