There have been an uptick in stories challenging statements made by presidential candidate Donald Trump such as his account of watching thousands of people cheering the destruction of the Twin Towers in New Jersey. One such factual dispute comes from a retweet on Trump’s account that shows dark-skinned man wearing a bandana, a dark shirt and military-style pants and holding a handgun sideways. The image is accompanied by the rather surprising figures based on an unknown source called “Crime Statistics Bureau – San Francisco” on murders committed by blacks versus whites. It is an example of why retweets can be so dangerous.
The figures do not track with any reliable source. According to FBI statistics, of the 2,451 homicides of black people in 2014, 90% were committed by black people as opposed to 8% of the cases where offenders were white. That is high but so is the ratio for whites. Of the 3,021 homicides of white people in 2014, 82% were committed by white people while 15% of the offenders were black. It is hard to see how someone came up with the stats in the tweet. While the number of whites killed by blacks is roughly twice that of blacks killed by whites, it is still far short of the suggested 81% of white homicide victims. The difference is just seven percent above the rate for whites killing blacks. Even if you factor in lower number of blacks in society into weighing this percentage difference, it is still far less than what was presented in this retweet. Moreover, the statistics show that the overwhelming likelihood is that people are murdered by people of their own race.
There is plenty for us to argue about in the criminal justice system, but as the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan said, “You are entitled to your opinion. But you are not entitled to your own facts.”
I’m white and there’s no doubt that whites have caused an extraordinary amount of trouble and mayhem in the world. But so have other races as well.
I think the problem is humans.
“Trump Retweets Wildly Inaccurate Figures on The Rate of Blacks Killing Whites”
This title is bizarrely erroneous.
Two questions:
1. What’s a “black?” Would that be “freed slaves” not compelled to go home upon release?
2. What’s a “white?” Is that the “newspeak,” politically correct name for “American?”
Let me check my history. We Americans came over as British/European colonists in 1607 and became Americans in 1789 by act and by founding documents. Seems like “…to ourselves and our posterity,…” would mean that those posterity folks are Americans. Presumably, everyone else is a subject, citizen, naturalized or hyphenate. Does that about cover it?
In the period between 1607 and, the Year of Our Lord, 2015, when and how did we actual Americans lose our title, American? Who, exactly, took that title away and by what authority?
Something tells me that the Founders would not have approved of immigration (or immigration by omission) that was incongruous and destructive – making destructive immigration, adversarial invasion. Looks like unassimilated invaders have become a real problem.
Ah, yes. Here it is. A thought on immigration by Alexander Hamilton:
“The influx of foreigners must, therefore, tend to produce a heterogeneous compound; to change and corrupt the national spirit; to complicate and confound public opinion; to introduce foreign propensities. In the composition of society, the harmony of the ingredients is all-important, and whatever tends to a discordant intermixture must have an injurious tendency.”
At the risk of attack by misandrists, I simply pose the question: Did the 19th Amendment contribute?
Most men lead lives of “fundamental transformation,” or not – not willingly.
RWL,
Thanks for reading.
Rcocean,
“Have they apologized for Slavery Yet? What about Segregation?”
Who? The British? I’m certain you’ve heard of the American Revolution.
The United States of America tolerated the 250-year-old British institution of slavery for only 74 years before completely abolishing it. African tribal chiefs began slavery by selling their tribe members to the highest bidding Arab slave traders who passed them on to the British shippers.
The long suffering welfare, food stamp, affirmative action, quotas, social services, “Fair Housing,” “Anti-Discrimination,” HUD, HHS, HARP, HAMP, Obamacare, etc. beneficiaries, who, unlike the Israelites under the leadership of Moses, incoherently did not compassionately repatriate themselves to their countries of origin before the ink was dry on the Emancipation Proclamation, should prosecute their claim for apologies and/or reparations against the United Kingdom of Great Britain.
Segregation, AKA as Freedom of Assembly, is an “optional” function of freedom, free enterprise, self-reliance and severely limited government under the Preamble, Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Compulsory Integration is a despotic mandate issued by the Presidium on behalf of the “dictatorship of the proletariat” under the principles of communism published by Karl Marx as the Communist Manifesto.
What will the Presidium order next, the wives we choose?
Have they apologized for Slavery Yet? What about Segregation?
RWL
You are entitled to your opinions, but the US Legislative & Executive Branch of government disagrees
Not just any appeal to authority, but an appeal to politics. How boring.
Rick,
You are entitled to your opinions, but the US Legislative & Executive Branch of government disagrees with you. Hence, the apology.
KCF,
A couple of points (maybe more): I don’t support BLM movement; I don’t even vote (and we won’t get into that discussion). Please review my comments in a JT blog a couple of days ago, and you will see where I stand on movements and/or protesting in the 21st century.
Second, your last question cannot be answered in a couple of sentences (and I cannot speak for every black person in America) or even a couple of paragraphs (it’s more historical, psycho-sociological, etc). However, I will be glad to provide you with a few sociologists and/or historians who can give you a little history and maybe answer your question: William Julius Wilson, Derrick Bell, Cronell West, Na’am Akbar (his book entitled ‘Breaking the Psychological Chains of Slavery’ is a good place to start), and bell hooks.
I have my own theories behind America’s crime ‘problem’ (including black on black crime), but it will take all day to delineate my thoughts, feelings, attitudes, etc on this. You can, however, find my beliefs about it from previous responses in JT’s blog from the past 1-2 years that I have been commenting here?
I love this book. It blows you away– with facts from the FBI crime statistics.
http://www.amazon.com/Paved-Good-Intentions-Relations-Contemporary-ebook/dp/B00JV3BPX8/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1448385231&sr=1-4&keywords=jared+taylor
http://www.colorofcrime.com/
Deo vindice!
RWL
Senate Apologizes for Not Passing Anti-Lynching Laws
What point do you think this makes? Passing an anti lynching law would have saved exactly none of the victims.
RWL, where’s the BLM apology for destroying Ferguson?
Where’s the African-American apology for committing a disproportionate number of murders?
Where is the apology for slavery, jim Crow, 400 years of oppression and discrimination?
Where is your apology for the KKK?
po – get a grip. Don’t I remember you saying you freed your slave? You should be apologizing. I have never owned a slave. Never oppressed people. I owe no one an apology.
Rcocean, facts are racist.
people don’t seem to be very good with numbers. First, the FBI stats which everyone quotes total up to about 5,000-6000 homicides. However, there were almost 15,000 murders – so why does does the FBI leave out the other 9,000?
Secondly, Hispanics are lumped into the “White” Category
Third, raw numbers don’t tell you the story. 650 interracial murders and 500 are black on white. There are 7 “whites” to every 1 black. So, if blacks were as violent as whites there’d have been 75 black on white murders – not 500.
Fourth, if need to project the 5000 murder ratio to the total number of murders -15000. That means 1500 whites were killed by blacks vs. 450 blacks killed by whites. And remember the “White” number includes Hispanics. On a per capita basis that means blacks are 21 times more likely to kill a white than vice versa.
Sorry, that was in response to Po’s comment “Fascinating that, as usual, the idiotic things a Republican says ends up being blamed on the Democrat/Obama!“
Po said: this is from Instapundit, remarking on this very issue:
“I dunno, it worked okay for Obama. And I think anger at that fact is why so many people don’t care about Trump’s various excesses. You want no rules? Okay! No rules it is! That’s not good for the country, of course, but then, few of Obama’s legacies are.“
RWL
In 2005, the Congress and the White House apologize for not passing anti-lynching legislation sooner, which would’ve saved more than 4000 black men and women from 1882-1968
We’re to believe passing another law would have saved murder victims as if murder weren’t already against the law? You have to wonder how and why people arrive at such obviously false beliefs.
“Thanks for the thorough spanking, RWL.”
TMI. get a room.
What a dirty, dirty mind/boy you have/are KCF!
Jack,
The bike riding comment was an expression of sarcasm.
Po,
Lol!
Fascinating that, as usual, the idiotic things a Republican says ends up being blamed on the Democrat/Obama!
Thanks for the thorough spanking, RWL.
It’s interesting that the left apparently believes promoting bogus statistics is racist and therefore disqualifying. So they support censuring Senator Gillibrand who promotes the bogus “1 in 5” women are raped while attending UNIVERSITY?