Jesse Jackson: America Needs to Commit to Rebuilding Inner Cities' Infrastructure

Shooting deaths in Chicago so far this year have surpassed last year’s total number, while the month of August proved to be the most violent month in the city in about the last 20 years. As of August 31, shooting deaths in the “Windy City” have increased to 425.

Reverend Jesse Jackson, the founder of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, joined the FOX Business Network to discuss the staggering statistics and possible causes behind the rising amount of shooting deaths.

“Chicago is a theater for the gun market,” Jackson said. “Chicago is the Middle West and guns are coming in great numbers, that’s why there should be some commitment. People cannot sit on their porches, children cannot go to school, cannot play in the parks. It’s beyond the citizens’ capacity to stop it.”

Jackson, known for his work as a civil rights activist, explained that government needs to step in to help curb the epidemic.

“The silence of the [Illinois] governor and even the federal government…the federal government has some obligation. When there was a killing in Orlando and Sandy Hook, the entire federal government moved on it. But there is no commitment to rebuild the infrastructure of inner cities.”

The reverend explained that without focusing on fixing this type of infrastructure spending, America’s struggling cities will continue to suffer.

“So long as we’re more committed to investing in the Far East and China and the like, and not investing in our cities, we are paying a price,” Jackson said. “Republicans ignore it because it seems that they can’t get votes there. And Democrats often times throw their hands up…We need help desperately…People need jobs, healthcare, housing and access to capital.”