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The Black Community and Crime
Townhall.com ^ | January 11, 2017 | Walter E. Williams

Posted on 01/11/2017 2:42:54 PM PST by Kaslin

The FBI reported that the total number of homicides in 2015 was 15,696. Blacks were about 52 percent of homicide victims. That means about 8,100 black lives were ended violently, and over 90 percent of the time, the perpetrator was another black. Listening to the news media and the Black Lives Matter movement, one would think that black deaths at the hands of police are the major problem. It turns out that in 2015, police across the nation shot and killed 986 people. Of that number, 495 were white (50 percent), 258 were black (26 percent) and 172 Hispanic (17 percent). A study of 2,699 fatal police killings between 2013 and 2015, conducted by John R. Lott Jr. and Carlisle E. Moody of the Crime Prevention Research Center, demonstrates that the odds of a black suspect's being killed by a black police officer were consistently greater than a black suspect's getting killed by a white officer. Politicians, race hustlers and the news media keep such studies under wraps because these studies don't help their narrative about racist cops.

The homicide victim is not the only victim, whether he is a criminal or not, for there are mourning loved ones. No one ever fully recovers from having a son, daughter, husband, mother or father murdered. Murder is not the only crime that takes a heavy toll on the black community. Blacks are disproportionately represented as victims in every category of violent crime -- e.g., forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault.

Today's level of lawlessness and insecurity in many black communities is a relatively new phenomenon. In the 1930s, '40s and '50s, people didn't bar their windows. Doors were often left unlocked. People didn't go to bed with the sounds of gunshots. What changed everything was the liberal vision that blamed crime on poverty and racial discrimination. Academic liberals and hustling politicians told us that to deal with crime, we had to deal with those "root causes." Plus, courts began granting criminals new rights that caused murder and other violent crime rates to skyrocket. The liberals' argument ignores the fact that there was far greater civility in black neighborhoods at a time when there was far greater poverty and discrimination.

The presence of criminals, having driven many businesses out, forces residents to bear the costs of shopping outside their neighborhoods. Fearing robberies, taxi drivers -- including black drivers -- often refuse to do home pickups in black neighborhoods and frequently pass up black customers hailing them. Plus, there's the insult associated with not being able to receive pizza or other deliveries on the same terms as people in other neighborhoods.

In low-crime neighborhoods, FedEx, UPS and other delivery companies routinely leave packages that contain valuable merchandise on a doorstep if no one is at home. That saves the expense of redelivery or recipients from having to go pick up the packages. In low-crime communities, supermarket managers may leave plants, fertilizer and other home and garden items outdoors, often unattended and overnight. They display merchandise at entryways and exits. Where there is less honesty, supermarkets cannot use all the space that they lease, and hence they are less profitable. In high-crime neighborhoods, delivery companies leaving packages at the door and supermarkets leaving goods outside unattended would be equivalent to economic suicide.

Politicians who call for law and order are often viewed negatively, but poor people are the most dependent on law and order. In the face of high crime or social disorder, wealthier people can afford to purchase alarm systems, buy guard dogs, hire guards and, if things get too bad, move to a gated community. These options are not available to poor people. The only protection they have is an orderly society.

Ultimately, the solution to high crime rests with black people. Given the current political environment, it doesn't pay a black or white politician to take those steps necessary to crack down on lawlessness in black communities.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial; Government
KEYWORDS: blacks; crime; crimerate; urban

1 posted on 01/11/2017 2:42:54 PM PST by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

Keep in mind the murder rate is actually trending down.


2 posted on 01/11/2017 2:54:07 PM PST by Little Ray (Freedom Before Security!)
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To: Little Ray

It is. Even the rates of blacks shot by cops is less now than it has been in the past 10-20 years.

But the race bating bastids, Obama, Holder and their ilk have made it their goal to increase racial tensions all the while ignoring the beam in their own eyes.


3 posted on 01/11/2017 2:58:25 PM PST by Responsibility2nd
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To: Little Ray

Sure it is!

Facts don’t matter to libs either.


4 posted on 01/11/2017 3:14:55 PM PST by Roman_War_Criminal
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To: Little Ray

Not in Chicago


5 posted on 01/11/2017 3:15:17 PM PST by Kaslin ( Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible)
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To: Little Ray
Homicide Rate per 100,000:
  1950    4.6
  2014    4.5

Fear of rising crime rates is just one more MSM propaganda meme used to make us think we need more government. Crime rates rose significantly from the late 1960's through the mid 1990's but have since dropped back to approximately where they were in the 1950's.
6 posted on 01/11/2017 4:08:13 PM PST by Garth Tater (What's mine is mine.)
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To: Kaslin

bkmk


7 posted on 01/11/2017 4:11:16 PM PST by Sergio (An object at rest cannot be stopped! - The Evil Midnight Bomber What Bombs at Midnight)
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To: Kaslin
The DOJ suddenly stopped reporting many crime statistics after 2008.

I wonder why?


8 posted on 01/11/2017 5:06:35 PM PST by SkyPilot ("I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6)
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To: Kaslin

I presume homicide in this context includes ALL weapons, negligent discharge, legal use of gun in self defense, righteous police shootings, not just murder.


9 posted on 01/11/2017 5:22:02 PM PST by bravo whiskey (Never bring a liberal gun law to a gun fight.)
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To: Kaslin
The presence of criminals, having driven many businesses out, forces residents to bear the costs of shopping outside their neighborhoods.

And; once again; Whitey gets blamed for the resulting 'food desert'.

10 posted on 01/12/2017 4:12:38 AM PST by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Garth Tater

Yup; too many guns!


11 posted on 01/12/2017 4:13:29 AM PST by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Elsie

Of course.


12 posted on 01/12/2017 4:18:28 AM PST by Kaslin ( Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible)
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