Violent crime has long afflicted minorities in Chicago at a much higher rate than the rest of the population, and the spike in homicides in the first half of 2012 provides an especially stark measure: 201 of the 259 homicide victims were black Americans

While blacks make up about 33% of the city’s population, they accounted for nearly 78% of the homicide victims through the first six months of 2012. By comparison, just 11 homicide victims in the first six months of 2012 were white, and 44 were Latino, according to police data. The pattern is a familiar one in Chicago, where most violent crime happens in impoverished, mostly black neighborhoods on the South and West sides. Annual Chicago police statistics show a majority of both homicide victims and offenders are young black men with criminal records. With one exception, black Americans have made up more than 70% of homicide victims in Chicago every year for the last two decades. It has been reported that 143 of homicide victims in the first half of 2012 were listed as being at least affiliated with a street gang. The numbers show that males between the ages of 15 and 35 made up more than three quarters of black homicide victims. Police data showed that 133 of those 154 victims — 86% — had arrest histories. Of the 44 Latino victims, 27 were males between the ages of 15 and 35 and had arrest histories, according to the data. Three of the 11 white victims were males in that age range with arrest histories. As stress escalates in neighborhoods that are as dangerous as foreign war zones, black political leaders are expressing frustration with the policing strategies of police Superintendent Garry McCarthy and Mayor Rahm Emanuel as well as the systemic problems in their communities. Alderman Willie Cochran, a former police sergeant who represents the South Side’s 20th Ward, said that it’s a struggle to guide young black men in his community onto a positive path. He touted vocational and education programs at nearby Kennedy King College but said young men on the street frequently tell him they can’t take part in the programs he’s promoting because they would have to traverse rival gang territory to do so. When Emanuel was running for mayor, violent crime was reaching lows not seen in decades, but the candidate made safety conditions in the city’s poorest neighborhoods a centerpiece of his campaign. After his February 2011 election, he wrote in a transition paper: “Far too many Chicagoans still live in homes, neighborhoods, and communities where fear and violence persist. Despite progress in recent years, violence in Chicago, and gun violence in particular, exacts an enormous toll and exacerbates almost every other problem the city faces. As a city, we can and will do better.” Instead, the city has done much worse. Through the first six months of 2012, homicides were up by nearly 38% over 2011. Blacks made up 140 of the 188 victims in the first six months of 2011, according to police data.

Related: JUDGE TO BLACK PERPS: WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH YOUR LIVES?