‘Police killings of Blacks widespread problem in U.S’

HOUSTON, United States (AA) The killing of Black people by police officers in the U.S. is a widespread problem that has existed for decades.

Speaking to Türkiye’s Anadolu news agency, political activist Ron Jackson said police have been involved in several high-profile killings of Black people in recent years.

Jackson, who also hosts a radio talk show in Houston, Texas, said Blacks are three times more likely to be killed by police than whites.

In most cases, he said, police officers who kill Blacks face no consequences. This is a serious problem that needs to be addressed, he said.

“It comes back to the same old story and gets lost in the narrative of those on the opposite side,” said Jackson. 

“This is why the phrase and origination of Black Lives Matter came about, because of the senseless deaths of Black people by police.”

He said police departments need to change the way they deal with Blacks and be held accountable when they use excessive force.

Until changes are made, police killings of Blacks will continue to be a problem in America.

Jackson mentioned a litany of police killings of Black people since 2014: the shooting death of Alton Sterling by Baton Rouge, Louisiana police officers on July 5, 2016 responding to a call that Sterling was selling CDs outside a convenience store; the killing of Botham Jean on Sept. 6, 2018 by an off-duty Dallas.

Also Texas police officer who walked into Jean’s apartment believing it was her own, then shot him to death thinking he was a burglar; the killing of Breonna Taylor by Louisiville, Kentucky police officers during a botched no-knock drug raid on March 13, 2020; and the killing of George Floyd on May 25, 2020 by Minneapolis, Minnesota police officer Derek Chauvin, who kneeled on Floyd’s neck for nearly 10 minutes until he died.

“It’s basically been a decade of Black folks being killed at the hands of police officers across the United States,” Jackson emphasized. “The list just continually goes on.”

“From 2014 to now there have been nearly 2,000 deaths of black people at the hands of police officers,” Jackson continued citing recent statistics. “And the alarming fact about these incidents is that these Black people were mostly unarmed.”

A Washington Post study found that 1,055 people were shot by police in 2021, and 27% of those killed were Black.

Only 3% of police killings result in charges and only 1% result in convictions.

From 2014 to the present, nearly 2,000 Black people have been killed at the hands of police officers.

“It’s heartbreaking,” he said.