Posts Tagged ‘Darren Wilson’
A few Statistics: Victims of Police Violence Are Mostly Blacks
A Pew study found that 63% of white and 20% of black people think that Michael Brown’s death at the hands of Darren Wilson (who resigned the force) is not about race.
Those people are wrong.
When Force is Hardest to Justify, Victims of Police Violence Are Most Likely to be Black
African Americans are, in fact, far more likely to be killed by police.
Among young men, blacks are 21 times more likely to die at the hands of police than their white counterparts.
But, are they more likely to precipitate police violence? No. The opposite is true.
Police are more likely to kill black people regardless of what they are doing. In fact, “the less clear it is that force was necessary, the more likely the victim is to be black” (source).
That’s data from the FBI.
This question was also studied by sociologist Lance Hannon.
With an analysis of over 950 non-justifiable homicides from police files, he tested whether black people were more likely to take actions that triggered their own murder. The answer was no.
He found no evidence that blacks were more likely than whites to engage in verbal or physical antecedents that explained their death.
There is lots more evidence if one bothers to go looking for it.
So, no. Just… no.
This is about race. It is very, very obviously about race.
It’s not a matter of opinion; it’s a scientific question that has been asked and answered.
Lisa Wade is a professor of sociology at Occidental College and the co-author of Gender: Ideas, Interactions, Institutions. You can follow her on Twitter and Facebook.
Note: Centuries of oppressions and uprising have left their mark on the racial issue in the USA. White are scared shit of blacks, even female blacks, and Blacks are afraid shit of the police force when it converges to the neighbourhood, and especially when the blacks are away from their neighbourhood.
Most probably, new recruits from white police officers are not comfortable when confronting a robust black male, and any sign of closing distance between the two bring a violent reaction from the white officer.
On the other hand, many blacks take advantage of the police force keeping a distance from them in order to exaggerate their outlawed activities, mainly the petty thefts and mugging.
Ferguson Protesters To Be Prosecuted? Like the Palestinians in Israel?
President Barack Obama strongly denounced violence that occurred during demonstrations in Ferguson, Missouri, and called for prosecutions against those committing “criminal acts” Tuesday night.
“Burning buildings, torching cars, destroying property, putting people at risk — that’s destructive and there’s no excuse for it. Those are criminal acts. And people should be prosecuted if they engage in criminal acts,” Obama said before giving a speech on immigration in Chicago, Illinois.
(Obama was upset because they were destroying their community).
Protesters stormed the streets of Ferguson Monday night, after a grand jury declined to indict the white police officer, Darren Wilson, who killed 18-year-old Michael Brown last August.
Wilson has said he acted in self-defense, but protesters disagree and argue the killing is part of a larger problem of police discrimination.
The demonstration quickly turned violent with numerous businesses and cars torched by the crowd. More than 60 protesters were arrested and Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon announced he would deploy over 2,000 National Guard troops to keep order Tuesday evening.
Obama said it would be inappropriate for him to address the specifics of Wilson’s case.
However, as he did in a speech following the verdict, Obama spoke generally about his sympathies with the community’s broader frustrations. He said he ordered Attorney General Eric Holder to look into improving police training and diversity across the country.
“The frustrations that people have generally, those are rooted in some hard truths that have to be addressed. And so those who are prepared to work constructively, your president will work with you. A lot of folks, I believe, in law enforcement, and a lot of people in city halls, and governors’ offices around the country want to work with you as a well,” Obama said.
While he noted he understands why many are upset by the situation, Obama said he has “no sympathy at all for destroying your own communities.”
“The bottom line is nothing of significance, nothing of benefit, results from destructive acts. I’ve never seen a civil rights law, or a healthcare law, or an immigration bill result because a car got burnt,” he said.
“Take the long-term, lasting route of working with me and governors and state officials to bring about some real change. And to those who think that what happened in Ferguson is an excuse for violence, I do not have any sympathy for that.”
Note: The Palestinian youth in the West Bank are arrested administratively while in their home under no charges whatsoever and are incarcerated for over 6 months. These stone throwers are shot by live bullets, mostly in their backs and heads.
Adonis Diaries 