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Systemically racist police shootings? Show me the evidence.

  • Writer: Adam Lucas
    Adam Lucas
  • Jun 3, 2021
  • 8 min read

Updated: Nov 23, 2021

Racist shootings against blacks from cops are not the biggest issue in the U.S. today. In fact, I would argue that this form of racism is virtually nonexistent.


[Before I continue, let me make a few comments on these opening statements, as I understand they are rather polarizing, and a few other things. Firstly, I am fully aware that racism has affected many lives in the past, present, and (unfortunately) will continue to in the future, and as a Christian I empathize with those who have experienced true racism. However, the subjective feelings and arguable experiences of specific people must stand up to objective truth if they are to be legitimately considered. I have talked about the malleability of experiences and feelings multiple times in both Conserving Christianity’s blog and podcast, so if you have questions as to how this works, then please at least check out my posts on them. Secondly, please check out the applicable Scripture at the end of the article and keep those passages in mind throughout the post. God's Word should always be the first thing we use when approaching politics. Without further ado, back to the post.]


Why do I say this? I say this because gigantic claims, such as “racism against blacks is an epidemic” or “cops are racist” or “the justice system is racist” have been consistently made throughout the past decade (CDC Director Declares Racism A 'Serious Public Health Threat' : NPR). Unfortunately, these racism claims have little to no evidence and are in fact doing significantly more damage than the objects of their claims. Why does it seem to many, then, that the police force is brutally racist against the black community? To be frank, it is because the evidence people do use is either skewed or incomplete, causing people to believe half-truths (otherwise known as lies; Enemies of Honesty: Half-Truths (lifehopeandtruth.com)). In fact, when a full picture of the situation between the United States’ police force and the American black community is made, it is painstakingly clear how outrageous these problematic and destructive claims are. Here is the data:


[Another disclaimer: I understand that other ethnicities besides Caucasians and African Americans are involved in police shootings each year. However, the thing I am arguing against here is that “white police officers systemically shoot black people” (see the "Note" section at the bottom of the post). So, for sake of conciseness and argument focus, I will stick to comparing these specific statistics.]



Data and Analysis




Taking these two sets of statistics, you can see that the black population within the U.S. is a little less than ¼ that of the white population. However, the number of blacks killed in police shootings is roughly 64% the number of whites killed, which is just under triple the population ratio. If you stop researching at these two statistics, then your conclusion is that cops are more likely to shoot black people, since blacks are killed by police at triple the rate that whites are. This conclusion is what leads to the “the justice system is racist” or “cops are racist” rhetoric that is blaring across America today. However, this conclusion is drastically premature and is in desperate need of both social and “crime context”. Let me explain through a word picture, question, and a few more statistics.


Two people of the same ethnicity commit two vastly different crimes. The first commits a non-violent crime, while the second commits a violent crime. Which one is more likely to meet and be met with deadly force? The obvious answer is the second one, as the officers arriving on the scene will be more defensive (given the situation) and the suspect will be more likely to behave violently (given their previous behavior), which drastically increases the likelihood of a deadly encounter.


The reasoning behind this is well supported by multiple articles across the web, specifically by one on Science Direct (Why cops kill: The psychology of police deadly force encounters - ScienceDirect - this full article does require an institutional login, but its abstract still states the supporting information). Keep that logic in mind as I proceed with the final statistics and concluding statements. Here is that final key statistic, this time from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report (CDE :: Crime (cloud.gov))


  • Statistic #3: In 2019, black or African American people committed 228,454 violent crimes in the United States, while white people committed 224,720 violent crimes.


This context, along with the earlier logic, is extremely important to understanding why the police shooting statistics are the way that they are. Although the black community makes up only ¼ that which the white population makes up, the number of violent crimes committed by them was in fact almost 4,000 more than whites in the year 2019. With this in mind, the police shooting death count (370 for whites and 235 for blacks) no longer looks anti-black whatsoever, which completely opposes the current narrative. These numbers are further justified when you compare the likelihood of black citizens engaging in crime (all crime, not just violent) versus whites’ likelihood. When you run these numbers, you find that in 2019 roughly 1.68% of blacks committed crimes while 0.56% of whites did. This effectively means that blacks were 3 times more likely to engage in crimes than whites, which further explains the higher ratio of black lives lost and greatly clarifies the judicial system’s use of force.


Interestingly enough, after this data is run, the shooting number that now looks “disproportionate” is the number of whites shot. This is quickly cleared up, however, when you realize that whites, due to their larger population, were arrested for crimes 1.5 times more than blacks in 2019 with 5,014,778 arrests for whites and 1,929,719 for blacks (CDE :: Arrest (cloud.gov); CDE :: Crime (cloud.gov)).


[The reason this all balances out, is because whites in 2019 committed more property crimes than blacks did. And even though property crimes are less likely of shootings, since there is much less person to person violence, the probability of violence occurring is still present]



A Counter to the Counter Arguments



A question or two may arise within my argument, so let me address those possibilities. You may notice that I chose the 2019 statistics, rather than the 2020 or current 2021 ones. The reason I chose this year, over the more recent ones, is because I have found the 2019 reports to be more complete. In fact, the FBI’s Crime Data Explorer does not even offer data after 2019 (at the time of writing this). Because of the lack of data for recent years, some may say:


“We cannot possibly assume that the data from 2019 was comparable to 2020 or 2021. Especially since the racial disparity has been specifically highlighted in the past two years.”


The answer to this argument is simple. Movements like Black Lives Matter have been actively running against similar statistics, all found on the FBI’s crime reports, since 2013 (the largest violent crime rate gap between blacks and whites seen in this eight-year timespan is 7%). Because these statistics have stayed so similar, it is unreasonable to claim that the numbers might have suddenly changed due to the media highlighting “racial disparity”. The media certainly does not define the statistics, and the modern press is clearly more interested in sensationalizing fragments of data to make money rather than telling the full story. This is clear no matter what side of the aisle you sit on. In fact, the basic numbers already released for 2020 and 2021 stay consistent with the trends of earlier years, and the small differences they do show actually further support this article (• People shot to death by U.S. police, by race 2021 | Statista).


A second argument may be this: “The real racism issue people are talking about is in regard to the unarmed black people being shot by white cops.”


Once again, my responding argument is simple and backed up with statistics. According to the Washington Post’s database, 12 unarmed blacks were fatally shot during 2019, which is less than 5% of the total police shootings involving just blacks and less than 1% of the total shootings overall (Police shootings database 2015-2021 - Washington Post). This second argument does not make sense given the vastly low occurrence of unarmed shootings, and the reasonings for these shootings are often justified and ratified by the court, as people are perfectly capable of fatal violence without external weapons.



Conclusion



The claims that “cops systemically shoot blacks" or “all cops are racist” or “the justice system is racist” are not legitimately backed by objective data. Therefore, these claims cannot be reasonably argued. Nonetheless attempts to argue these are still made for the purpose of political agenda, economic gain, and political fame at the expense of average American blacks feeling safe.


Just ask Patrisse Khan-Cullor, the co-founder of Black Lives Matter, who just bought her fourth high-end home ending a 3.2 million dollar spending spree, and who also seems to feel perfectly safe within a majority white neighborhood (Inside BLM co-founder Patrisse Khan-Cullors' real-estate buying binge (nypost.com); Marxist BLM leader buys $1.4 million home in ritzy LA enclave (nypost.com)).

The lies that these kinds of people are living and telling are infuriating, especially when you see the division they are causing.



The Blunt (Brace yourself)



Before you make claims of racism, make sure they are backed by objective truth. Not just fragments of that truth or biased emotional thinking. Otherwise, you are effectively lying and causing more problems than you are fixing.


When people make poor choices, like violent crimes or retaliating against officers, they get poor outcomes. But that's just it. It has nothing to do with race, rather it has everything to do with the choices you decide to make.





Applicable Verses


Colossians 3:25 ESV

For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.


Ephesians 5:11 ESV

Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.


Proverbs 12:22 ESV

Lying lips are an abomination to the LORD, but those who act faithfully are his delight.


1 Corinthians 13:4-6 ESV

Love is patient and kind; love dos not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its on way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.


Titus 3:1 ESV

Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work.


Notes


I want to remind my readers of one of my opening statements which said "this form of racism is virtually nonexistent". The key word here is "virtually", which means "nearly" or "almost entirely" according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. I am not arguing that there are no bad cops at all, rather I am arguing against the notion that "white police officers systemically shoot black people".

Sources and Inspiration



The FBI's Crime Data Explorer (which pulls data directly from their yearly Uniform Crime Reports): CDE :: Arrest (cloud.gov) and CDE :: Crime (cloud.gov)











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