Are Police Killings of Blacks a Form of Racism?

If you listen to to some of the militant so-called black leaders and radical civil rights leaders, you'd think that every time a policeman kills a black person, it was based on the policeman's innate racism toward blacks. Do these race hustlers have a legitimate gripe? Let's look at the facts: In 2015, 986 people were shot and killed by police. Of that number, 495 were white (50%) and 258 were black (26%). That's a 2 to1 ratio.

Many liberals portray shootings by police as racist attacks on blacks, regardless of the facts. It turns out that the U.S. Justice Dep't. has found that black police officers in San Francisco and Philadelphia are more likelier than white officers to shoot and use force against black suspects. Is that racism? According to Heather MacDonald, author of the book, “War on Cops”, in 2013, 42% of cop killers were black and there was no charge of racism by the “poverty pimps” (Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Black Lives Matter, New Black Panther Party, Louis Farrakhan etc.)

Another false claim by academic liberals and civil rights spokespeople who make the claim that the disproportionate number of blacks in prison is a result of racism and strict drug laws that target blacks more than any other group. They ignore the fact that black criminal activity is many multiples of that of other racial groups. MacDonald says that state prisons contain 88% of the nation's prison population and that just 4% of state prisoners are incarcerated for drug possession. The vast majority of blacks in prison are there because of violent crime - and mostly against other black people. In fact, the most tragic aspect of black crime are law abiding black people who must conduct their lives in fear. The white liberals, who constantly make excuses for this aspect of black crime, do not live this way and in most cases would not tolerate it.

When President Trump makes reference to this horrible situation, he is vilified and called a racist and insensitive to the plight of the black community that are confronted with this almost on a daily basis. But, why are pliant blacks being used as pawns of the white liberals who are mostly in charge of the cities where this black crime is taking place? They should be using their efforts to support and champion the people who are trying to protect them from the criminals among them, the police. (Most of this information I've mentioned in this editorial was gleaned from an article by Professor Walter Williams, a well respected black academic and economist).

The term racist, which is used primarily by liberals to attack conservatives, is now becoming hackneyed and irrelevant because it is being over used by the purveyors of racial tumult. The biggest victims of this slander and libel are conservative blacks like Ben Carson, Thomas Sowell, Lt.Col. Allen West, Larry Elder, Sen. Tim Scott and the aforementioned Walter Williams etc., all highly respected citizens by fair-minded people.

So, the next time you hear any of the racial arsonists claim that the police are the enemies of black people, refer to the crime statistics I've presented in this editorial to refute their baseless charges.

Conservative commentary by Chuck Lehmann