Police kill more whites than blacks, but minority deaths generate more outrage

[CF DolFan]

How come this doesn't get more play in the news? I see it in my Facebook feed but it's not even prevalent there. Why does everyone seems to be ignoring the fact more whites die under the hands of the poice than blacks?

By Valerie Richardson - The Washington Times - Tuesday, April 21, 2015
Nobel Prize-winning novelist Toni Morrison says she wants to see an officer shoot an unarmed white teenager in the back before agreeing that the “conversation about race” is over, but she almost certainly already has received her wish.

An analysis released last week shows that more white people died at the hands of law enforcement than those of any other race in the last two years, even as the Justice Department, social-justice groups and media coverage focus on black victims of police force.

“People keep saying, ‘We need to have a conversation about race,’” Ms. Morrison told the (U.K.) Telegraph in an April 19 interview.

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“This is the conversation. I want to see a cop shoot a white unarmed teenager in the back,” said Ms. Morrison, who also has won the Pulitzer Prize for her work, which includes the bestsellers “Beloved” and “Song of Solomon.” “And I want to see a white man convicted for raping a black woman. Then when you ask me, ‘Is it over?’, I will say yes.”

Her comments reflect a widespread view that blacks are routinely targeted by law enforcement while whites shot by police are a rarity. Outrage has surged in recent weeks over the high-profile deaths of black men at the hands of police, notably 50-year-old Walter Scott of South Carolina, who was shot in the back and killed April 4 as he tried to run away from an officer after a traffic stop.

The officer who shot him, Michael Slager, has been charged with murder, and the Justice Department is investigating the case for civil rights violations. Department officials announced Tuesday that they have opened a federal probe into the death of Freddie Gray, 25, who died Sunday from injuries sustained while in Baltimore police custody.

Meanwhile, the deaths of whites at the hands of law enforcement typically receive less attention, even when the case is shrouded in controversy. For example, Gilbert Collar, an 18-year-old white student at the University of South Alabama, was shot and killed while naked, unarmed and under the influence of drugs by a black police officer.

The officer, Trevis Austin, was cleared of wrongdoing in 2013 by a Mobile County grand jury in a case that received little media coverage outside Alabama. Mr. Collar’s parents filed a federal lawsuit last year against the officer.

As researchers are quick to point out, FBI data on police shootings by race is notoriously incomplete, which may explain why Peter Moskos, assistant professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York, decided to use figures from the website Killed by Police.

Based on that data, Mr. Moskos reported that roughly 49 percent of those killed by officers from May 2013 to April 2015 were white, while 30 percent were black. He also found that 19 percent were Hispanic and 2 percent were Asian and other races.

His results, posted last week on his blog Cop in the Hood, arrived with several caveats, notably that 25 percent of the website’s data, which is drawn largely from news reports, failed to show the race of the person killed.

Killed by Police lists every death, justified or not, including those in which the officer had been wounded or acted in self-defense.

“The data doesn’t indicate which shootings are justified (the vast majority) and which are cold-blooded murder (not many, but some). And maybe that would vary by race. I don’t know, but I doubt it,” Mr. Moskos said on his blog.

Adjusted to take into account the racial breakdown of the U.S. population, he said black men are 3.5 times more likely to be killed by police than white men. But also adjusted to take into account the racial breakdown in violent crime, the data actually show that police are less likely to kill black suspects than white ones.

“If one adjusts for the racial disparity in the homicide rate or the rate at which police are feloniously killed, whites are actually more likely to be killed by police than blacks,” said Mr. Moskos, a former Baltimore cop and author of the book “Cop in the Hood.”



Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/apr/21/police-kill-more-whites-than-blacks-but-minority-d/#ixzz3YpJOCkzh
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[Sunstroke]

I read those early quotes and thought "Older, angry-looking, heavyset, black woman..."

Then went to Google images and pulled up her photo.

It sucks that I could be that right without ever hearing that person's name before today.

[Dave Gray]

It's a per-capita problem.

Blacks make up a much, much smaller percentage of the population than the rate of these incidences.

[bsmooth]

It is not the number that is driving a lot of the frustration and anger. It is the perception that too many unarmed people are being gunned down by law enforcement, and there is not enough accountability for officers who have shot unarmed persons.

[Spider-Dan]

Although per capita is certainly an issue to raise, as I said in the other thread, stats like these lump Tamerlan Tsarnev in with Tamir Rice: both were "killed by police."

There was no riot when Aaron Alexis (the Washington Navy Yard shooter, who was black) was killed by police.  There's a big difference between lethal violence on armed suspects and lethal violence on unarmed suspects.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Tamalarin was killed by his brother not the cops

[Cathal]

It's pretty much what bsmooth said. If you start seeing 5 incidents or more in a row about unarmed white people being killed because a cop shoots them while running away, or by sitting on him while he can't breathe, or choking him out for no reason, or anything else that was uncalled for, then you won't really see the race component.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

But u wont, bc the media doesn't cover it.  White cop kills black national news.  Black cop kills white page 17 of the local paper.

Isn't that racism too?

[Spider-Dan]

Just to make sure we are comparing apples to apples: which black cop killed an unarmed white guy on video and then was cleared of all charges?

You are acting like each of these cases are in a vacuum.  It is the repeated succession of unarmed black person killed by cop that is causing the problem to escalate.  There was no riot after John Crawford was shot.

You guys are citing one unarmed white guy from three years ago.  From where I stand, that would be a huge improvement over the current scenario.

[DenverFinFan]

Numbers are skewed, whites are a much higher % of population so yes you'd except higher numbers. As for other points Spider-Dan said it pretty good.

Still America has a police-state problem, it affects all of us so stop giving military gear to cops.

[Run Ricky Run]

It really shouldn't be about black officers killing white people. It should be black people who shoot police officers. We know blacks commit more crimes, are arrested more and I would guess shoot cops more. If a cop is more likely to be shot by a certain race of course he is more likely to be ready to protect himself.

[Cathal]

But u wont, bc the media doesn't cover it.  White cop kills black national news.  Black cop kills white page 17 of the local paper.

Isn't that racism too?

If a bunch of white guys who are unarmed, caught on camera, and the police attacked him for no real reason, then we can compare the events and see if people riot or if there is a bunch of change in the police. I doubt you will see that. Whether it is just really piss poor police training, or a god complex, or racism, too many unarmed Americans are being killed for no good reason by police.

[Rich]

Here's a story about a male cop punching a non-black female model in the face while she was handcuffed.

No media outrage. No non-black female model thugs burning down local businesses.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/florida-suspended-1-month-punching-handcuffed-model-article-1.2211152

[Rich]

10 cops beat up a non-black male. Lawyer called the officers thugs. I wonder if he meant it as a racial slur?

http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/10/us/california-san-bernardino-police-beating/

[Run Ricky Run]

http://news.yahoo.com/3-arrested-shootings-2-mississippi-police-officers-120847710.html

And the suspects are....