CHICAGO, June 27, 2011 — Are Sarah Palin, the NRA, and racism to blame for the spread of illegal guns and violent crime in Chicago? Gerry McCarthy, Chicago’s new top cop, seems to thinks so.

A just released video shows Rahm Emanuel’s newly appointed police chief making inflammatory remarks earlier this month at controversial pastor Fr. Pfleger’s St. Sabina Church, an African American parish on Chicago’s beleaguered south side. The remarks are drawing fire:

"I’m going to take a risk here and I’m gonna give you something and this is definitely the right audience. Let’s see if we can make a connection here.  Slavery. Segregation. Black codes. Jim Crow. What, what did they all have in common? Government-sponsored racism."

Government-sponsored racism? That’s the root cause of the spread of illegal guns and violent crime?

Chicago has had its fair share of race and racism ranters: Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Fr. Pfleger, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, and former Black Panther Defense Minister-turned-Congressman Bobby Rush to name a few. However, a Chicago police chief using race-baiting tactics to garner support in the African American community? That has to be a first.

However, it is not government-sponsored racism alone that is responsible for Chicago’s rising death toll. According to McCarthy, the National Rifle Association is also to blame:

"The NRA does not like me and I’m OK with that. We’ve got to get the gun debate back to center with the recognition of who’s paying the price for the gun manufacturers being rich and living in gated communities."

Does McCarthy’s argument hold water? The U.S. Supreme Court just struck down Chicago’s 28 year-old hand gun ban as unconstitutional last year. If liberal gun control theory holds true, shouldn’t there have been a dramatic decline in crime rates these past 28 years? No. Because criminals don’t respect laws. They circumvent them.

McCarthy had room for one more political potshot at St. Sabina parish: Gov. Sarah Palin. During his speech, he said he was returning from a shooting investigation one night and happened to catch an episode of “Sarah Palin’s Alaska.”

 “She (Sarah Palin) was caribou hunting, and talking about the right to bear arms," he said. "Why wasn’t she at the crime scene with me?" joked McCarthy.

That’s quite a stretch even for Rahm Emanuel's police chief.

McCarthy’s reckless statements have ignited passions on both sides of the ideological aisle as well as among many in the African American community. "The crime issue has nothing to do with racism,” Shawn Gowder, Sergeant of Arms for the African American Police League. “It has everything to do with our ability to protect ourselves.

Gowder has it right.

According to January – May 2011 Chicago Police Department crime statistics, 56.1% of Chicago murders were gang-related. In 29.6% of these murder cases, the offender was an acquaintance, intimate partner or relative of the victim, while in 38.6% the relationship was not established. In 81.8% of cases, the assailant had a prior CPD record. 65.9% of offenders were African American, 38.1% were Hispanic, and 2.3% were white. Finally, 75.5% of victims were African American, 19.4% were Hispanic, and 3.6% were white. The weapon of choice (82.9%) was a firearm.

But what does all this really reveal about crime in Chicago? It reveals crime is most prevalent in communities torn apart by gang violence, broken families, and depressed economics. It also reveals the abject failure of the liberal approach to crime: Guns are not the root cause of crime; they are the symptom. Ultimately, crime is a failure of personal responsibility.

McCarthy’s sick liberal sensitivity training has taught him well, i.e., criminals are not responsible for their own actions. They are at the mercy of forces beyond their control. Poor economics. Racism. Guns. Sarah Palin. Various GOP office holders. Liberals always have some tired excuse for bad behavior.

Everyone starts out in a different position in life: black, white, Hispanic, male, female, rich, poor, middle class, or working class, diseased or healthy. There are no guarantees of wealth or happiness. In the end, we are responsible for our own actions, or we should be.

Instead of making more excuses, McCarthy should have spoken about the effect broken homes have on the African American community. He should have talked about gang violence, single moms, and deadbeat dads. He should have urged St. Sabina parish to stand up and take responsibility for its own community.

So why didn’t he? Because McCarthy was only at St. Sabina to tout the Democrat party line. A party line that uses class warfare and race-baiting code words like “government-sponsored racism” to engender political support.

Chicago doesn’t need its police chief flashing the race card. In any other town, McCarthy would have been placed on temporary unpaid leave, reprimanded, discharged or all of the above for his reckless remarks on race. But this is Chicago.

Ultimately, for the Democrat machine and Mayor Rahm Emanuel, it’s not really about helping crime-ridden communities. It’s about controlling people and their votes; winning elections and amassing power. Economically-depressed people are easier to control. Desperate people are more willing to surrender their freedom.

In Chicago, that’s what government-sponsored racism really means. I wonder how St. Sabina’s parishioners would have reacted to that.

Conservative satirist and commentator William J. Kelly is also a contributor to the American Spectator, Breitbart.com and edits the Tea Party Reports for the Washington Times Communities. He is a native from Chicago's Southside.

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