SO MUCH FOR “BLACK LIVES MATTER”: The WSJ has an editorial today calling NYC Mayor Bill DeBlasio on the carpet for his response to the “Ferguson effect” spike in violent crimes:

“I think it’s clear that what we have primarily here is a gang and crew problem,” the mayor said last week. “You know, for those of us who were here in the bad old days—when we had 2,000 murders or more a year—a lot of everyday citizens were getting caught in those crossfires.” He added it’s “equally troubling when, you know, individual gang members shoot other gang members, but it’s a different reality.”

Translation: If young, largely minority men are killing each other over gang turf, then the violent crime revival is no big deal. It won’t hit the trendier corners of Brooklyn.

So whatever happened to Mr. de Blasio’s campaign that “black lives matter”?

It’s true that most of the New York shootings, as in Chicago or Baltimore, have been confined to poor neighborhoods. But one of the secrets of New York’s policing success from Rudy Giuliani through Michael Bloomberg is that it sought to reduce crime in the highest-crime neighborhoods. The main beneficiaries are the thousands of city residents—overwhelmingly young, black and male—who are alive today because New York’s policing reforms brought crime to record lows.

To be fair, it’s not like the progressive/liberal activists and politicians said that black lives matter all the time. It only matters for the purpose of mainstream media sensationalism, flaming racial hatred/looting for the cameras, and scoring quick political points. It makes cool-looking t-shirts, signs and an awesome hashtag!