tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7307906873159625429.post6375852281532050375..comments2023-05-25T03:04:45.735-07:00Comments on A Beleza Que Existe: Police Violence and How to Lie with Statistics (or just ignore the whole point that people are trying to make)Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02705986474993285655noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7307906873159625429.post-31099772948638709602015-05-02T00:59:17.279-07:002015-05-02T00:59:17.279-07:00Thank you for your thoughtful response, Eugene, bu...Thank you for your thoughtful response, Eugene, but I think you missed the bigger point. That is, the danger of just taking straight stats without examining the context. I need to ask one simple question. Do you think that Black people are by nature more violent and this is why they are responsible for more violent crime in the US? If you believe this, then I don't think there is a conversation for us to have. We simple have different world views. If you don't believe this, then I ask you to think beyond these numbers that in my point of view come from various social factors that lead to a much higher level of poverty among Black communities in the US. <br /><br />You responded to one of my points in isolation, without considering point #2, in which I say "People are not upset only because of the number of deaths, but because of the circumstances: the circumstances of poverty and lack of opportunity that lead to more confrontations with the police." No one is denying that Black Americans have more confrontations with the police, but people are upset about all the societal factors that lead to this. No one is excusing individual acts of violence or crime, but are asking for us as Americans to come together and confront the fact that although we are the richest nation in the world, a large part of our population doesn't have access to many of the benefits that should come with this. The statistics are the results, but what are the causes?Annahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02705986474993285655noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7307906873159625429.post-33314498946976135242015-05-01T13:30:48.940-07:002015-05-01T13:30:48.940-07:00I will use a counter example where the logic in ex...I will use a counter example where the logic in example #1 falls short. If 49% of the people in the USA are male, yet males make up 93% of victims of police shootings, does that mean that police are just incredibly biased against men? Of course not! Why? Women commit only about 10% violent crimes in the country, hence they are killed less frequently.<br /><br />I am having a hard time finding the total violent crime % on whites vs blacks but a quick search for homicides on wiki pulls up this.<br /><br /> "According to the US Department of Justice, blacks accounted for 52.5% of homicide offenders from 1980 to 2008, with whites 45.3% and "Other" 2.2%" I have seen the crime rates for all other crime rates as well and, from memory, blacks are found to commit between 35% and 55% of the total crimes in the country depending on the category. <br /><br />Does it make more sense now that police killings have 21% black victims when given they are responsible for 52% of the total murders as well as higher proportion of all other violent crime as well? <br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Now of course the easy way to argue against what I wrote above is to cite possible racial bias in the mostly white courts and police force. So I will post some food for thought and let you make the final judgement.<br /><br />The spotlight city of Baltimore should have less Racial bias in their crime stats given 67% of the population is black, Nine of the 15 council members are black. The mayor is black. The police chief is black. Most of the jury/judges are black. <br /><br />Here is the breakdown of homicides for 2012 in Baltimore<br /><br />Black: 204 (94.4%)<br />White: 10 (4.6%)<br /><br />http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2013-01-01/news/bal-demographics-of-2012-baltimore-homicides-20121231_1_drug-arrests-baltimore-homicides-gun-crimesAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14957896183258284804noreply@blogger.com