Eric Von, on race, police shootings, and "what's the problem?"

Milwaukee commentator Eric Von put this item on Facebook Monday, and with his permission, I'm passing it on:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

First my apologies for such a long post. But it is well worth your time to read and continue to search for more data that hopefully, will result in a more factual debate when we engage those who say "what's the problem?"

These truths may also lead us all to a better place in this society.

I share the following not to enrage but to enlighten, in much the same way as I attempted to do when I did "that radio show", as some refer to it. (Smile!) 

However, if you are enraged, the next step, as I see it, is to step up and do something to change the trajectory of the events that have so outraged us for far too long. What to do? Well, that's up to you, only you know what your heart can sustain.

I came across a fascinating and well done report by an organization called Pro Publica, "an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest." (ProPublica.org)

Let me be the first to say, what they have compiled is not new news. But it is detailed and inasmuch, provides those who need it undeniable evidence of a pattern of behavior by police departments in cities coast to coast.

This is data extracted from the FBI's Supplementary Homicide Report which uses information submitted by SOME police departments that bother to report...some, apparently, more diligently than others.

Use the aforementioned email address to read the entire report if you are so inclined. I'll share with you a portion of what I read this morning that moved me to pen this long post: 

There were: 

*1,217 REPORTED DEADLY POLICE SHOOTINGS from 2010-2012; *Blacks, ages 15-19, were killed at a rate of 31.17 per million while just 1.47 per million White males in that age range died at the hands of police.

*For the years, 2010-2012, young Black men were 21 times as likely as their White peers to be killed by police.

*The age of Black boys killed by police is astounding...there were 41 teens 14 years or younger killed by police from 1980 to 2012...27 of them were Black, 8 were White, 4 were Hispanic, 1 Asian.

Lastly, I leave you with this, in that time period, there were 151 instances in which police noted that teens they had shot dead had been fleeing or resisting arrest, 67% of those killed in such circumstances were Black.

That disparity is even starker in the last couple of years: of the 15 teens shot fleeing arrest from 2010-2012, 14 were Black.

Again, read the entire report at ProPublica.org. It's well worth your time.