George W Bush claiming that there is "systemic racism" among police

In talking about George Floyd's death, Bush said:

"This tragedy — in a long series of similar tragedies — raises a long overdue question: How do we end systemic racism in our society? The only way to see ourselves in a true light is to listen to the voices of so many who are hurting and grieving. Those who set out to silence those voices do not understand the meaning of America — or how it becomes a better place."

Obviously, while Floyd's deaths apparently shows extremely bad policing, I don't think that the evidence supports the claim of systemic racism by the police. Even in Floyd's case, t don't believe that there is yet evidence of racism on the part of the officer who apparently killed him, though I am interested in being corrected if I am wrong.

Chant in St. Louis after acquittal of policeman Jason Stokley: “hey ho, hey ho, these racist cops have got to go”

There is no evidence that Jason Stokley, the police officer who shot the black man in 2011, is racist.  But the perception is that blacks are being shot by white officers and the only explanation for it is racism by police.

Sunday’s crowd began peacefully protesting in the afternoon as demonstrators gathered in front of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department headquarters in downtown St. Louis at about 3 p.m. 

They chanted “hey ho, hey ho, these racist cops have got to go” and “black lives matter,” while also staging a die-in, in which participants lie down on the ground as if dead to protest police violence. . . .

Yet, the evidence suggests that there is not systematic shooting of blacks by white officers.  For the research, see this paper available here.

Do white police officers unfairly target black suspects?

Abstract

Using a unique new data set on police-involved homicides, we apply several discrimination tests to determine if white police officers discriminate against black suspects. We find that the probability of an unarmed black suspect being killed by a white police officer is significantly greater than the probability of a black suspect being killed by a black police officer. We also find that while black officers are generally more likely than white officers to kill unarmed black suspects at a higher rate than they kill unarmed white ones, the differences in these gaps for black and white officers are not statistically significant. These findings are inconsistent with taste-based discrimination on the part of white police officers. 

 ...
Read more here: http://www.bnd.com/news/local/article173868421.html#storylink=cpy

Some Fact Slowly Appearing on Minnesota Police Shooting of Philando Castile

The shooting of Philander Castile by Officer Geronimo Yanez has gotten national attention, but the case might not have been quite as simple as many have thought.   Indeed, 21 officers were injured in rioting on Saturday night.  Yanez's lawyer had this to say:

“I’m not concerned about criminal proceedings here and I don’t think he is either,” attorney Thomas Kelly told PBS Saturday.Kelly said in a separate interview with The Associated Press that Officer Jeronimo Yanez was reacting to “the presence of that gun and the display of that gun” when he shot Castile multiple times.  . . .
Kelly said that Castile did not obey the instructions of the police.
“I can tell you that the driver disregarded the clear commands of Officer Yanez,” Kelly said, adding that “race had nothing to do with the shooting.” . . .
"There was more than just the equipment violation,” he said, refusing to share any more details due to an ongoing investigation.

Obama's comments surely suggested that the officer was at fault.

I want to begin by expressing my condolences for the families of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. As I said in the statement that I posted on Facebook, we have seen tragedies like this too many times. 

The Justice Department, I know, has opened a civil rights investigation in Baton Rouge. The governor of Minnesota, I understand, is calling for an investigation there as well.
As is my practice, given my institutional role, I can’t comment on the specific facts of each case. And I have confidence (AUDIO GAP). 

But what I can say is that all of us as Americans should be troubled by the news. These are not isolated incidents. They are symptomatic of a broader set of racial disparities that exist in our criminal justice system. . . . 

The Governor of Minnesota clearly argued that racism was the problem behind the shooting.

“Would this have happened if those passengers would have been white? I don’t think it would have,” Gov. Mark Dayton said to a crowd that gathered outside his residence all day and night Thursday. . . .

The president doesn't even mention that the officer doing the shooting in Minnesota, Geronimo Yanez, was Mexican. 

Baltimore mayor: "we also gave space to destroy to those who wanted to do that as well"

What does she think is the long term impact on jobs and prices for people in Baltimore from this policy?  What does she think will be the impact on insurance premiums for businesses and people in Baltimore?

UPDATE: For those who aren't going to take the time to listen to the video, here is the quote:

“I worked with the police and I instructed them to do everything that they could to ensure that the protestors could exercise their right to free speech.  It is a very delicate balancing act because while we tried to make sure that they were protected from the cars and the other things that were going on, we also gave those who wished to destroy space to do that as well.  And we worked very hard to keep that balance and to put ourselves in the best position to de-escalate.”

Newest piece in the Pittsburg Tribune Review: Comments on FBI Director James Comey's recent speech on police and race

My newest piece in the starts this way:

FBI Director James Comey's recent speech on police and race was about as politically incorrect a speech as you will get these days from a high-ranking government official. Comey acknowledges “the existence of unconscious (racial) bias,” but he doesn't think that racism is responsible for so many blacks being in jail.
Unlike President Obama, he doesn't see a need to change the way police are trained. Comey recognizes that there are real problems, but he believes they arise from drugs, underperforming schools and unemployment.
Comey's comments are at odds with what blacks are telling pollsters. Compared with other Americans, blacks were 29 percent more likely to primarily attribute the disproportionate imprisonment of blacks to racial discrimination. Blacks are much more likely to say that police treat blacks less fairly than whites. And blacks are also more likely to believe that the police are dishonest. . . .
There is actually strong evidence that blacks trust police at least as much as whites do. What people say and what they do are often very different. . . .

The rest of the piece is available here.

Newest piece in Investors' Business Daily: "Do Blacks Really Feel Especially Distrustful Of Cops?"

My newest piece in Investors' Business Daily starts this way:

With chants of "NYPD, KKK" and signs saying "Stop Racist Police Terror" up until days before Christmas, protesters in New York made it clear that they don't trust the police.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's second inaugural address was blunt: 

"The truth is the justice system does need review. The truth is there are troubling questions that have been raised which must be answered." 

But despite the overwhelming political and media rhetoric and the polls, there is strong evidence that blacks trust police at least as much as whites do. 

If you looked only at recent polls by Gallup and Pew, there is no question: blacks clearly don't trust police. 

Blacks were asked to explain why black males go to prison so much. Compared to other Americans, blacks were 29% more likely to say it was more a matter of racial discrimination than it was about the disproportionate number of crimes committed by black males. Blacks are much more likely to say that police treat blacks less fairly than whites. Blacks are also more likely to believe that the police are dishonest. 

The media have also bombarded people with "evidence" that blacks are discriminated against. Take the widely reported false claim that black men between the ages of 15 and 19 are 21 times as likely as whites to be killed by a police officer. Few note that these numbers are based on just 1.2% of police departments and that the ones that do report represent very heavily black urban areas. 

Politicians have supported these fears. After the Ferguson grand jury verdict, President Obama emphasized that the anger about the verdict was "an understandable reaction" and blacks' distrust of police is "rooted in realities." 

But what people say and what they do are often very different. 

A great many blacks say that Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown were innocent and unarmed. But that doesn't mean that they act like that they all believe it. . . .

The rest of the piece is available here.

A couple of notes on the recent spate of conflicts between police and blacks

Eric Garner case: Garner didn't die from suffocation.  He suffered a heart attack and later died at the hospital.  He was pronounced dead about an hour after the arrest.

People who have assaulted police officers in NYC are let go.

The City University’s refusal to act against an adjunct professor caught on video resisting arrest and assaulting a police lieutenant during an anti-cop protest becomes more absurd by the day. 

Other employers are tougher in the face of criminality. Chancellor James Milliken can see for himself by comparing CUNY’s stance regarding Eric Linsker with the decisiveness shown in two similarly recorded assaults. 

The lieutenant saw Linsker as he was about to heave a garbage can from Brooklyn Bridge walkway onto demonstrators and cops below. Linsker had already hurled two cans, according to the NYPD. He struggled with the lieutenant, throwing at least one punch, the video shows. 

CUNY is keeping Linsker in the classroom at full pay, while his union argues that he has “not yet been found guilty.” 

Meanwhile, a second of the bridge cop beaters, Robert Murray, is an organizer for 32BJ SEIU. His employer — a union — saw Murray swing away on the same video and suspended him without pay, explaining that it “does not under any circumstance condone violence of any kind, including against police officers.”