My name is Dorothy Gadsby, and I am an African-American woman, who does not support the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. Stories that are told often are very easily rearranged and twisted to the story teller’s liking, and the drawn out story of the bad, racist American police force whose sole goal is to take the lives of “innocent” black people is not exempt from this story twisting. The BLM movement propelled after the death of Trayvon Martin, a 17 year old who was shot by a neighborhood watchman in 2012, since then, it has been quick to protest the killing of any black citizen,  giving police officers the role of villain, and the dead, the crown of martyrdom. America is a country that was built upon racism. The Civil Rights Movement did not even end until 1968, therefore it can not be expected that  all traces of racism to be washed from existence. However, police brutality is far more exaggerated by the media and organizations  than it should be.

According to research conducted by the Washington Post which includes public records and information from nation wide databases a total of 986 people were killed by the police in 2015. Of these 986, 464 were white, 172 were hispanic and 258 were black. Out of the 986 people who were shot by the police in 2015, 281 of these people were armed with a weapon other than a gun, and 564 were armed with a firearm. Black people made up for 40% of the unarmed people shot by the police in 2015. White officers killing black men made up less than 4% of the unarmed victims, which means that the rest of the 36% of unarmed black men were killed by officers of either their own race or another other than white, which nullifies the argument of the ‘genocide’ that the black lives matter campaign claims is happening. In 2011, according to the bureau of justice,  26.4 million people ages 16 and older were stopped by the police while driving. Although that statistic was taken 5 years ago, it shows just how many encounters police may have per year, not including other reasons why the police might stop you, say, 29.4 million was also the driving encounters number for 2015, although the number has probably increased since then, the 986 people that were killed by the police would make up only .37% of all encounters for that year. Which proves that a very small percentage of police encounters end fatally. Many may get stuck on the idea that black people only make up 6% of the country, but 40% of unarmed people killed were black. Look at the areas these unarmed african Americans live in! I didn’t see them killed in places like Hidden hills or Claremont. The majority of the population in which they live in, is black. Which means that the crime, of course, will be done mostly by blacks, and the suspects of any police encounter are mostly likely to be black as well. It isn’t as if they are going head hunting for black people and killing the one person who just happens to be black just because. Black people have the highest poverty rate in the United States, coming in at 24.1%, according to the stateofworkingamerica.org. This means that nearly ¼ of African americans aren’t living in the best areas, which leads many to fall victim to the influence of the violent culture around them. Let’s disregard the police factor for a second and just look at violence as a whole, including civilians and officers. In a report put out by the Department of Justice (DOJ) on July 1,2012, the department estimated a grand total of 6,484,507 violent offenses, not differentiating between murder or basic violence. The following breakdown was found; 86% of white offenders victims are white, while only 3.6% of the victims they choose are black. On the flip side, the DOJ reported that 40.9% of black offenders also victimized black people when only victimizing 38.6% of which were white. Black people are killing each other more often than a white police officer is. To say that the police force are targeting black people, is inaccurate and ignorant. The genocide that Black lives matter, claims is happening is being brought upon by the police force. If anything, it is black people who are killing other black people than white people killing them.

“It is an acknowledgement Black poverty and genocide is state violence.” This can be found in the black lives matter manifesto on their website.

I find this statement perverse and exaggerated, considering that there are people who are alive today and still remember what an actual genocide looks like- for example, the Holocaust where approximately 6 million Jews were murdered by the German government. In modern day America, only 258 black people were killed by the police, and 21.7% of those victims were unarmed. I don’t see how those numbers compare. African Americans make up 12.3% of the American population. On January 1, 2015 there was a total of 320,389,069 Americans, meaning that approximately 19,217,344 were black. Deduct the number of black lives that were lost by the police last year and the black population hardly changes. This do not equate to a genocide, and although every life is a precious thing, these deaths are not considered an epidemic.  

While life lost for any reason is upsetting- I cannot agree with the BLM movement and their claim that cops are targeting black people or anyone at all. These type of claims irritate me, especially when there’s factual evidence against it. I want to support this organization,  but I cannot support a group that cries genocide when that concept is not even applicable. Stop believing everything that is shown on channel 4 news and actually look into the cause you wish to support.