Silence is not an Option

The Washington Post has collected data on all people who have been killed by police officers since January 1, 2015. According to that data, in 134 of those police killings between January 1, 2015 and September 20, 2016 the victim was unarmed. The following commentary is based on the data related to those 134 unarmed victims.

According to Census Bureau’s March 2016 Current Population Survey, 61% of the United States population is white, 12% is black, and 18% is hispanic. Therefore, would mathematically estimate that approximately 61% of those victims were white, 12% of those victims were black, and 18% of those victims were hispanic. This would result in 81 white victims, 16 black victims, and 24 hispanic victims. However, according to the data collected by The Washington Post, there have been 51 white victims, 53 black victims, and 23 hispanic victims. Here is a chart displaying the data:

Race	Census Bureau’s March 2016 Current Population Survey	Mathematical estimate of number of police killings of unarmed victims by race out of 134 based on population percentages	Actual number of police killings of unarmed victims by race out of 134 based on data collected by The Washington Post
Black	12% of the USA population	16	53 (40% of all victims)
White	61% of the USA population	81	51 (38% of all victims)
Hispanic	18% of the USA population	24	23 (17% of all victims)

That is, while white people make up 61% of the USA population, they make up only 38% of the unarmed victims, and while black people make up only 12% of the USA population, they make up 40% of the unarmed victims.

The disproportional police killings of unarmed black and white individuals is a very serious problem. Police brutality is a terrible problem, but it is not even the real issue here. Police brutality towards black individuals is a fatal symptom of an even more deadly disease, which is the systemic racism that gives privilege to people with white skin while demeaning everyone else. There has been conflict and bloodshed over racial lines in our country since its birth, and all non-white groups in the USA have been marginalized and disregarded ever since white people set foot in the USA. Systemic racism has to do with white people who claim that they are not racist not realizing that they are privileged, it has to do with white silence in the face of non-white pain.

To my white brothers and sisters: All of our thoughts and opinions are shaped by our experiences, and as white people, our experiences do not match the experiences of non-white people in our country that we have thoughts and opinions about.  We cannot understand what it is like for non-white people in our country, but we can see that they are hurting. The media can twist things, but the data indicates that unarmed black people are being killed at a faster rate than any other group in our nation. Silence never really was an option for us, but we have a history of being silent anyway. Let’s ask questions and be willing to listen, let’s loosen our grip on our views so that we can begin to sympathize with what our neighbors are going through, let’s recognize that there are ugly things happening in our country and we have not done much about it, let’s stop hiding, stop ignoring, stop blaming, and start accepting responsibility. Let’s stop being silent.

To my black brothers and sisters: Though I cannot truly understand your pain, I see you hurting and I hurt with you. I care, though I don’t always know how to express that. Thank you for your patience and grace with me thus far and in the future, because I know I will continue to need it.