President Obama will be in Dallas today to speak at a service. His words matter more than often. He ran for office with the inspiring words that there is no White America or Black America. There is just America. Then very early in his Presidency he rushed to judgment in the Cambridge, Mass. incident and it set a tone for some about his feelings about police. It has continued up and through Ferguson. This may be his last chance to take a statesman role and lead everyone on this issue. I expect both he and President Bush to hit home runs today. Let’s hope.
Now I understand that he and many others believe deeply that police treat minorities differently. Add to that we all know and believe there are some over zealous officers who give others a bad name. There is a profound fear in the minority community that their children will be stopped and something could happen. We have to understand that and find a common ground on community policing, trust, and protection.
Let me make one thing clear that I am not sure everyone understands. There is much talk about “the talk” that parents give their kids on police stops. My parents had the talk with me, many times. I bet yours did too. It was common to assure respect and caution in what we did. As a kid we were stopped on the streets many times in the neighborhood. We knew the police would be “active” if they caught us doing anything. We knew too if we went home after that we would face justice there. Different times.
So what is the story now? The bottom line for me is this. The great majority of police officers are on the job to help. They get discouraged over time by all the see and experience. They want to do well, and go home to their families. There is a small minority that over step their bounds. They need to be weeded out, but in no way should all be lumped with them. It is a very tough job they do, for little pay and far from the thanks they deserve.
Now for the stats which are fueling this recent uprising. Are police targeting blacks in particular? Both sides use the same stats to argue their side. One side says blacks are two times more likely to be shot by police than whites. The other side says you are playing with the numbers. Here they are using 2015 as the example:
There are 1.1 million police officers There were 990 police shootings 50% of those shot were white 26% of those shot were black
Digest these stats for a second. For a longer term view a link is below.
This is where the argument that black citizens (13%) of the U.S. population are shot twice as often as white citizens. The counter is that blacks commit 25% of the violent crime. Thus proportion.
So you can see how people use the same numbers to support their argument.
My view. I think people would be surprised to hear that police shootings are 0.0009 in relation to the number of officers. Hard to paint the police as trigger happy and biased on that.
I think most do not know that half of all shootings are of white citizens. In fact greater than black and hispanic citizens combined. The MSM does not cover this. Yet they play videos over and over that fit a narrative. Why is this? The MSM will not ask itself that question. By the way in the videos they played endlessly last week one of the two officers who fired was hispanic. Not sure too many know that.
We need leadership that provides a calming of the situation and lays out clearly what is. Parents want to know their kids are safe and not fear the police. The police want to know we have their back and understand they want to go home at night. Citizens want criminals off the street and to be safe in their neighborhoods. It seems we have common goals. What we need is stop glorifying the exceptions as if they are the norm, while we punish the wrong doers on both sides. Is that so hard?
Let me leave you with this question. What per cent of Americans because of the coverage it got do you think still believe the “Hands Up Don’t Shoot” narrative really happened? The MSM covered that lie really deeply so 100% of us saw the story and narrative. How many know it wasn’t true? How many have seen coverage since then about the business owners who had their stores and outlets looted and destroyed over the lie? How many have seen stories about the wounded and hurt over the lie?
Most American citizens are honest and decent. The problem is what the MSM cover and the leadership we have gotten from the top that is creating a situation that must be corrected.
For additional stats: http://newobserveronline.com/far-more-whites-killed-by-us-police/