As the wave of racial tension rises due to the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown, the mantra “Black Lives Matter” has evolved into a rapidly growing movement.
The newly formed organization has mixed race, economic status, gender and gender identity to support shocking figures.
They claim that . . .
. . . every 28 hours a “black man, woman, or child is murdered by police or vigilante law enforcement.”
. . . 25% of “black American women live in poverty.”
. . . 35 years is the average life expectancy of a “black transgendered woman.”
The organization also has a list of demands that include forcing the federal government to discontinue supply of military weapons and equipment to local law enforcement and a call on Eric Holder to “release the names of all officers involved in killing black people within the last five years.”
What this group does leave out is the reality of crime statistics.
While the African American population only accounts for 14.1% of the population (including those who identify as “mixed”), they account for 28.1% of all reported crimes.
Even more shocking, according to a 2012 report by the FBI, African Americans are responsible for 49.4% of all reported murders and 32.5% of all reported rapes and 54.9% of all reported robberies.
While the government does a very poor job of tracking crime and victim by race, the Department of Justice does release a victimization study in which the results are even more shocking.
In the same reported year, 2012, nearly 1.5 million “whites” were victims of “serious violent victimization.”
African Americans accounted for 372,973 of victims of serious violent crimes in 2012.
In doing that math, that means that 75% of victims of violent crimes are White while 38.5% of those arrested for violent acts are black.
White Americans represent 77.7% of the population, and are responsible for 58.7% of all known violent offenses and 75% of the victims of violent crimes.
Black Americans represent 14.1% of the population, and are responsible for 38.5% of all known violent offenses and 25% of the victims of violent crimes.
There is a significant amount of disparity there. One could argue that African Americans are unfairly targeted or prosecuted more aggressively than Whites, however those arguments could go on for days due to so many factors that the government fails to measure.
The reality is that deaths caused by law enforcement average 400 per year while over 400,000 violent crimes occur with 8,500 of them being homicides in 2012.
While those chanting the mantra, “Black Lives Matter” are justified in their outrage, that nation as a whole should be chanting “All Lives Matter” while looking for a way to reign in crime that is disproportionately committed by the black community.
This is an issue that few want to address due to the fears of being labeled a “racist” by examining numbers, but it’s a conversation that President Obama along with black leaders like Al Sharpton need to have.
