The Shakerite VOL 91 ISSUE I

POLICE KILL
AMERICANS OF COLOR
AT HIGHER RATES
Lauren Sheperd Editor-in-Chief
Data from Brookings, infographic by Lauren Sheperd
Data from Statista, infographic by Lauren Sheperd
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The racial disparity between
the general population of the
United States and those killed by
police every year is staggering.
Data from 2019 shows that
while Black Americans comprise
less than 13 percent of the American
population, they comprise
almost 24 percent of those shot
to death by police that year. Conversely,
white Americans comprise
more than 60 percent of the
population, yet they comprise
only 36 percent of individuals
murdered by police.
This disparity illustrates a
glaring issue in American policing.
Police are given the power to
kill in order to protect citizens,
yet they are doing the opposite
for people of color.
While police shot and killed
Breonna Taylor in her apartment
while she slept. However, when
Dylann Roof, who was white,
shot and killed nine Black people
in a church in Charleston, SC police
took him into custody alive
and bought him fast food on his
way to jail.
Similarly, police shot and
killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice for
playing with a toy gun in a park
on the East Side of Cleveland.
But when a 19-year-old white
man killed 17 people at Marjory
Stoneman Douglas High School
in 2018, police took him into
custody alive.
Police departments throughout
the country must rethink
whom they’re hiring, how they’re
training their officers and what
biases pervade law enforcement
to ensure they are protecting the
entire population, not just the
white community.
VOL. 91 ISSUE I