Thursday, December 25, 2014

No. 1 victims of police killings?

Which racial group is most likely to be killed by white police?

Wrong.

Not African-Americans.

Native Americans.

Native Americans make up about 0.8% of the population, yet account for 1.9% of police killings. That’s almost 2½ times their per-capita ratio.

Yet there is little national outcry or furor or demonstrations beyond the Native American nations over the out-sized killings by white police. Some received medals for the shootings of what Columbus ignorantly and mistakenly called “Indians.”

In contrast, in 2012 there were 123 African- Americans shot dead by police of all colors. There are more than 43 million blacks living in America. 

That same year, 326 whites were killed by police bullets. There are nearly 200 million whites in America.

So that makes blacks about twice as likely per capita to be killed by the police, not a good statistic, but less than the 2½ per capita for Native Americans.

In 2013, blacks committed 5,375 murders in America, often against other blacks; whites committed 4,396. Whites comprise 63 percent of the population; blacks 13 percent.

To read the story by Simon Moya-Smith, a citizen of the Oglala Lakota Nation and culture editor at Indian Country Today, click on 

http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/24/opinion/moya-smith-native-americans/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

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