Boy, some Republican heads are gonna be exploding now!

"What they were suggesting was, there is a specific problem that is happening in the African-American community that is not happening in other communities. That is a legitimate issue that we've got to address."

The Black Lives Matter movement grew on social media around the protests in Ferguson, Missouri after a white police officer shot and killed an unarmed black teen in August 2014.

"There is a specific concern as to whether African-Americans in certain jurisdictions are not being treated fairly or are subject to excessive force more frequently," Obama said.

He cautioned that pointing out bias against the black Americans by police should use data rather than anecdotes and avoid painting the picture with "a broad brush."

Last edited Fri Oct 23, 2015, 12:21 PM - Edit history (1)

Here is the Guardian's database of police killings this year:

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2015/jun/01/the-counted-police-killings-us-database

927 killed so far.

435 were white.

227 were black.

143 were Latino.

Deaths per million by race:

2.20 white

5.43 black

2.64 Latino


Black people are more than twice as likely to get killed by the cops, but people of all colors are at risk. Focus on Black Lives Matter if you wish, but the issue of police violence is broader than that.

The issue is that with blacks (currently) "twice as likely" to be killed by LOE, and with blacks representing only about 13% of the U.S. population, then the issue goes far beyond police violence being "broader than that".

I.e., to make your "broader than that" assertion, then for every 100 killed by cops, there should only be about 13 blacks killed based on the % of the population (and you could even do a +/- 10 deaths to give a wider range - i.e., 3 - 23/100). Yet the stats are showing over 47/100 having been killed, indicating a targeted effort by LOE against one demographic, and that targeting is what this whole thing is about.

I'm not sure I get your point, though.

Yes, black people get killed by cops in disproportionate numbers.

But police violence affects all groups. The white or brown people killed aren't any less dead.

We have a race problem and a law enforcement problem in this country. Even if racial bias magically disappeared overnight, we would still have the issue of policing run amok.

And that statement is EXACTLY the specific issue and focus of many of us. It may not be your focus but for those impacted by being part of those "disproportionate numbers", it IS the most pressing of issues given our literal survival. It is the "double-whammy" that whites or other groups don't have based on the stats.

"Enforcement personnel" (i.e., any type of "security"-associated person) whether officers of a local, state, or national government, security for a family, or some other entity, have often had a tendency to run amok, and have done so for thousands and thousands of years (think "personal body guards" or "personal militia" for ancient royalty and other "important figures"... or private security for businesses or organizations throughout humanity). It is nothing new.

But for the here and now in the U.S., the disparity in treatment by government-sanctioned and government-paid LOE must be addressed.