To exist as a Black person in America is to have a perpetual target on your back.
A report released at the end of 2022 by the organization Mapping Police Violence says black people continue to be disproportionately killed by the police. This was a year in which police officers killed 1,176 people-the highest number in a decade. Additionally, the research in the report revealed that despite the fact that Black people only make up 13% of the population, they account for 24 percent of those fatalities.
The statistics revealed in the report are staggering. It is estimated that in 2022 there were only 12 days when a police officer did not kill a person. Black people are three times more likely to die at the hands of law enforcement than white people, despite being 1.3 times more likely to be unarmed than whites.
Police also kill black people at a higher rate than white people in 48 out of the 50 largest American cities, such as Chicago, where Chicago Police killed Blacks 25 times more than whites between 2013 and 2022. In cities such as Boston and Minneapolis, Black people were 28 times more likely to die than whites, especially during encounters like traffic stops, disturbances, mental health checks, and non-violent offenses.
In addition, 1 in 3 of those killed by police attempted to flee on foot or by car. These deaths were more likely to occur among Black and Brown people. 98% of police killings from 2013-2022 were never charged because no officers were held accountable for these crimes.
In the previous year, 1,140 people were killed by police, of whom 97% were killed by police shootings. A majority of the unarmed victims were Black or Hispanic, and Black people had a higher risk of being killed, being unarmed when killed, and posing a less severe threat when killed.
These statistics are the exact reason why we always will advocate for the abolition of police.
Source: The Root