Big-city mayors, politicians and news pundits are having a difficult time explaining the spike in murder rates across the nation.

At least 35 U.S. cities have witnessed a sharp rise in homicides this year. Milwaukee, with 104 murders, has registered the biggest increase at 76 percent, while St. Louis murders have risen by 60 percent and Baltimore's by 56 percent.Chicago has been a battleground all year, with almost 400 homicides this year, 60 deaths coming in September alone.Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel did not win any fans in his police department with his comments during a private meeting in Washington last week. Speaking before a group of the nation's top law enforcement officers and politicians, Emanuel said a fear of being the next face on the 6 o'clock news had prompted officers in Chicago and across the country to become "fetal" and not risk engagements with the public.Emanuel was applauded for urging Attorney General Loretta Lynch to back the nation's police officers publicly to help stave off those cellphone videos that put police in a bad light. But it was his "fetal" quote that quickly went viral, upsetting his own Chicago police and others around the nation.Chicago's Fraternal Order of Police president Dean Angelo said police officers are a very resilient group and were not standing down. Police superintendent Garry McCarthy blamed repeat offenders for the deadly violence.A growing divide between blacks and police has also sparked charges of racism.Earlier this year, the Chicago Tribune ran an excellent story titled "Joe Maddon crusades to save his hometown." It showed how the popular Cubs manager, who has spent most of his professional career in baseball working with Hispanic players, helped build an interaction between immigrants and the longtime residents in his hometown of Hazleton.The article told how Hazleton's Hispanic population has surged and how race issues, drug and gang problems have had a crippling effect on the town.Tensions deepened when Hazleton passed an ordinance called the Illegal Immigration Relief Act, which would have fined businesses and landlords for employing or renting to illegal immigrants.Still a regular visitor to town, Maddon knew something had to be done to bring the sides together.He and other interested Hazleton residents helped form the Hazleton Integration Project, which set out to promote positive relationships with the Hispanic population through community activities.Maddon said that developing and creating relationships is much like playing on a winning ball club. People coming together is key to mending fences and building community.He also stated that much of the racial tensions and divisions start with adults in the home. Prejudices and hostile feelings, he said, are learned behavior and things that kids normally have to be taught by their parents.The fruits of building positive community relations could be seen at the Third Base Luncheonette, a hoagie shop that has been in the Maddon family for over half a century and where his mother has worked. After school, children would flock to the small shop to buy snacks. If a kid was short on money, Maddon's cousin Dave Mishinski would give him a break.Nationally known civil rights activists such as Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are quick to surface and appear before the news cameras when there's a black-versus-police confrontation somewhere in the nation, but they've ignored Chicago's black-versus-black gang violence that has left a staggering death toll.Mayor Emanuel could use someone with the wisdom of Joe Maddon to deal with the sorry state of race relations in his city.By JIM ZBICK |

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