It’s undeniable — Representative Jerry Nadler’s denial aside — that violent crime is surging in several of America’s largest cities. “Across 20 major cities, the murder rate at the end of June was on average 37 percent higher than it was at the end of May,” The New York Times reports. “The increase over the same period a year ago was just 6 percent.”

In fact, there has been a surge of violent crime in most of the nation’s largest urban centers, including a 30% increase in homicides in New York and double-digit increases in 36 of the nation’s 50 biggest cities, almost all of which are under Democrat control.

To what does the Times attribute this sudden spike in homicides? Well, the obvious answer that perfectly coincides with the rise in violence is the rioting after the death of George Floyd, instigated by Marxist groups like Black Lives Matter. Furthermore, Democrat politicians, supported by their Leftmedia cohorts, have only fanned the flames of unrest by promoting the fallacious narrative of “systemically racist” cops while capitulating to BLM’s insane demands for defunding the police.

But the Times can’t admit the truth or it would undercut the “systemic racism” narrative. Therefore it scapegoats the pandemic shutdowns as the primary source of the surge in violence. The Times headline reads, “In the Wake of Covid-19 Lockdowns, a Troubling Surge in Homicides.” Ironically, these are the same shutdowns the Times and Democrat leaders have so loudly advocated as the only “reasonable” position one can hold in light of the global pandemic.

Interestingly, local news in Kansas City compared the number of homicides with the number of coronavirus deaths in the city since the pandemic hit and found that more residents have died of homicides (94) than from the virus (76).

As for police, there are cities across the country that are actually increasing their budgets for law enforcement this year. These include cities like Fort Worth and Dallas, Texas, which on Tuesday unveiled budgets that expand police funding with the aim of being better able to counter and respond to violent crime so as to keep the public safe. You know, the primary reason for law enforcement.

The truth is that the only way to address the spiking violence is to address the actual cause. The Leftmedia’s fallacious narrative that racist cops, and not criminals, are the problem will only lead to more violent crime, as the country is witnessing today.

(Updated.)