African-Americans, Police Brutality, and Violence: Just The Facts
Fox Sports radio host and founder of Outkick the Coverage Clay Travis has been one of the few rational voices resonating throughout the country recently. At the start of his Fox Sports radio show Outkick the Coverage on June 1, 2020, he states, with a stern diplomatic demeanor, that "We are all entitled to our own opinions, but we are not entitled to our own facts". That statement rings true regarding police brutality and violence in America.
FACT: Overall violent crimes in America are down nearly 50% since the 1990s
violent crimes are aggravated assault, murder, rape and robbery
According to 2018 FBI data, rates of violent crimes have decreased tremendously since 1991, when there were 750 incidents per 100,000 people. By 2018, that number had dropped to roughly 369 incidents. There was a slight increase in 2015 and 2016 when a few large metropolises saw a spike in violence, which some hypothesize as the “Ferguson Affect”. Overall, the country is significantly safer for all citizens.
FACT: Cities with higher African-American populations have higher crime rates
Here are the top cities in America with the highest number of African-Americans, per 2010 Census:
These cities have the highest percentage of African-Americans:
Now, here are the cities with the highest number of reported violent crime incidents, per FBI Uniform Crime Report:
There is a correlation between the number of African-Americans within a city's population and the number of violent crimes. New York and Chicago have the highest number of African-Americans and the highest number of violent crimes. Detroit has the fourth most African-Americans in its population, the highest percentage of its population is black, and has the sixth most violent crime reports in the country. Indianapolis-Marion County has seen an increase to their African-American population and a parallel uptick in its violent crime numbers, as it ranks ninth on the reported violent crimes list.
There is an asterisk in this data, however. The data does not account for how many of the violent crimes were committed by African-Americans. Moreover, data of this sort does not delve into why crime tends to be higher in black populous cities.
Violent crime statistics in black populous cities is of importance. When police officers enforce the law in high-crime areas, if that area is of a predominant race or color, there are more opportunities for those citizens to be harassed, arrested, injured, and killed by officers.
FACT: Police killings of unarmed African-Americans is significantly down from 2015
From Mapping Police Violence, murder rates in the country skyrocketed for all races and, consequentially, more unarmed blacks were killed by the police. Since 2015, as black activism increased and more policing protocols were introduced, police killings of unarmed blacks has decreased 64.1%.
FACT: African-Americans are less likely to be shot to death by the police than whites
From statista.com, the number of blacks shot to death by the police has been significantly fewer than the number of whites for each of the last three years. As of March 30, 2020, 31 blacks have been shot and killed compared to 42 whites.
FACT: African-Americans are more likely to be killed by the police while unarmed, but..
From Mapping Police Violence, African-Americans are killed more often by the police while unarmed. While the percentage of unarmed blacks killed by the police (17%) is higher than the percentage of unarmed whites killed by the police (12%), the difference between the two does not match the media-driven narrative that unarmed blacks are being killed at extraordinary rates. (The percentage of unarmed Hispanics killed by the police is 14%.)
FACT: Police killings of African-Americans is on the decline
From Mapping Police Violence, there is a decline (albeit a slight one) in the number of blacks killed by the police. Keep in mind, some of these victims are violators of the law and the police was justified in the use of deadly force.
FACT: African-Americans and Whites murder their own race more than other races
From the FBI Uniform Crime Report, this table shows the race, sex, and ethnicity of offenders and victims of homicides in 2016. 2,570 blacks were victims of murder by other blacks, while 533 whites were murdered by blacks. Conversely, 243 blacks were murdered by whites and 2,854 whites were murdered by other whites.
