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Dear Saint Michael * — At a certain point, someone has to say: I have my essays and body of work. You have yours. I also don’t believe yours makes a lick of sense. So where can I even start? It’s like lesser David Lynch work. There’s really not a lot there, but it sure seems smart. So to act smart (or not feel fooled), some say it’s genius. I gave up on the cult of Lynch a while ago, just as I gave up on dogmatic theories that don’t really add up but sound righteous.
I won’t fall for it. My work isn’t genius. It’s just clear.
In the end, we just have to answer two questions:
1. Are black Americans being stopped or arrested for no reason at outrageously higher rates than whites? The answer is clearly no, and it’s shown in the research I presented and in graphs below. At most, it’s “a little bit” more.
2. Are black Americans being shot more per interaction? No. It’s clear they’re shot “a little bit” less. (See red circle below.)
All these charts are accurate. The use of force ones are put together by The New York Times or The Washington Post to seemingly “prove” racial bias, but the variance is so small, around 20% with small numbers, that behaviors by either police OR citizens could determine the disparate outcome.
The War on Drugs? I’m against it in its current form, like most rational people should be, but it’s only around 13% of all arrests. Nearly 50% of people in prison are there for convictions on violent crimes. Poll a social justice liberal and they’ll flip those percentages. They’re not in reality.
You can accurately say that whites may receive use of force (all kinds) slightly less than 95% of the time per interaction and blacks receive force slightly less than 94% of the time per interaction. This is according to a left-leaning reform group Center for Policing Equity.
The most interesting thing: Shootings are happening slightly less for blacks per encounter, upending the entire narrative driving racial justice activists today.
I don’t do religion, but I can do mantras.
Per encounter, black people are shot less by cops.
Per encounter, black people are shot less by cops.
Per encounter, black people are shot less by cops.
Get the point?
At this point, it’s becoming a new religion with Shaun King playing the role as delusional prophet Joseph Smith. So why argue?
You can seemingly sound intelligent. But you’re just obscuring a tragic reality. This is reality. Your side pushed an agenda as 3000 more Americans were murdered in 2 years by citizens and zero more by police — from 2014 when Ferguson erupted to 2016 when a narcissist Trump was elected by exploiting American divisions (with the help of Russia) — because one of the most well trained police forces in world history was de-legitimized. That’s the injustice. And yes, that is ironic.
My work:
Other relevant context below. Again, the top graphic was shown in a Washington Post article supposedly proving “driving while black” exists as a social reality. Blind faith is being asked by many sectors of society. I ask they face the real world.
* sorry for any snark in “Saint Michael” but your insults, while not affecting me, exist. So tit for tat. And social justice issues today are becoming a religion because the real dragons were slayed so long ago by people I respect like Rosa Parks, James Baldwin and Martin Luther King. What’s happening today is the stomping on little annoying lizards (and calling them dragons). Which I find as delusional as religion.
