You can't say cops are racist. Black people just break the law more!
They could stop breaking the law, and they'd be fine!
It's not accurate to say that Black people break the law more
Statistically, black people are more likely to be pulled over, less likely to do drugs, less likely to be able to afford good legal defense, and more likely to be falsely accused and convicted while innocent
Many of our laws were designed to target Black people, or poor people (which is often a proxy for Black folks given the previous decades of economic oppression they have faced)
Well all of that isn't the cops fault. They are just doing their job
Most cops are good. There are just a few bad apples
If you knew that only a small percentage of cops had a bias against people who looked like you, the fact it isn't a majority would be small comfort when you have to interact with them
Cops have power, and that means that they must be held to the highest of standards
But ultimately, this isn't just about individual cops, and their intentions
This is about whether there are systemic issues we need to address
Well nearly twice as many white people are killed by cops than black people!
I'd like to see fewer people murdered by cops at all!
More importantly, that is a deceptive statistic
White people make up 76% of the population, but only 50% of police murders
Black people make up 13% of the population, but 27% of police murders
If you look at all non-white segments, you see that 24% of the population bears the burden of 50% of the police murders
Well cops are put in dangerous situations and have to protect themselves from violent people!
That's actually something of a myth
Statistically it's safer to be a cop than a farmer, or a truck driver for example
And for the cops who are killed in the line of duty, we could reduce it even more by deescalating the need for force in many situations.
Cops are far more likely to kill in the US than in other countries. That escalates the tension between the police and their communities, and puts everyone at greater risk. This is fixable!