The United States is a mystery (not to say, a nightmare), to the rest of the world.
Almost 1,200 people, mostly minorities, killed by US cops in 2015
©
Eduardo Munoz / Reuters
US
law enforcement officers killed up to 1,199 people last year, the
majority of whom were 'people of color'.
Black
men between the ages of 15 and 34 were 15 percent of those killed by
police in 2015.
Despite
making up just 2 percent of the US population, that’s five times
more than white men the same age, according toThe
Counted,
a project launched in 2015 by journalists from The Guardian.
Its
final tally of killings at the hands, weapons, or vehicles of US
police officers last year was 1,134, while the open-source reporting
project Killed
by Police,
which tracks “corporate
media” reports
of anyone killed by police, recorded 1,199 deaths.
The Counted
Young black men killed by US police at highest rate in year of 1,134 deaths http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/dec/31/the-counted-police-killings-2015-young-black-men?CMP=twt_tc …
The two figures vary because the projects use slightly different definitions of what constitutes a police killing.
Killed
By Police was launched in 2013 and The Counted last year in response
to the lack of comprehensive US government data on these type of
fatalities, similar to the website Iraq
Body Count.
The
Counted’s database includes any deaths arising from direct
encounters with police.
“Self-inflicted
deaths” during
police encounters, such as a person killed in a car crash while
fleeing police during a car chase, and mass shootouts, in which
police failed to identify who was killed by police and who was killed
by civilians, are not counted by The Guardian project, but are
included by Killed By Police.
Notable
statistics:
- One in five killed were unarmed.
- At least six innocent bystanders were killed by officers during violent incidents.
- Fourteen percent of killings followed an attempted traffic or street stop.
- Seven percent after a non-violent crime.
- The youngest victim was autistic six-year-old Jeremy Maris.
- The oldest victim was 87-year-old Louis Becker who died after his vehicle collided with a state trooper’s SUV in New York.
- Forty-three children under the age of 18 were killed by police.
- California had more police killings relative to the size of its population than anywhere else in the country.
- Rhode Island and Vermont were the only states where just one person was killed in 2015. Vermont’s killing happened the last week of the year when 56-year-old Kenneth Stephens was shot at 13 times after police say he pointed a rifle at them during a warranted search of his property.
- A total of 89 percent of deaths by police were caused by gunshot, 4 percent were taser-related, 4 percent died in custody following physical confrontations, and 3 percent were struck by police officers driving vehicles.
- Critically, The Counted found that only 255 of the killings, less than 25 percent, were considered “justified” by authorities.
Until
now, no publicly-available data was gathered by the US government,
but a new open-source system is being tested to track America’s
growing “death
by cop” epidemic.
Local
police, medical, and investigative records will be used along with
media reports. Previous government data relied solely on voluntary
reporting by local law eйnforcement.
Attorney
General Loretta Lynch announced the new government program in the
wake of Ferguson protests and the US outcry over cop killings.
Police Brutality Still a Pressing Issue in the United States
Telesur
Police brutality in the United States was one of the most pressing issues in 2015, provoking massive protests across the country. Bianca Perez has the details
2nd Amendment For Whites Only? Conservatives Freak Out Over New Black Panthers Carrying Guns
Well,
this should surprise exactly no one. Not even a little. Ever since
the NRA created the “grassroots” movement to shove “open carry”
laws down America’s throat, white men have been parading their
penis extensions to shopping malls and restaurants to bully and
terrorize people. Oh wait, I meant “show their patriotism.” No,
hold on, I actuallydid mean
“bully and terrorize.”
Meanwhile,
gun control advocates have been pointing out that the second black
men started to do the same, white conservatives would go into full
panic mode. And just as predicted, when the New Black Panther
Party did just that, the right wing started to hyperventilate:
“Horrifying”?
And what, exactly was horrifying about American citizens exercising
their right to bear arms? The article never really says.
The Conservative
Tribune (one
of the most read websites in the country) goes on to say that the
group carrying guns is “alarming” while complaining that
President Obama is trying to steal our guns while “these guys don’t
even get the slightest bit of attention.” Again, why this is
alarming or why they need attention is never actually explained.
Of
course, the writer brings up the long, long debunked myth of voter
intimidation in Philadelphia because why let a good lie go to waste
when you’re whipping up racial fear? I’m surprised he didn’t
work ACORN in there somehow.
But
what are the NBPs doing that’s so scary? Other than being black, of
course.
Talk
to your average right wing gun nut and they’ll tell you they need
their guns to protect them from a tyrannical government and its
jack-booted thugs in law enforcement. But wait a second! The New
Black Panthers say exactly the same thing!
“We accept all oppressed people of color with weapons,” Darren X told Vice. “The complete agenda involves going into our communities and educating our people on federal, state and local gun laws. We want to stop fratricide, genocide — all the ‘cides.”
I’m
trying to find where the philosophical difference lies between black
militants and white militants. Curiously, the only thing I can think
of is that the white militants are angry about imaginary oppression
while the black ones are angry about very real oppression. Clearly,
that means the black ones are “thugs” and the white ones are
“patriots.”
Right?
But
this is nothing new. Conservatives love love LOVE the Second
Amendment right up until the point where black people start
exercising it. Hell, the NRA and even Saint Ronnie were
so terrified of black men with guns that
they crafted and passed laws in the 60’s that explicitly prohibited
the kind of open carry that ammosexuals are currently using to
terrorize their neighbors.
Personally,
I don’t like the NBPP. I think they’re extremists and not helping
the discourse. But in this instance, I’m dying of laughter. By
taking a page from the right wing’s playbook, they’ve
unintentionally exposed the monumental hypocrisy and racism of
conservatives. Frankly, I hope the movement spreads. I want black
people all over the country to start legally carrying assault rifles
in public and run patrols to police the police. Watching the right
wing media twist itself into pretzels to condemn such a challenge to
the status quo while maintaining the fiction that white people
carrying guns is no big deal will be absolutely amazing.
Just
as a side note, the article in the Tribune is
new but the patrols started
in August of
2014. The Tribune article
never mentions this. It’s almost like the entire point was to trick
easily manipulated white people into being afraid of something that
hasn’t caused an incident in over 5 months. But a conservative
publication would never stoop
to such race baiting, would they?
Man Proudly “Open Carrying” New Pistol Is Robbed Of It At – Wait For It – Gunpoint
Published
On October
8, 2014 | By james |
CBS
affiliate KOIN 6
in Gresham Oregon is reporting that a man that was practicing “open
carry” with a brand new handgun was robbed of it – at gunpoint.
The
station reports that on October 4th the victim, William Coleman III,
was displaying his brand-new Walther
P22 handgun
to his cousin at about 2 A.M. when he was approached by another man
wearing flip-flops and sweat pants, who asked for a cigarette. After
displaying his own weapon in his waistband, he told Coleman;
“I like your gun. Give it to me.”
Coleman
relinquished the weapon and the assailant fled on foot. In, you know,
those flip-flops.
We
would provide you with a description, but honestly we’re not trying
to solve a crime, here. We’re just mocking some “open-carry”
douchebag that got robbed at gunpoint.
You’re
welcome.
Guns are not the problem but the thinking and activities of the people are the real problem. Gun itself doesn't say that use me and hurt someone else, its the human that uses it to fulfil its self centred motives. Guns are supposed to be a safety device not a killing machine.
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