SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
2015: The Year Police Killings in America Were Counted
Heightened visibility alone, however, has not effectively ended such slayings or brought justice to victims
Dec 29, 2015
The Black Lives Matter movement that swept the country in 2015 has--among other accomplishments--forced global media outlets to afford victims of police killings the most basic acknowledgment: a public record of their names and deaths.
The Guardian and the Washington Post maintained such a grim tally this year following the consistent failure of the U.S. government to keep adequate records.
According to the Guardian, 1,126 people were killed by police so far in 2015, averaging more than three a day, with 27 percent of those slain facing mental health issues.
The numbers confirm the racial injustices highlighted by nationwide protests. Among black people in America, 6.9 per million were killed by police, compared to 2.86 white people per million. In other words, African Americans were nearly 2.5 times as likely to be killed by police as their white counterparts.
Native-Americans and Latinos were also disproportionately likely to have their lives taken by law enforcement, with 3.4 per million and 3.35 per million killed respectively.
The high number of killings was corroborated by the Washington Post, which only tracks fatal police shootings--not killings by taser, beating, and other forms of force, such as the high-profile death of African-American man Freddie Gray in Baltimore. The paper concluded, nonetheless, that nearly 1,000 civilians were shot and killed by police this year.
What's more, the Post's analysis found that the FBI, which is tasked with tracking such shootings, is dramatically undercounting killings because "fewer than half of the nation's police departments report their incidents to the agency."
"The Post documented well more than twice as many fatal shootings this year as the average annual tally reported by the FBI over the past decade," journalists Kimberly Kindy, Marc Fisher, Julie Tate, and Jennifer Jenkins reported this week.
However, Jim Naureckas, editor of Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting's watchdog journal Extra!, argued Tuesday that the Post also "held back" key information by downplaying the connection between the high number of police killings and the grievances issued by racial justice movements.
For example, Post journalists wrote that "the kind of incidents that have ignited protests in many U.S. communities--most often, white police officers killing unarmed black men--represent less than 4 percent of fatal police shootings."
But in fact, the Black Lives Matter movement has condemned killings by officers of all races, killings of people who were armed, and killings of black women--such as Mya Hall and Rekia Boyd--by police as well as vigilante violence.
Even still, the Post's numbers are damning.
"Although black men make up only 6 percent of the U.S. population, they account for 40 percent of the unarmed men shot to death by police this year," the paper's database found. "In the majority of cases in which police shot and killed a person who had attacked someone with a weapon or brandished a gun, the person who was shot was white. But a hugely disproportionate number--3 in 5--of those killed after exhibiting less threatening behavior were black or Hispanic."
There are many things that the databases don't track, including beatings, abuse, and sexual assaults. For example, police officer Daniel Holtzclaw's serial raping of African-American women would not make it on this list of atrocities.
But perhaps, more than anything, both databases show that heightened visibility, in itself, will not end police killings or bring justice to its victims.
The end of 2015 is being marked by ongoing protests demanding "Justice for Tamir Rice," a 12-year-old African-American shot to death by a white police officer while playing with a toy gun. An Ohio Grand Jury decided Monday not to indict officers Timothy Loehmann or Frank Garmback despite video evidence that neither provided first aid to the dying child.
In a statement released Monday night, Tamir's mother, Samaria Rice, declared: "I don't want my child to have died for nothing, and I refuse to let his legacy or his name be ignored. We will continue to fight for justice for him and for all families who must live with the pain that we live with."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Sarah Lazare
Sarah Lazare is the editor of Workday Magazine and a contributing editor for In These Times. She is a former Staff Writer at Common Dreams. She comes from a background in independent journalism for publications including The Intercept, The Nation, and Tom Dispatch.
The Black Lives Matter movement that swept the country in 2015 has--among other accomplishments--forced global media outlets to afford victims of police killings the most basic acknowledgment: a public record of their names and deaths.
The Guardian and the Washington Post maintained such a grim tally this year following the consistent failure of the U.S. government to keep adequate records.
According to the Guardian, 1,126 people were killed by police so far in 2015, averaging more than three a day, with 27 percent of those slain facing mental health issues.
The numbers confirm the racial injustices highlighted by nationwide protests. Among black people in America, 6.9 per million were killed by police, compared to 2.86 white people per million. In other words, African Americans were nearly 2.5 times as likely to be killed by police as their white counterparts.
Native-Americans and Latinos were also disproportionately likely to have their lives taken by law enforcement, with 3.4 per million and 3.35 per million killed respectively.
The high number of killings was corroborated by the Washington Post, which only tracks fatal police shootings--not killings by taser, beating, and other forms of force, such as the high-profile death of African-American man Freddie Gray in Baltimore. The paper concluded, nonetheless, that nearly 1,000 civilians were shot and killed by police this year.
What's more, the Post's analysis found that the FBI, which is tasked with tracking such shootings, is dramatically undercounting killings because "fewer than half of the nation's police departments report their incidents to the agency."
"The Post documented well more than twice as many fatal shootings this year as the average annual tally reported by the FBI over the past decade," journalists Kimberly Kindy, Marc Fisher, Julie Tate, and Jennifer Jenkins reported this week.
However, Jim Naureckas, editor of Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting's watchdog journal Extra!, argued Tuesday that the Post also "held back" key information by downplaying the connection between the high number of police killings and the grievances issued by racial justice movements.
For example, Post journalists wrote that "the kind of incidents that have ignited protests in many U.S. communities--most often, white police officers killing unarmed black men--represent less than 4 percent of fatal police shootings."
But in fact, the Black Lives Matter movement has condemned killings by officers of all races, killings of people who were armed, and killings of black women--such as Mya Hall and Rekia Boyd--by police as well as vigilante violence.
Even still, the Post's numbers are damning.
"Although black men make up only 6 percent of the U.S. population, they account for 40 percent of the unarmed men shot to death by police this year," the paper's database found. "In the majority of cases in which police shot and killed a person who had attacked someone with a weapon or brandished a gun, the person who was shot was white. But a hugely disproportionate number--3 in 5--of those killed after exhibiting less threatening behavior were black or Hispanic."
There are many things that the databases don't track, including beatings, abuse, and sexual assaults. For example, police officer Daniel Holtzclaw's serial raping of African-American women would not make it on this list of atrocities.
But perhaps, more than anything, both databases show that heightened visibility, in itself, will not end police killings or bring justice to its victims.
The end of 2015 is being marked by ongoing protests demanding "Justice for Tamir Rice," a 12-year-old African-American shot to death by a white police officer while playing with a toy gun. An Ohio Grand Jury decided Monday not to indict officers Timothy Loehmann or Frank Garmback despite video evidence that neither provided first aid to the dying child.
In a statement released Monday night, Tamir's mother, Samaria Rice, declared: "I don't want my child to have died for nothing, and I refuse to let his legacy or his name be ignored. We will continue to fight for justice for him and for all families who must live with the pain that we live with."
Sarah Lazare
Sarah Lazare is the editor of Workday Magazine and a contributing editor for In These Times. She is a former Staff Writer at Common Dreams. She comes from a background in independent journalism for publications including The Intercept, The Nation, and Tom Dispatch.
The Black Lives Matter movement that swept the country in 2015 has--among other accomplishments--forced global media outlets to afford victims of police killings the most basic acknowledgment: a public record of their names and deaths.
The Guardian and the Washington Post maintained such a grim tally this year following the consistent failure of the U.S. government to keep adequate records.
According to the Guardian, 1,126 people were killed by police so far in 2015, averaging more than three a day, with 27 percent of those slain facing mental health issues.
The numbers confirm the racial injustices highlighted by nationwide protests. Among black people in America, 6.9 per million were killed by police, compared to 2.86 white people per million. In other words, African Americans were nearly 2.5 times as likely to be killed by police as their white counterparts.
Native-Americans and Latinos were also disproportionately likely to have their lives taken by law enforcement, with 3.4 per million and 3.35 per million killed respectively.
The high number of killings was corroborated by the Washington Post, which only tracks fatal police shootings--not killings by taser, beating, and other forms of force, such as the high-profile death of African-American man Freddie Gray in Baltimore. The paper concluded, nonetheless, that nearly 1,000 civilians were shot and killed by police this year.
What's more, the Post's analysis found that the FBI, which is tasked with tracking such shootings, is dramatically undercounting killings because "fewer than half of the nation's police departments report their incidents to the agency."
"The Post documented well more than twice as many fatal shootings this year as the average annual tally reported by the FBI over the past decade," journalists Kimberly Kindy, Marc Fisher, Julie Tate, and Jennifer Jenkins reported this week.
However, Jim Naureckas, editor of Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting's watchdog journal Extra!, argued Tuesday that the Post also "held back" key information by downplaying the connection between the high number of police killings and the grievances issued by racial justice movements.
For example, Post journalists wrote that "the kind of incidents that have ignited protests in many U.S. communities--most often, white police officers killing unarmed black men--represent less than 4 percent of fatal police shootings."
But in fact, the Black Lives Matter movement has condemned killings by officers of all races, killings of people who were armed, and killings of black women--such as Mya Hall and Rekia Boyd--by police as well as vigilante violence.
Even still, the Post's numbers are damning.
"Although black men make up only 6 percent of the U.S. population, they account for 40 percent of the unarmed men shot to death by police this year," the paper's database found. "In the majority of cases in which police shot and killed a person who had attacked someone with a weapon or brandished a gun, the person who was shot was white. But a hugely disproportionate number--3 in 5--of those killed after exhibiting less threatening behavior were black or Hispanic."
There are many things that the databases don't track, including beatings, abuse, and sexual assaults. For example, police officer Daniel Holtzclaw's serial raping of African-American women would not make it on this list of atrocities.
But perhaps, more than anything, both databases show that heightened visibility, in itself, will not end police killings or bring justice to its victims.
The end of 2015 is being marked by ongoing protests demanding "Justice for Tamir Rice," a 12-year-old African-American shot to death by a white police officer while playing with a toy gun. An Ohio Grand Jury decided Monday not to indict officers Timothy Loehmann or Frank Garmback despite video evidence that neither provided first aid to the dying child.
In a statement released Monday night, Tamir's mother, Samaria Rice, declared: "I don't want my child to have died for nothing, and I refuse to let his legacy or his name be ignored. We will continue to fight for justice for him and for all families who must live with the pain that we live with."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.