Originally Posted by
MU88
In 2016:
Native Americans were twice as likely to be killed by police as Blacks.
Whites were twice as likely to be killed by police as Asian-Americans.
If this was simply about racial injustice against Blacks, the first statement would not be true. If this was simply about racial injustice to those not White, the second statement would not be true.
Look, everyone, and I mean everyone, is racist to one degree or another. We all are suspicious of things that are different. But, I am not so sure that race alone is the driving force behind the alleged abuses of police power or even a major factor. If this was entirely race driven, you would expect cities with similar racial makeups to be similar numbers of police shootings. But, you don't. Columbus and Oakland have the exact same percentage of Black residents, but a Black person is 3 times more likely to be killed by police in Oakland than Columbus. A Black is way more likely to get shot in Nashville than Raleigh. Why? Are Nashville and Oakland cops more racist than Columbus and Raleigh? Nor is crime the reason for blacks being shot. Buffalo has more violent crime and a slightly higher percentage of Black residents, but had no Police killings between 2012 and 2015, while Orlando, a city of the same size, less violent crime and slightly less Black residents, had 15 killings by Police.
Further, these stats leave out a couple of very important bits of information. First, how many Black cops kill Black criminals? Clearly, if Black cops are killing Blacks at a much higher rate than white cops do (and there is some research that suggests this is true), the suggestion that the higher rate of killing Blacks is a result of racism somewhat falls apart. In fact, if true, you may argue the opposite, that non-Black cops may be overly reluctant to shoot Black criminals. In addition, it would be interesting to know how many cops are killed by Black criminals versus non-black criminals. If Blacks kill cops at a much higher rate than other criminals, it would suggest a motive (not an excuse) for why more Blacks appear to be targeted by the police. Unfortunately, these types of stats don't exist or are unreliable.
My sole point is that instead of screaming that the police are racist who abuse power, we as a society need to come together and figure out the precise reasons why these shootings are occurring. Some may be attributable to race. But, are economic factors playing a role? Do different factors such as the type of police training, the makeup of the police force, or the demographics, such as age, play a factor? Are they the major factors? Only when we understand the full extent of the problem can the problem be fixed.
Finally, in 2016 it has been reported that 266 Blacks died in police shootings or roughly .00066% of the Black population in the US. So, you have a much, much better chance (about 10 times better) of being struck by lightening in your lifetime than a Black American has of being killed by the Police. I am not saying this issue isn't a problem, it is. Every life is precious. But, more Black Americans died in shootings in Chicago in the first half of 2017. We need to put this problem into context.