Hey AJ,

Those statistics that you mentioned are derived from the ones that I mentioned - that’s how they’re related. For example, black Americans make up 14% of the population, and there were 14 unarmed black Americans shot by police. White Americans make up 73% of the population, and 25 unarmed white Americans were shot. Quick math would conclude that black people are 2.9X more likely to be shot unarmed (this is similar to the numbers you mentioned). However, black Americans commit 50% of homicides and 60% of armed robberies; these statistics would also conclude that a black man is 5.2X more likely to commit homicide and 7.8X more likely to commit armed robbery.

As you can see, those statistics about a black man being more likely to be shot by police are lower than the crimes commited by the demographic would suggest. The conclusion from this math would also suggest there is no systemic racism in policing; police go where crime is committed, and are shooting less black people than would be proportional to the violent crimes committed.

Cheers, Adam