More than 40 people were shot in Chicago during last year’s Memorial Day weekend. This year saw fewer homicides overall, but nevertheless violence was up, the Chicago Tribune reports: “Last year, 12 people were killed and 44 wounded over the holiday weekend. This weekend, 13 more people were shot, but six fewer people were killed.”

The 69 wounded in shootings this weekend prolongs the trend of escalating violence: “By Tuesday morning, the tally of those shot in Chicago this year was around 1,500, according to data compiled by the Tribune, with at least 250 killed. By this time last year, 957 had been shot, with 164 killed.” Moreover, “The 60 homicides this month have outpaced those in each of the previous three years in Chicago, according to Tribune data. By May 30, 2015, there had been 45 homicides, with 41 by the same date in 2014 and 47 in 2013.”

Sadly, the increase in shootings isn’t confined to Chicago. For example, the rate of homicides in Memphis is even more appalling. On April 4 — ironically, the same day Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated — the Associated Press reported that “through the end of March in Memphis, 60 people had been killed, giving the city a homicide rate of 9.13 victims per 100,000 people in the city during that time period. That rate is about 64 percent higher than Chicago’s rate this year.” The Memphis tally has since risen to 91.

This year especially, the question is how much of today’s violence is due to the Ferguson Effect. The New York Times notes, “Chicago’s population of 2.7 million is nearly equally split among whites, blacks and Hispanics, but most of the shootings have taken place in black and Hispanic neighborhoods on the city’s South and West Sides, and the majority of the victims have been African-American.” That’s a despicable way to honor the heroic Americans — like we did yesterday — who we gave the ultimate sacrifice in defense of Liberty.