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I’m just coming into this thread. I’m an anti-racist liberal who also has felt the media and activist narrative around police killings to be woefully inadequate and far from evidence based. Sources at bottom of this mild supporting argument. So I’ve written on use of force being overrated — twice. And I wrote about police shootings indicate that the assumption of Black Lives Don’t Matter is completely overblown— twice. And I wrote about how Ava Duvarney’s documentary on Netflix The 13th’s wholesale critique of mass incarceration is overblown. And I started this whole Medium “project” because I felt liberal media like Think Progress— and many on the left — have completely lost awareness of basic logic, proportionality, and the facts.
But I will say: the divisiveness I do believe feeds white nationalists. Why the hell are they complaining of racism? Could it be the world feels so skewed? And to racists it manifests in terms like “reverse racism?”
When Black Lives Matter focuses exclusively on the 38 unarmed black people out of 987 total victims of police killings, you gotta wonder why many white people voted for Trump or use the term “racism” to describe how they feel about their victimization in the world.
And the media still does somersaults. Did you know that the average # of killings by police in Chicago the past two years is the AVERAGE for police in the rest of the USA? (About 1 per 300,000 citizens.) They kill no more and no less. And it’s four times less when factoring the violence around them? (Chicago: 60 citizens killed by citizens vs 1 killed by cop; nationally, it’s 15:1) It’s true. It’s not reported by the Tribune or The Washington Post, though. But I dare anyone to prove how that’s incorrect.
It’s all here w/ sources below:
https://medium.com/@agent.orange.chicago/shocking-disturbing-police-shooting-video-released-in-chicago-in-context-chicago-police-66bdafbc37ea#.5hzh6v91z
ALSO IN MY EVIDENCE-BASED ARTICLE & RELATED TO ABOVE:
When I say “99% of shootings deemed justified” I’m saying that’s by the powers that be. I personally think that’s too much by a factor of five or ten. That’s a problem. I do know activists think that should be 1% or 50% or whatever %. I’d actually put that at closer to 90–95%, as I’ve spent a tedious amount of hours reviewing this subject.
I quoted an. Independent Police Review Authority in Chicago (IPRA) supervisor, Lorenzo Davis, a 23-year veteran of the Chicago Police Department, who was FIRED by the investigative agency for refusing to change reports that found cops were at fault for shooting civilians. Basically, a black former cop who is publicly critical of the status quo where more than 99% of police shootings are deemed “justified” by authorities says 95 out of 100 shootings by police are “not problematic” and presumably “justified.”
Fact: Around 70% of perpetrators of crime as described by victims and arrests in Chicago are black (Case Reports*, Arrest Rates)
Fact: Around 70% of people in contact by police are black (Contact Cards*)
Fact: Around 70% of people shot or killed by police are black (Chicago Police Accountability Task Force Report)
So how are Chicago police acting on racial bias?
SOURCES:
https://www.themarshallproject.org/2016/02/08/black-and-unarmed-behind-the-numbers#.bSnvYSdid
http://4abpn833c0nr1zvwp7447f2b.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/2009-Annual-Report.pdf
Case Reports:
https://www.wbez.org/shows/wbez-news/poor-data-keeps-chicagos-stop-and-frisk-hidden-from-scrutiny/29c466ab-d556–4883–9850–4b8499b80003
Arrest Rates (page 43):
http://4abpn833c0nr1zvwp7447f2b.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/2009-Annual-Report.pdf
Contact Cards:
http://www.aclu-il.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/ACLU_StopandFrisk_6.pdf
Chicago Police Accountability Task Force Report:
https://chicagopatf.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/PATF_Final_Report_4_13_16–1.pdf
Police and Citizens Shootings:
http://heyjackass.com/
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-chicago-police-shooting-lawsuit-met-20161129-story.html