Several high profile cases in the United States have sparked public outcry over the use of deadly force by police officers.
Incidents such as the ones involving Daunte wright, Ma’khai Bryant and George Floyd have ignited a firestorm of criticism from people and groups across the nation who say they are enraged every time they see a black person being killed by a white police officer.
The anger over what they allege to be a racist policing system has boiled over onto the streets with riots breaking out nearly every day.
Some politicians in Washington are even calling for states to defund the police because they say there is a disproportionate number of blacks being killed at the hands of police officers each and every week.
However, the most recent data released by the FBI shows that those claims may not be accurate.
Recently released data from 2017 to 2021 shows that about twice as many whites are killed by police than blacks in each of the years.
In 2017, 457 white people were killed by police as opposed to 223 blacks, in 2020 457 white people were killed by officers in comparison to 241 blacks. And of the 213 people who have been killed by police officers in the first four months of this year – 30 have been black.
The FBI data on homicides that have one victim and one offender shows that 88.5% or 2,600 black homicide victims were killed by other members of the African American community and just over 8% or 246 black people were killed by members of the white community.
In addition, according to the FBI, African Americans commit nearly 40% of murders in the united states despite accounting for 14% of the total population.
Whites, on the other hand, commit nearly 30% of homicides – and account for more than 60% of the total population.
