There’s Lies, Darn Lies, and Crime Statistics
In April 2015, a black man died in the back of a police vehicle in Baltimore, sparking weeks of protests and rioting. Black Lives Matter activists told the media that white racism was the source of “state-sponsored violence.”
Conservatives argued that internal problems in black communities, such as black-on-black violence, were more serious than external issues. The BLM activists accused conservatives of blaming the victims while disregarding systemic racism.
While BLM activists and conservatives yelled at one another, USA Today published a headline that attracted little notice. The headline read: Baltimore’s May homicides are the highest in nearly 40 years.
Following the violence in Baltimore, the 2015 Aspen Ideals Festival invited author Ta-Nehisi Coates and New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu to discuss ways to break the cycle of violence in the inner city. Before the discussion began, Coates and Landrieu briefed the audience on the grim statistics of urban America.
Since 1980, 630,000 Americans have been killed, outnumbering those killed in both World Wars. African-Americans accounted for half of the victims, despite the fact that they make up only 13 percent of the US population. In New Orleans, there…