- Oct 6, 2015
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The media perpetuates the notion that the police are disproportionately killing African Americans, but is that really true?
This is an interesting article that I have known about for awhile, and I continue to see it posted after the aforementioned tragedies transpire, yet I haven't really seen anyone adequately rebut the findings.
Most people want to compare the African American population, about ~13%, with the number of gun deaths. However, is that really the correct way to look at the situation? Cops don't pick citizens randomly from the population. Rather, they are sent to situations that require resolutions, often crimes. Now, if you look at crime statistics you will see that when police are called into a violent crime, the suspect is disproportionately African American. In fact, it's about 8 times higher based on population size, or nearly equal to such altercations that take place with white Americans.
Now, if we go by this statistic, rather the population as a whole, we see that the ratios now favor White Americans being killed by the police.
Am I missing something here? To me, this seems like extremely compelling evidence that cops aren't unstable power tripping racists, but rather merely unstable power tripping idiots.
NOTES:
It seems silly I have to clarify these things, but to ensure the thread isn't derailed by strawmen, I think it would be prudent to make a few statements. First off, I want to say that the data is woefully lacking, because one party doesn't like to keep adequate records. Secondly, I am not a racist trying to justify the actions of police that shoot unarmed people. Third, I am not trying to garner sympathy for white people, and say they are disproportionately the victims. Fourth, I am not saying some cops aren't racist. And finally, we seriously need to change the way we screen, hire, and train police officers.
White Americans are the racial majority. African Americans are the largest racial minority, amounting to 13.2% of the population. Hispanic and Latino Americans amount to 17.1% of the population, making up the largest ethnic minority.
Sources:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news...e-whites-than-blacks-but-minority-d/?page=all
https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2013/crime-in-the-u.s.-2013/tables/table-43
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demography_of_the_United_States
http://www.copinthehood.com/2015/04/killed-by-police-2-of-3-race.html
This is an interesting article that I have known about for awhile, and I continue to see it posted after the aforementioned tragedies transpire, yet I haven't really seen anyone adequately rebut the findings.
Most people want to compare the African American population, about ~13%, with the number of gun deaths. However, is that really the correct way to look at the situation? Cops don't pick citizens randomly from the population. Rather, they are sent to situations that require resolutions, often crimes. Now, if you look at crime statistics you will see that when police are called into a violent crime, the suspect is disproportionately African American. In fact, it's about 8 times higher based on population size, or nearly equal to such altercations that take place with white Americans.
Now, if we go by this statistic, rather the population as a whole, we see that the ratios now favor White Americans being killed by the police.
Am I missing something here? To me, this seems like extremely compelling evidence that cops aren't unstable power tripping racists, but rather merely unstable power tripping idiots.
NOTES:
It seems silly I have to clarify these things, but to ensure the thread isn't derailed by strawmen, I think it would be prudent to make a few statements. First off, I want to say that the data is woefully lacking, because one party doesn't like to keep adequate records. Secondly, I am not a racist trying to justify the actions of police that shoot unarmed people. Third, I am not trying to garner sympathy for white people, and say they are disproportionately the victims. Fourth, I am not saying some cops aren't racist. And finally, we seriously need to change the way we screen, hire, and train police officers.
White Americans are the racial majority. African Americans are the largest racial minority, amounting to 13.2% of the population. Hispanic and Latino Americans amount to 17.1% of the population, making up the largest ethnic minority.
Sources:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news...e-whites-than-blacks-but-minority-d/?page=all
https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2013/crime-in-the-u.s.-2013/tables/table-43
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demography_of_the_United_States
http://www.copinthehood.com/2015/04/killed-by-police-2-of-3-race.html
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