Post by Optimus on Jan 26, 2021 12:34:58 GMT -5
Let me first go ahead and state that every time a cop kills an unarmed person, it's a tragedy and in most instances likely should be prosecuted as a felony.
However, I think the "cops are killing unarmed black men" rhetoric, while important, greviously misrepresents the severity of the issue in the minds of the public. It's one of the more popular "political narratives du jour," but is incredibly misleading almost to the point of brainwashing people (mainly on the left).
For example, yesterday NPR released the results of some "in-depth" report they compiled where they counted up every unarmed black person (men and women) killed nationwide by cops over the past 6 years (since 2015). The total number for the entire 6 year period is 135, or roughly 22.5 people per year, out of a population of roughly 42 million people:
www.npr.org/2021/01/25/956177021/fatal-police-shootings-of-unarmed-black-people-reveal-troubling-patterns
Again, that's horrible and every one of those deaths is a tragedy.
However, to put those numbers into perspective, just this year (since January 1st, 2021), 33 black people have been murdered so far in Chicago:
www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-chicago-homicides-data-tracker-htmlstory.html
There are still over 11 months left in this year. If we assumed that 33 is the per-month average for the rest of the year, then nearly 400 black people will be murdered - in Chicago alone - during this year. That's nearly 3 times the amount in one year in one city than were killed by cops over more than half a decade in the entire country. The overwhelming majority of them will be killed not by white police officers, but by other black men.
Yes, as a Democrat, I realize this comes across as a lame conservative talking point, but I think it offers some valuable context to what the most urgent and most deadly issues are - and are not - when it comes to killing anyone.
So, why is the "cops are murdering lots of black people every year!" rhetoric so popular? And why do so many activists and media perseverate on it so religiously, while hardly ever acknowledging much bigger problems related to senseless murders in specific communities? To me, while it is certainly an important topic and certainly something that needs to stop, it's basically a fart in a hurricane in terms of overall senseless murders of black people in the US. Maybe I'm missing something, though.
However, I think the "cops are killing unarmed black men" rhetoric, while important, greviously misrepresents the severity of the issue in the minds of the public. It's one of the more popular "political narratives du jour," but is incredibly misleading almost to the point of brainwashing people (mainly on the left).
For example, yesterday NPR released the results of some "in-depth" report they compiled where they counted up every unarmed black person (men and women) killed nationwide by cops over the past 6 years (since 2015). The total number for the entire 6 year period is 135, or roughly 22.5 people per year, out of a population of roughly 42 million people:
www.npr.org/2021/01/25/956177021/fatal-police-shootings-of-unarmed-black-people-reveal-troubling-patterns
Again, that's horrible and every one of those deaths is a tragedy.
However, to put those numbers into perspective, just this year (since January 1st, 2021), 33 black people have been murdered so far in Chicago:
www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-chicago-homicides-data-tracker-htmlstory.html
There are still over 11 months left in this year. If we assumed that 33 is the per-month average for the rest of the year, then nearly 400 black people will be murdered - in Chicago alone - during this year. That's nearly 3 times the amount in one year in one city than were killed by cops over more than half a decade in the entire country. The overwhelming majority of them will be killed not by white police officers, but by other black men.
Yes, as a Democrat, I realize this comes across as a lame conservative talking point, but I think it offers some valuable context to what the most urgent and most deadly issues are - and are not - when it comes to killing anyone.
So, why is the "cops are murdering lots of black people every year!" rhetoric so popular? And why do so many activists and media perseverate on it so religiously, while hardly ever acknowledging much bigger problems related to senseless murders in specific communities? To me, while it is certainly an important topic and certainly something that needs to stop, it's basically a fart in a hurricane in terms of overall senseless murders of black people in the US. Maybe I'm missing something, though.
