The Minneapolis PD systemically inflicts violence against the Black community. It’s not “some bad apples”; it's an institutional issue, and the numbers show it. I analyzed the city’s Police Use of Force dataset, which lists 11K+ cases where force was used since 2008

thread

The vast majority (~66%) of subjects the MPD uses force against are Black. For context, the Black community makes up only *19%* of the Minneapolis population

It should also be noted that many points in the dataset are missing the subject’s race and that most Hispanic/Latino folks are recorded as White. This means the racial disparity might be even worse than the data shows

Unfortunately, there’s no public data that combines all police cases with all uses of force, so it’s hard to track what kinds of cases escalate into force. However, by comparing the racial disparity in specific uses of force, it’s possible to unravel MPD’s racism

Among physical assault cases where police force is used, 59% of subjects are Black and 26% are white. In non-violent traffic stops involving police force, those numbers are 71% and 20%

This demonstrates that Black folks are often targeted with force even when their initial "violation" is non-violent, while White people enjoy a higher threshold of criminality they need to reach for the police to deem force necessary

Since 2008, only one white person in Minneapolis has faced any level of police force due to forgery, an act which was apparently offensive enough to warrant the horrific murder of George Floyd

A common racist proverb regarding police violence is to “JuSt ObEy tHe CoPs”. This is stupid. In cases where the subject resists by “tensing” or via “verbal non-compliance” 58% and 61% of subjects were Black. When resistance involves assaulting the officer, only 53% are Black

This supports the fact that a Black person can be met with force even when they “resist” in the vaguest sense of the word, while White people enjoy a higher threshold of disobedience they can get away with before provoking a cop’s use of force

The specific types of force employed highlight the fact that law enforcement places less value on Black bodies than White ones. The most dehumanizing forms of force, like body weight pins and neck restraints, are disproportionately used on Black folks

This map shows that uses of force are almost entirely concentrated in communities of color. Notice the visibility of Lake Street. MPD’s excuse is probably that “bad neighborhoods” inevitably result in more aggressive policing, but we all know what’s really going on

The Black community doesn’t need fancy charts to confirm what they live through on a daily basis. But to my fellow non-Black folks who neglect this issue, the data shows that everything the Black community has been telling us is true. It’s about damn time we listen

end thread