For years, Americans have been told a familiar story.
Major cities led by Black elected officials are supposedly synonymous with crime, disorder and decline. From campaign rallies to cable television appearances, political leaders have repeatedly invoked Chicago, Baltimore, Atlanta, Newark and other cities as cautionary tales. The message has been unmistakable: Black leadership has failed, and urban America is spiraling out of control.
The facts tell a different story.
Across the country, violent crime is falling. Homicides declined sharply in 2024, with researchers documenting one of the largest nationwide drops in decades. Major cities have reported significant reductions not only in murders, but also in robberies, burglaries and auto thefts. Chicago is part of that story. So are Baltimore, Newark, Atlanta, Cleveland, Birmingham and Memphis.
What do many of these cities have in common?
They are led by Black mayors.
That fact alone does not prove causation. Public safety is shaped by countless factors, from policing strategies and economic conditions to community partnerships and violence-intervention programs.
But the fact does expose the hollowness of a narrative that has become deeply embedded in our political discourse.
When crime rises in a city led by a Black mayor, critics rush to declare the city a symbol of failure. When crime falls under that same leadership, the silence is deafening.
Chicago knows this dynamic better than most.
For years, the city has served as a political prop for those eager to paint urban America as a lawless wasteland. Donald Trump frequently invoked Chicago during his campaigns and presidency as an example of what he claimed was urban collapse. More recently, his allies have continued to portray major cities as places overrun by crime and chaos, despite mounting evidence that crime trends are moving in the opposite direction.
The purpose of this rhetoric is often larger than crime itself. It reinforces a broader narrative that America's diverse cities are inherently dysfunctional and that the leaders elected by their residents are incapable of governing effectively.
The data increasingly undermine that claim.
Baltimore recently recorded one of the most dramatic declines in homicides in its modern history. Atlanta has seen substantial reductions in murders. Chicago's violent crime trends have moved downward. Cities across the country are reporting progress that would have been difficult to imagine during the height of the pandemic-era surge in violence.
This progress did not happen by accident.
It reflects years of investment in violence-prevention initiatives, community-based intervention programs, youth engagement efforts, neighborhood revitalization and targeted law enforcement strategies. It reflects the work of clergy, outreach workers, educators, grassroots leaders, law enforcement officers and public officials. It reflects communities that refused to surrender to despair.
And yes, it reflects leadership.
I know this from experience. During my two terms as mayor of New Orleans, we achieved dramatic reductions in crime while advancing neighborhood revitalization, economic development and police reform. I also know New Orleans is not unique. Across the country, Black mayors have long demonstrated that effective leadership and smart public safety strategies can produce real results. Maynard Jackson helped guide Atlanta through a period of extraordinary growth and modernization. Wellington Webb presided over major crime reductions and economic expansion in Denver. Kurt Schmoke brought innovative thinking to public safety and governance in Baltimore.
Time and again, Black mayors have helped make cities safer, stronger, and more prosperous through a combination of accountability, community partnership and opportunity.
Black mayors should not receive sole credit for falling crime rates. But neither should they be denied credit when their cities make measurable progress. Leadership means assembling coalitions, setting priorities, allocating resources and holding institutions accountable. The mayors leading many of America's largest cities have spent years pursuing exactly that work.
The irony is difficult to ignore. At the very moment critics continue to describe Black-led cities as uniquely dangerous, many of those cities are producing some of the nation's most encouraging public safety outcomes.
That reality deserves acknowledgment, not because the mayors are Black, but because the stereotype is.
Not every problem has been solved. Anyone who has lost a loved one to violence knows better. Too many neighborhoods still experience trauma. Too many families live with fear. Too many young people remain vulnerable to cycles of poverty and violence.
But progress matters.
If we are willing to amplify stories of failure, we must also be willing to recognize stories of success.
America's cities are proving that public safety improves when communities invest in prevention, accountability, opportunity, and partnership. Many of those success stories are unfolding under Black mayors.
For generations, political actors have tried to associate Black political leadership with urban decline while portraying predominantly white-led jurisdictions as models of competence. The evidence before us challenges those assumptions. It reminds us that effective governance cannot be measured by race, ideology or partisan affiliation. It must be measured by results, and those results are increasingly harder to ignore.
I saw firsthand in New Orleans what can happen when communities, law enforcement, civic leaders and public officials work together around a shared commitment to public safety. From my administration to today's generation of Black mayors, city leaders have shown that crime can be reduced while opportunity expands. The results speak far more loudly than the stereotypes ever could.
Marc H. Morial is president and CEO of the National Urban League and was mayor of New Orleans from 1994 to 2002.
