“Police Shoots More White People than Black People” —It’s Time to Educate the Karens
By: Joanna Henderson
Tags: George Floyd, Equality, Race, Data Science, Racism

“Police shoots more white people than black people” — the quote I heard today from an acquaintance, who was reading the news have about George Floyd and protests around the country. Not only it shocked me, but it made me really angry. In my defence, I barely know this person, and he’s not my friend. I don’t have any Karens in my inner circle.

False news and lack of analytical thinking cause certain individuals to misinterpret the information they find online or in the news. The truth is, this is precisely what politicians are counting on: people not investigating the issue, and accepting everything at face value.

How Numbers Can Be Misleading

If you search “people shot by the police in the United States, by race,” you will land on this graph:

Clearly, you can see that many more Caucasian folks are being killed by police officers each year. Here’s the catch: you need to compare these numbers to the population. Looking at quantitative data Is not enough — statistical analysis is a must.

Graphs like that, on their own, are incredibly misleading. They should be published alongside other data, particularly the country’s population, calculated by race.

Oh, you know a Karen who says white people are more likely to be killed? Let’s help them out since googling is too much of a skill to have.

Data Collection and Analysis

The population of the United States equals to 328,239,523, as of 2019. There is, however, a huge difference when you look at the racial component:

Number of Caucasian population = 76.5% of 328,239,523 = 251,103,235

Number of African-American population = 13.4% of 328,239,523 = 43,984,096

If we go back to the graph above, we need to compare the number of death by the police to the country’s population, considering the race. This is what it looks like if we use the data for 2019:

Number of Caucasians shot by police = 370

Number of African-Americans shot by police = 235

Ratio of Caucasians shot compared to the population, by race = 370 / 251,103,235 = 0.00000147

Ratio off African-Americans shot, compared to the population, by race = 235 / 43,984,096 = 0.000005343

If we compare the numbers, the difference equals to: 0.000005343 / 0.00000147 = 36.3

THIRTY-SIX! African-Americans are 36 times more likely to die at the hand of the police! What were you saying, Karen?!

Freedom should not be a luxury — it’s everyone’s right. No human being deserves to walk down the street and wonder if they’re going to die today.

Don’t Accept Anything at Face Value

As we can see from the calculations above, an African-American individual is 36 times more likely to be shot by a police officer in the United States. Not twice, not five times — thirty-six! This is terrifying. Looking at the numbers, anyone would be fearful for their life!

Not only the African-American population is disproportionately in danger of being murdered by the authorities, but we know many horrific cases of people losing their lives under appalling circumstances. Breonna Taylor was killed by the police while lying in her bed; Botham Jean was shot in his apartment — and many more. History bears the names of numerous black people who became victims of police brutality.

Yet, there are still those who will look at the very first piece of information, accept it as is, and won’t question it at all. Those are the people whose ignorance and lack of education know no end.

Humanity Is a Virtue

I’m always so tempted to patronize individuals who won’t lift a finger to educate themselves. This is especially frustrating when the topic of a conversation is so incredibly important — such as death and murders in your own country.

Those are real people. They are just like you and me, like all of us. They had families who were devastated by their loss. Someone lost a father or mother, a sibling, a son or daughter, possibly a grandparent, a friend — and the community lost a valuable member of society.

There are no words to describe such inhumanity, ignorance, cruelty and indifference. People who have no regard for others, especially when talking about murder, have no place in our society. And they have absolutely no place in our lives.

Nobody should leave their home knowing that their life is 36 times less valuable compared to someone who happened to be born with a different skin colour.

Study the Data. Educate Yourself. Use Your Brain

It’s not that difficult to Google a few things. It’s not 1970 anymore when you had to go to a library, collect newspapers, and hunt for information. The Internet gave us virtually limitless access to data. Granted, some of it might be false, and there is a lot of misleading news and questionable research. Having that said, if you check more than one source, you have a good chance of finding trustworthy information.

Don’t pay attention to people who are too lazy or too ignorant to perform a simple Google search. Ignore those who won’t spend more than 2 minutes searching for information. If a person isn’t willing to learn and open their mind to what’s happening around the world, there is nothing you can do.

Data can answer many questions and teach you everything. Finding information is easy, and all you have to do is use your brain and perform simple math. By the end of the day, knowledge is everything.

Use the data. Read articles. Research and educate yourself. Quit listening to ignorance.

We Fight for Justice

I should have clarified right away: I’m not American. But looking at the racial makeup of police shooting victims in the United States is devastating. But this is precisely why people around the world support Americans in their fight for justice and equality. This is why people fight for freedom.

Freedom should not be a luxury — it’s everyone’s right. No human being deserves to walk down the street and wonder if they’re going to die today. No one should wake up and be afraid that a cop will shoot them in their own bed. Nobody should leave their home knowing that their life is 36 times less valuable compared to someone who happened to be born with a different skin colour.

Every single human has the right to feel safe in their bed, their home, their community — and the entire country. This is why people all over the world are going outside during the scariest time in recent years — the global pandemic. Protesting means putting yourself at risk of contracting coronavirus and dying.

People fight for the right to live — something no one should ever fight for. Everyone should have it by default.