BY MASON HUGHES
EDITOR OF NATION & WORLD NEWS
EDITOR OF NATION & WORLD NEWS
On May 25th, 2020, George Floyd, a black man, was asphyxiated by police officers. This provoked a public outcry around the world focused on the police brutality black Americans face. And yet, after massive outpourings of sympathy, promises, and pain, police brutality again showed its head in Kenosha, WI, when Jacob Blake was shot 7 times by the police. After months of demands for change, black Americans are still wrongfully killed by police. What so many people long to hear is understanding, empathy, and a commitment to change.
President Trump, in his visit to Kenosha, provided the opposite.
Riots sprung up in Kenosha after the shooting of Blake. Several businesses were destroyed. On August 25th, a 17-year-old named Kyle Rittenhouse killed two people with an AR-15 style weapon. Rather than acknowledge the concerns of the black community that led to the riots, President Trump painted the protestors with a wide brush, describing their actions as “domestic terror.” The President went on to state that there was no systematic racism within the police force and defended the actions of police, claiming that when policemen are “under tremendous pressure” some have to “choke sometimes,” alluding to the death of George Floyd. He justified Floyd’s death. He ignored what Americans most needed to hear: validation of the struggles black Americans face.
It is this rhetoric that makes it clear to many that violence is the only way to get attention. If America wants to heal as a nation, we must acknowledge the data. Black Americans are killed by police at a rate of 32 per million, while white Americans are killed by police at a rate of 13 per million. White Americans commit nearly 59% of all violent crime.
The data makes it clear that there are major discrepancies in the ways that black America and white America are policed. The President failed to acknowledge this.
Black Americans remain unheard. Until we see real change, people will be forced to perpetrate violence to bring light to the inequality they face.
President Trump, in his visit to Kenosha, provided the opposite.
Riots sprung up in Kenosha after the shooting of Blake. Several businesses were destroyed. On August 25th, a 17-year-old named Kyle Rittenhouse killed two people with an AR-15 style weapon. Rather than acknowledge the concerns of the black community that led to the riots, President Trump painted the protestors with a wide brush, describing their actions as “domestic terror.” The President went on to state that there was no systematic racism within the police force and defended the actions of police, claiming that when policemen are “under tremendous pressure” some have to “choke sometimes,” alluding to the death of George Floyd. He justified Floyd’s death. He ignored what Americans most needed to hear: validation of the struggles black Americans face.
It is this rhetoric that makes it clear to many that violence is the only way to get attention. If America wants to heal as a nation, we must acknowledge the data. Black Americans are killed by police at a rate of 32 per million, while white Americans are killed by police at a rate of 13 per million. White Americans commit nearly 59% of all violent crime.
The data makes it clear that there are major discrepancies in the ways that black America and white America are policed. The President failed to acknowledge this.
Black Americans remain unheard. Until we see real change, people will be forced to perpetrate violence to bring light to the inequality they face.
Sources
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/27/us/kyle-rittenhouse-kenosha-shooting-video.html
https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2017/crime-in-the-u.s.-2017/tables/table-43
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/27/us/kyle-rittenhouse-kenosha-shooting-video.html
https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2017/crime-in-the-u.s.-2017/tables/table-43
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