It would be really great if the world were comic book simple, with good guys vs bad guys and little ambiguity in between. Real life is seldom like that, and you cannot solve a complex issue by pretending that all the nuance does not exist. I don’t think I have ever said that a person deserved to be shot based on their previous history, and certainly not that skin color should be a factor. The only way race seems to come into it is that if the victim is Black, which is 25% of the time, it makes national news.
If we look at the Washington post database, the most recent people ( it is a couple of days behind) shot by police were-
9/27 Alfred Olongo, Black, unarmed, pointed an object at police
9/26 Nathan Desai, Indian, Armed, shot by Houston police while on a shooting spree
9/26 Leeland White, White, mentally ill and refused to drop his gun in Little Rock
9/26 Anthony Bauer, White, pointed a gun at police after a suspicious person call in Idaho
9/25 Cody Lafont, White, depressed but unarmed, shot after police called to a residence "for assistance"
9/23 Christpher Contreras, Hispanic, was wanted for assault, would not drop his gun when confronted by police in San Antonio
9/23 Oddis Calvin, Black, Bank robbery suspect, was shot when he drove towards police in Pikesville, Md
9/23 Jesse Attaway, White, pointed “an object” at police after reports of a burglary in Fair Oaks, Ca
9/21 Austin M. Baier, White, unarmed, had been driving erattically then confronted police in Louisville Ne.
9/20, Thomas Tucker, White, reached for a weapon after a foot chase in Westminster, Co
9/20 Sandy Joe Duke, White, home invasion suspect, turned towards police with a gun in Nashville
9/20 Keith Lamont Scott, Black, apparently would not drop a gun in Charlotte
9/20 Joshua Scott, White, shot at police who were serving an order for an involuntary mental health eval
9/20 Charles Dove, White, Armed robbery suspect in Tenn, shot in an altercation after a car chase
9/19 Gary Don Lafon, White, was reported to be suicidal, pointed a gun at officers at his home in Wood county, Tx
9/19 Jeremy Ray Swenson, White, reported suicidal, was threatening a woman and refused to drop his gun in Utah
9/19 Michelle Miller, White, reportedly mentally ill, pointed a gun at officers in Spring, Tx
9/18 Philip Hasan, black, police were called to a fight, shot when he pulled a gun on officers in Akron, Oh
9/17 Dahir Adan, Black, ISIS knife attack in Minn.
So that is a lot of people shot by police. It is a random sampling in that those were the latest I found on the Wapo site that could be identified. But 5 of the 19 are black, which pretty much follows the trend of just under 25% for the year.( and 26% for 2015) It does not look to me as if there is any particular trend of a “war on Black people by police”, just too many police shootings. I guess race enters the conversation when we ask why there was a violent protest today over Mr. Olongo, but almost no response at all over the shootings of Jesse Ataway, and Cody Lafont.
