White-on-white murder in America is out of control

[Stellar]

White-on-white murder in America is out of control

http://www.vox.com/2014/8/21/6053811/white-on-white-murder

"Blacks represent 13% of the population but commit 50% of the murders; 90% of black victims are murdered by other blacks," writes Time's Joe Klein, calling for "provocative" thinking on race in America. "The facts suggest that history is not enough to explain this social disaster."

Yet the disturbing truth, according to the FBI's most recent homicide statistics, is that the United States is in the wake of an epidemic of white-on-white crime. Back in 2011, the most recent year for which data is available, a staggering 83 percent of white murder victims were killed by fellow Caucasians.

This is not to say that white people are inherently prone to violence. Most whites, obviously, manage to get through life without murdering anyone. And there are many countries full of white people — Norway, Iceland, France, Denmark, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom — where white people murder each other at a much lower rate than you see here in the United States.

On the other hand, although people often see criminal behavior as a symptom of poverty, the quantity of murder committed by white people specifically in the United States casts some doubt on this. Per capita GDP is considerably higher here than in France — and the white population in America is considerably richer than the national average — and yet we have more white murderers.

Read more at the link.

[valerief]

1. Excellent! I remember this story when it first came out.

Brainwashing works.

[Stellar]

2. Black on Black crime in Chicago was what

FOX news wanted to talk about after Michael Brown was murdered by Darren Wilson. As if to say, don't worry about the police killing black people until they get their crimes against one another straightened out. This is probably the first article that I've read about white-on-white crime. It's not just blacks killing blacks...white are doing the same to one another.

[valerief]

4. No, I meant the white-on-white story. Here's Chris Hayes in 2013 discussing it.

http://gawker.com/watch-cord-jefferson-discuss-the-white-culture-of-viole-975400723

[etherealtruth]

3. K and R

[FrodosPet]

5. Please don't attack the "Poverty is the root of crime" meme.

Even if it is not true, it is still a useful tool to attack the power structure.

[Spider Jerusalem]

6. Most murder victims are killed by someone personally known to them

given the fact that the USA is still very much socially segregated in a lot of ways this isn't at all surprising.

[FrodosPet]

7. As a white man, I am less scared of going to Detroit than some blacks I know

Granted, I am not going to hang out at 7 Mile and Gratiot at 1 am and yell "Hey I have a pocket full of money!" (nor would I do that at Maple and Old Woodward in Bham), but the reality is, most murders are people who know each other, or feuding with another gang over turf and respect.

[nomorenomore08]

9. I lived for about 3 years (2009-2012) in a pretty bad part of West Oakland, CA.

And although there were frequent shootings within a few blocks of me, I never ran into too many problems myself.

[nomorenomore08]

8. "Poverty=crime" has always been an oversimplification anyway.

Especially when it comes to crimes like spousal abuse and murder.