Black mayors are reducing violent crime across the nation

TULSA, Okla.–As efforts to address recent gun violence in Tulsa continue, a preview of Mayor Monroe Nichols’ long-term plans appears to be on display in at least three other cities with Black mayors where violent crime is dropping.

Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott have all made national headlines in recent weeks for achieving historic reductions in homicides and violent crime.

In Tulsa, most of the coverage around Tulsa Mayor Nichols’ response to gun violence has centered on the updated curfew ordinance, which prohibits teens 17 and under from gathering downtown within the Inter-dispersal Loop (IDL) after 9 p.m. The proposal and rushed Tulsa City Council vote came as a response to a series of shootings that culminated in a deadly mass shooting at Tulsa Juneteenth on Black Wall Street.

Meanwhile, since taking office in December 2024, Mayor Nichols has been working to roll out a long-term community violence intervention plan in an effort to make Tulsa one of the safest big cities in the country.

“We are building some of those blocks now,” Mayor Nichols said in a recent interview.

Birmingham

Homicides in Birmingham, Alabama are down 46% in the first five months of 2025, according to the city’s crime data. It comes after 2024 became the deadliest year on record for the city since 1933, with as many as 151 homicides.

Magic City’s Mayor Woodfin credits both police and the community for the drastic drop in homicides and higher rate of removing violent offenders off the street.

“The Birmingham Police Department is locked in. We’ve had a significant increase in technology with the Real Time Crime Center,” Mayor Woodfin said in a video posted to X, formerly Twitter, at the end of May.

“But separate from technology, people are stepping up. People wanna know why crime is down? It’s because the community is doing their part,” he said, highlighting increased funding in the city’s budget for crime-stoppers and community violence reduction street teams out in the community.

Chicago

Despite being notorious for gun violence in a city that has spent decades neglecting working-class Black and other marginalized communities, Chicago’s homicide rate is declining under the leadership of progressive Mayor Brandon Johnson.

Chi-Town experienced a 33% drop in homicides through the first half of 2025, according to the city’s data. With 192 homicides through June, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office, it marks the lowest rate in over a decade.

Along with other community intervention strategies, Mayor Johnson credits much of the reduction in homicides to the city’s summer jobs program for youth, FOX 32 reported.

“If you expect me, after 400 years of disinvestment in this country of Black folks, to be able to turn that around in two years, you know good and well that no one individual can turn around that historical disinvestment in two years,” the Chicago mayor said in a video posted to his Instagram. “But what I can tell you is I’m the first mayor to put real money towards it.”

Baltimore

Nationally, the violent crime rate has been trending down since spiking during the pandemic. Overall, violent crime was down 3%, and homicides were down 11%, according to the most recent available FBI statistics.

Meanwhile, the city of Baltimore, Maryland, is experiencing one of the nation’s most drastic reductions in violent crime. During a press conference at the beginning of July, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Johnson announced the city had experienced the least amount of homicides for the first half of the year in over 50 years.

“Our continued progress is the direct result of the comprehensive, evidence-based public safety strategy that we have implemented in partnership with residents,” Mayor Scott stated. “I want to acknowledge the leadership of our community violence intervention ecosystem, MONSE, the men and women of BPD, our regional law enforcement agencies, and our partners in the State Attorney’s Office, U.S. Attorney’s Office, and the Office of the Attorney General.”

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Black mayors reducing crime

In Tulsa, the effort to reduce gun violence in a state where gun permits aren’t required remains an uphill battle. During the height of the pandemic in May 2020, Oklahoma Republican Governor Kevin Stitt signed a law banning cities from passing laws that limit gun possession to people deemed unsafe to themselves or others.

In Baltimore, Mayor Scott has held office since 2020, Birmingham Mayor Woodfin has held office since 2021, and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has held office since 2023.

Meanwhile, Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols has only had months to address the issue since taking office in December 2024. Nevertheless, he’s pledged to take an aggressive and evidence-based approach to tackling gun violence and other violent crimes.

In December, the Tulsa Mayor’s Office secured a $2 million federal grant to implement Community-Based Violence and Intervention Initiatives, and Tulsa Police Department secured $2.5 million from the Department of Justice to address the severe backlog in testing rape kits.

More recently, Mayor Nichols rolled out the Neighborhood Conditions Index, which works with neighborhoods “to use data to guide the equitable investment of resources throughout the City and to assist residents in identifying assets and opportunities in their neighborhoods.”

“Long term, it looks like investing in things like community violence intervention initiatives, making sure there’s a system where these young people, who may be justice-involved, have people they trust who can help put them on a different path. But that path also has to exist,” Mayor Nichols said.

“That’s why youth employment programs are so important. There has to be opportunity on the other side. If you’re asking me to do something different than what I know, what does that other thing look like,” he said.

Watch the full interview with Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols below:

Editor’s note: A previous version of the article included a typo that incorrectly listed Randall Woodfin as Baltimore mayor. We apologize for the error.