Cultivating Hate in America

The events of the last 3 days have been tragic and horrific. Alton Sterling is shot in public while armed and resisting arrest, though the gun was still in his pocket. Then a perfectly innocent Philando Castile fell victim to a nervous, young Hispanic traffic officer who clearly didn't know how to handle a licensed gun owner during a routine traffic stop.
     While it is questionable whether or not the shooting of Sterling was justified, (it's impossible to tell by the videos available to the public), it is CLEAR the death of Castile was the result of heightened racial tensions between the black community and law enforcement. Obama was quick to throw our justice system under the bus from his safe place in Poland. Celebrities and nearly every media outlet who could jumped on the Black Lives Matter bandwagon, pointing their fingers at "racial inequality" within law enforcement.
     That begs the question: do statistics support this claim, or are our politicians and reporters race baiting to gain votes and clicks?
     Sadly, the numbers, which the media and White House are loathe to share though happy to twist to their agenda, support the latter. The state of racial tensions in our country are largely manufactured by those who stand to gain by creating a "victim class." The short of it is, Black America, you're being manipulated for profit. It makes me sick.
     I spent the better part of the time I should've been sleeping last night researching. Here's what I found:

• 506 citizens have been fatally shot by police this year.
• 24% (123) were Black.
• An estimated 15% are Hispanic (also tracked as white or not at all)
• An average 2% are Asian or other races.
• That leaves roughly 59% of fatalities via police shooting of white or undefined race

The media version: "A disproportionate number of blacks are shot by police." True, if you look only at the percent of black fatalities vs. population mix. (See chart below, taken from US Census and Washington Post Police Shooting Fatality data.) In that case, it seems blacks shot are 9% more than the 13% they represent of the U.S. Population.

Reference Wa. Post Police Fatal Shootings & US Census Data

But these numbers are misleading, and here's why. According to the FBI's US Crime statistics, blacks are responsible for approximately 28% of crimes committed in the US, which is the more accurate indicator of the actual number of encounters with police. (This is ALL forms of crime, from traffic stops to murder.) In other words, the percentage of people shot by race should be compared to the actual numbers who interact with the police, not the population as a whole. This tells a completely different story:

Reference Wa. Post Police Fatal Shootings Data & FBI Crime Statistics

     These statistics indicate that a white/mixed or Asian suspect is more likely to be fatally shot during an encounter with police than a black or Hispanic suspect. So why the HELL do the media and our country's leadership insist upon only reporting when a black person is shot by police? The numbers show that 1) more whites have been shot than any other race, the proportions mostly align with the rate of crimes committed by race, and 3) that the cops doing the shooting are of varying races, not just white. (See http://wpo.st/Esok1 detailing the Washington Post's findings as they collect 2016 data.)

     It's clear this is an intentional, calculated abuse of the black community not by law enforcement, but by politicians and media who gain votes and profits by keeping the black community in a tizzy over a non-existent problem. Now, this does not dismiss the fact that .06% of police shootings are unjustified, but despite what the media would have us believe, the prosecution of police officers who commit unjustified shootings is on the rise while the percentage of blacks who fall victim to police shootings is half what it was 20 years ago, and on the downward trend, even while the number of police-caused fatalities is on the rise for 2016.

     What I don't understand is why these two critical groups: our media and our government, claim to support "Black Lives Matter" yet continue to incite more hate and violence through their deception. Why continue to pit black against white when it only serves to hurt everyone? Why pit the black community against law enforcement when the clear problem is poverty and lack of education that impacts more blacks proportionately than any other group in our population? No matter how you look at it, the events this week are largely due to the irresponsible, self-serving and deceptive practices of those we trust to inform and lead us.

     People died this week because politicians think they need to keep blacks in America angry to get their votes and because the media makes a profit when black people feel victimized. If they really believed Black Lives Matter, they'd stop fanning the flames of hate with their twisting of the facts and selective reporting and would focus more attention on helping black Americans get an education, find good jobs and end the culture of crime and violence that exists in the pockets of gang-terrorized communities primarily populated by black and Hispanics. The more the media and our leadership prod this us vs. them crap, the more people will develop an irrational fear of "them" and more innocent people will die for no reason.

    It's time to put a stop to the brain-washing and demand our leadership and media take responsibility for their wrongs against the American people.