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Bias is killing
Why police kill a disproportionate number of black people
In the US, disproportionately more black people are being killed than white people by police officers. In 2019, for instance, police in the United States of America killed 1,098 people, which in itself is a staggering number, especially compared to most of the rest of the world. Of the people killed by US police, 24% was black, while only 13% of the US population is black.
One could simply assume that US police officers are generally racist and thus more likely to kill black people than white people. But perhaps it’s not that simple. Researchers found that white officers appear to be no more likely to use lethal force against minorities than nonwhite officers.
Several studies into the causes of disproportionate police killings have focused on individual police officers. This point of view, however, ignores the general racist bias in American society. Even though overt racism is largely considered to be a taboo, implicit, or aversive racism is still maintained. Surveys show that large sections of Americans admit to holding discriminatory viewpoints.
Growing up in a society that has a racist undercurrent is likely to affect people’s stereotypes, prejudices, and biases, no matter the color of their own skin. What happens with these stereotypes is…
