Are black lives in danger due to “systemic racism” in American policing? Are “black and brown bodies” under systematic assault by white racists?
The numbers from recent years suggest that the answer to both questions is “no.” There are few instances in which unarmed blacks are killed by white police officers. To the extent that, in these instances, the police officer acted wrongfully, the officer must be held fully accountable. However, the low number of instances compared to the frequency of encounters undercuts any claim of a systemic policing problem in this regard.
Similarly, the statistics on interracial violence undercut the claim that white racists pose a serious threat to black and brown bodies. Blacks engage in violence against whites far more frequently than whites engage in violence against blacks.
Today, I want to examine the 2019 numbers on police shootings. Daniel Horowitz reports them here, citing the Washington Post’s database.
According to the Post’s data, nine unarmed black people were shot dead by cops in 2019. Nineteen unarmed white people shared the same fate. These numbers confirm that black lives are not in danger due to systemic police racism. Nine incidents do not demonstrate a systemic problem.
Powerline
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