by Eric July
With the recent fatal shootings of Keith Lamont Scott and Terence Crutcher, another round of conversations about race and policing is among us. Usually the gripes and rebuttals go on for a few weeks and then it dies out until the next fatal shooting of a black person by law enforcement. However, there is no actual solution and the conversation just keeps getting revisited. This is because the conversation was never an honest one to begin with. Media sources of all political ideologies seem obsessed with racism to the point that they have an emotional approach filled with logical inconsistencies. I don’t think that it’s a stretch to suggest that most sides are annoyed with the constant revisiting of this subject. Here are some key points that should be considered in order to have an honest conversation of substance with minimized confusion.
1. Population
Both those that feel as if law enforcers have racist motivations and those that don’t will often point to statistics of some sort. But when taking a look at disparities, it is dishonest to suggest there is something alarming simply because one race is the majority or minority makeup. For example, of the 990 fatal police shootings last year, 50% were white victims and 26% were black. Those who oppose the idea of “systematic racism” will often use similar findings and suggest that it is actually whites that are being killed more than blacks by police officers. This is only true numerically, but not in perspective. 63% of the country is white, and 13% are black. If we just stopped and looked at it in terms of population, there is no denying that blacks are killed more often than whites. But let’s not stop there. Of the 93 people that were unarmed and killed by police, 32 were white and 38 were black, and this would mean that blacks are largely over-represented.
It is important that we consider these disparities. But that doesn’t mean one can conclusively point to racism by going off population alone. By that logic, you’d have to suggest that sexism is to blame because 948 of the 990 people killed by police in 2015 were men. Though we should consider it, population does not tell all of the story.
2. “Justified” Killings
Going by the reports and public records, an overwhelming majority of the police killings in 2015 could be considered justified. And when I say justified, I’m not just speaking on what law enforcement are allowed to do by the books: I’m also suggesting that any regular individual would be justified if they were the ones shooting the other individual. Of the 990 cases of reported police shootings in 2015, 782 of the victims had deadly weapons. There were attacks in progress in 632 of the 782 cases.
Therefore if one attempted to simply point to 990 people being shot dead by police, they’d be intellectually dishonest to not consider which of those were justified.
3. Violent Crime/ Run Ins
In order to dissect the disparities and population, we must consider how often that race comes into conflict with law enforcement. Going back to the point I made about men, sexism isn’t to blame simply because 95% of the fatal police shootings are male victims. This is understandable considering that a majority of the individuals coming in contact with law enforcement are males.
But approaching this from a racial aspect, when it comes to the arrests for people who commit violent and aggressive crimes like murder and robbery, nearly 40% are black and 60% are white. As with the logic used in breaking down police shootings by population, we must do the same. Whites are nearly on par with their population with the makeup of violent crimes. But blacks, representing roughly 13% of the population, are committing these crimes way more often than whites. Blacks are simply more likely to come in contact with law enforcement, and it’s not simply because they are pulled over for broken taillights. Though this is a hard pill to swallow, it is the reality and must be considered for truthful dialogue. Granted we can also discuss what may be the cause of the this: it could be culture, environment, and other factors. But the same can be said for everything else. So if we are to consider it, let’s consider it all in perspective.
4. Media Hype-beasts
Situations in which we can point to racism are very attractive. This obsession is held by many of all angles; from the alt right to the pro-blacks. By default, any situation that deals with a black person being shot by law enforcement seems to result in immediate media coverage. I don’t necessarily blame the media, because so as long as people are eating it up, they have no reason to stop. They will completely ignore the cases of whites and other races that are killed unjustifiably or justifiably by cops, but latch on to the situations that involve blacks. This may make it seem as if things are happening at such an alarming rate or an abnormal rate. Again, this isn’t abnormal in terms of practice and perception. If the media reported nothing but Asian people robbing stores, it would make it seem as if Asians are robbing people more often even if the statistics showed the complete opposite.
This obsession and desire to point to racism has become dangerous. People are not even bothering to think critically and break down the statistics because they are fixated on race. Race has become THE identity. It’s rarely about the State being an institution that has a monopoly on violence, it’s about race. So as long as there is a black victim, we often act as if that’s the reason they are an actual victim. Even (which has been the case of some such as Keith Lamont Scott) the law enforcer that killed them were also black, we still pin everything on race. People don’t seem to realize how difficult it is to actually prove the racial motivations, they just automatically assume the motivations exist because there is a black victim. This highlights the dangers of allowing media outlets to dictate the conversation, and it also highlights the dangers of collectivism.
5. What Now?
I have never denied that racism exists and I’ve never denied that certain law enforcers have racial motivations. I’m simply saying that people continuously have dishonest conversations that don’t actually resolve things. Some seem to cling to surface level views of statistics so as long as they align with their personal narrative; they’ll often disregard any statistical or analytical proof that goes against it. If one objectively analyzes, they begin to ask questions like “Is this a race problem, or a state problem?” and “Is this happening as often as it is portrayed, and are there other factors?” Simply accepting every highlight for face value if very naive, but many still do it. It’s become more about confirming biases than it has been about having an honest discussion.
Think about it. How many exchanges and interactions do you have that are cordial and peaceful with other races? And why is it okay to completely ignore those interactions, and immediately point to an issue of racism simply because there was an occurrence elsewhere with a black victim (one that you can’t even prove happened solely because they were black)? So is racism a problem because racism is a problem or is it because activists and media outlets told you it was a problem? And do you even live a lifestyle that warrants these types of dramatics?
I’m a black libertarian/anarcho-capitalist who has lived in the South all of his life. I’ve experienced racism from whites because of my skin tone, and even from blacks because of my skin tone combined with the fact that I’m not a leftist. But racism doesn’t bother me nor take the toll like statism does. The core issue is due to the fact that there is an entity (the State) with a perceived legitimacy of the use of force and violence. That is bound to get abused and there is absolutely no way around it. This is why I want the entity abolished and not “reformed” because it can’t be “reformed” to the point in which everybody was held accountable and enforced the lie without biases. The police are individuals just like you and myself. Just because they wear a badge does not mean they become robots who can enforce things indiscriminately. The reality is that there will never be a human affair in which all humans were equally represented regardless of culture, upbringing, ethnicity and race. This idea is the NORM not the ABNORMAL. And it’s simply because we are all individuals, no matter how much collectivists would like to think that we aren’t.
We’ll begin to have honest dialogue once we start treating each other like individuals and approach scenarios on the individual basis. You don’t have to deny racism, but if you allow the idea to consume you, you may get a result that is diametrically opposed to your cause. Some folks on both sides are consumed — do not get it twisted. There are folks who see a black victim and assume that he was a drugged-up thug, and there are others who assume that he’s a victim simply because of his skin tone. How about we give this a shot: take every case and analyze it individually rather than itching to pin the events on race?
I don’t know about you, but there’s a lot more to myself and my motivations than the melanin in my skin.