“We don’t do personal responsibility in our community.” (Candace Owens)
2020 Stat: “Of the 100 people most recently shot and killed by police officers in Canada, nearly all are male. Most are either white or Indigenous, although when population size is taken into account, Indigenous and Black Canadians are far more likely to die in a police shooting than white Canadians.”
So the stats are as follows: Whites comprise 73% of the population in Canada, and represent 48% of all deaths by police shooting. Blacks only comprise 3% of the population, yet represent 9% of all police shootings. Hence the above quote that “Black Canadians are far more likely to die in a police shooting than white Canadians.”
I suppose this leads to the question: “Why are black people more likely to get shot by police than white people?” Is that the right question to ask? Shouldn’t it be: “What percentage of those shootings were justified?”
Because here’s the thing, if a shooting is justified, if someone commits a crime, has an encounter with the police, takes actions that result in the justified use of lethal force and dies, should I really care what race they are?
What would happen if instead of talking race in police shootings, we talked about personal accountability instead?
I’m all for ending racism within policing.
I’m all for bringing diversity programs to law enforcement and first responder organizations and attempting to end discriminatory practices.
However, I’m also for ending the idea that the race of people involved in police shootings should be the main focus of the conversation.
