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Showing posts from September 26, 2017

If you're black...

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IF YOU'RE BLACK, you are about two and a half times more likely to be killed by a police officer. Sadly, that is the plain truth. I don't believe this is a reason to condemn police officers or our law enforcement system. The vast majority of police are dedicated and conscientious. But *something* is very wrong here. We need to look at it and discuss it and solve it. Pretending it does not exist and attacking those who are vocal about it helps no one and may be a major part of  the problem. Of the known uses of police fatal force in 2016 (963 documented incidents), 233 of those killed were African Americans. That amounts to 24% of the number killed. African Americans comprise just 13% of the U.S. population.  A total of 466 Non-Hispanic White Americans were killed in uses of police fatal force in that year. That amounts to 48% of the number killed. Non-Hispanic Whites comprise 61.3% of the population. When you equalize the casualty figures according to population, you find