July 14, 2016

Ignorance of Facts Fuels the Anti-Cop ‘Movement’

A new study by a Harvard economist, who happens to be black, finds cops *less* likely to use deadly force on black suspects vs. white. Angered by the deaths of Freddie Gray and Michael Brown, black men in Baltimore, Maryland, and Ferguson, Missouri, respectively, who died at the hands of the police, professor Roland Fryer Jr. said, “You know, protesting is not my thing. But data is my thing.” So he sought to answer the question. Do the police, in fact, use lethal force against black suspects more than they do against whites?

A new study by a Harvard economist, who happens to be black, finds cops less likely to use deadly force on black suspects vs. white.

Angered by the deaths of Freddie Gray and Michael Brown, black men in Baltimore, Maryland, and Ferguson, Missouri, respectively, who died at the hands of the police, professor Roland Fryer Jr. said, “You know, protesting is not my thing. But data is my thing.” So he sought to answer the question. Do the police, in fact, use lethal force against black suspects more than they do against whites?

Fryer examined 1,332 police shootings — including fatal and non-fatal shootings — in the police departments of 10 large cities in Texas, California and Florida. He said his findings surprised him. In an article about the study, The New York Times wrote:

“In shootings in these 10 cities involving officers, officers were more likely to fire their weapons without having first been attacked when the suspects were white. Black and white civilians involved in police shootings were equally likely to have been carrying a weapon. Both results undercut the idea of racial bias in police use of lethal force.”

But the question remained, when the suspect is black, are officers more likely to use deadly force? The Times wrote:

“What about situations in which an officer might be expected to fire, but doesn’t? To answer this, Mr. Fryer focused on one city, Houston. The police department there let the researchers look at reports not only for shootings but also for arrests when lethal force might have been justified. Mr. Fryer defined this group to include encounters with suspects the police subsequently charged with serious offenses like attempting to murder an officer, or evading or resisting arrest. He also considered suspects shocked with Tasers.

"Mr. Fryer found that in such situations, officers in Houston were about 20 percent less likely to shoot if the suspects were black. This estimate was not precise, and firmer conclusions would require more data. But in various models controlling for different factors and using different definitions of tense situations, Mr. Fryer found that blacks were either less likely to be shot or there was no difference between blacks and whites.”

Yes, the study found cops were more likely to put their hands on a black suspect vs. a white suspect — also to cuff, push to the ground or pepper-spray — but probably because cops don’t want the encounter to escalate to a shooting. This use-of-deadly-force study proves that Black Lives Matter, Obama’s sympathy with the group and media’s obsession with white-cop-black-suspect stories are built on lies. And Fryer’s study confirms similar findings in “The Reverse Racism Effect,” a study by researchers at Washington State University.

Recall actor Jesse Williams, who in a rant during a BET awards ceremony said, “What we’ve been doing is looking at the data and we know that police somehow manage to deescalate, disarm and not kill white people everyday.” Will Mr. Williams now man up and apologize for helping to perpetuate this phony narrative that cops are out to get blacks? Will Time magazine — one among many media outlets that slobbered over Jesse Williams’ rant — apologize for calling it “powerful”?

After the shooting deaths of black suspects at the hands of the police in Minnesota and Louisiana, Hillary Clinton said, “White people … have to start listening to the legitimate cries” of black people. This is the usual kind of condescending pap we always hear from Democrats. But in their case, the reason is votes. In order for the Democratic Party to maintain the 95 percent monolithic hold they have with black voters, they need to create scenarios of anger and fear against so-called “structural” or “institutional” or “systemic” racism. We know their motive.

As to the media, one can only conclude that it’s about ratings. When a black officer shoots a black suspect, it does not generate the same level of outrage as when a white officer shoots a black suspect, especially when he is unarmed. But of the nearly 1,000 people killed by cops last year — according The Washington Post’s own tally — the Post reported that less than 4 percent were instances of white cops shooting and killing an unarmed black man.

And there’s this. What’s hard about complying with a cop’s order so you don’t get shot? There is no right to defy a lawful order. That a cop may be rude does not make an order any less lawful. Hillary Clinton, showing how she feels blacks’ pain, says black parents tell her that they have what is called “the talk” with their children on how to comport themselves when engaged in an encounter with the police. But in almost every recent case of an officer shooting a black person, the black person resisted arrest. So much for “the talk.”

How about, “Comply — you won’t die”?

COPYRIGHT 2016 LAURENCE A. ELDER
DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS.COM

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.