#BlackLivesMatter : A Thread
Information plays an integral role in our ability to effectuate change. Inaccurate and unreliable information is dangerous and counterproductive. I created this page to curate and post reliable information that can be used to put issues in perspective.

1)Police brutality is not only a black problem, but it is disproportionately so. In 2019, police killed 1,099 people in the US, with black people being 24% of that number despite being only 13% of the population. Black people are also 3x more likely to be killed by the police.

Further, crime rates are not an accurate proxy for police killings. There is no correlation between crime rates and the rate at which police kill civilians. Also, in instances where the police killed a civilian, black people were 1.3x more likely to be unarmed than white people.

2) Accountability is one of the biggest issues here. 99% of officers since 2013 involved in police killings were never charged with a crime, and only 1 has ever been convicted.

3) There is nothing natural about police brutality. When controlling for population, demographics, and crime rates, police departments can have wildly different rates of police brutality. This indicates that there can be measures taken to reduce the police murders.

4) There are changes to police behavior that can be and have been implemented that resulted in decreased rates of police murder. Some reforms in isolation have reduced police killings by up to 25%.

5) So we know the problem and have done plausible solutions, why isn’t anything being done? This is the the plight of black people in our country. They’ve been the victims of racism and inaction for centuries and there comes a breaking point. For many, that breaking point is now.

6) This thread only scratched the surface of one particular issue that black people face daily: police brutality. But the truth is this accounts for only a small fraction of the discrimination endured by black people daily.

7) In the future I’ll be doing more threads on other issues and responding to twitter users trying to spread some information. But, for now #BlackLivesMatter #GeorgeFloydMurder #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd