Why Black Lives Matter doesn’t focus on black-on-black crime

Black Lives Matter protests during the Democratic National Convention

Asa Khalif, an organizer for Black Lives Matter and a member of the Philly Coalition for Real Justice,

Video by Jasper Colt, USA TODAY

The Black Lives Matter movement is in the national spotlight again this month, following the high-profile killings of two black men by police and the killings of police officers by black men in Dallas and Baton Rouge.

With the movements attention comes a familiar refrain: Why doesnt Black Lives Matter focus onblack-on-black crime?

Its a question asked, in various forms, from Facebook to cable networks to comments on this site. The answer, one writer says, is Black Lives Matter isnt solely focused on the loss of black lives but also on a lack of justice.

When a civilian has committed a violent crime, theyre generally arrested, tried and then convicted, Franchesca Ramsey, a writer and activist who discusses race, explainsin the MTV series Decoded (which you canwatch here in full).

Conversely, theres a lot of evidence that its very rare to secure an indictment against a police officer for excessive force. And an indictment is just a trial; it isnt even a conviction.

Black Lives Matter isnt just about the loss of life, which is always terrible. Its about the lack of consequences when black lives are taken at the hands of police.

Police officers shot and killed nearly 1,000 people last year, according toaWashington Postdatabase.Eighteen officers faced chargesfor such shootings that year.

While nearly twice as many white Americanswere killed by on-duty officersthan blacks,thePosts updateddatashowed,black Americans remained 2.5 times as likely to die at the hands of police when adjusting for population.

And when unarmed, the data showedthat black Americans were five times as likely to be fatally shot as white ones.

Black Americans do find violence within the black community troubling: A YouGov poll from April shows a plurality of black Americans think its a bigger problem than racial injustice, as Voxs Victoria M. Massie notes.

"(The) survey underscores what the people in these communities have long argued that police brutality and crime are not mutually exclusive concerns for African Americans," she wrote.

Black Americans have launched anti-violence effortsin their communities (Ramsey mentions aPBS documentary about them,The Interruptors). Butmany in theBlack Lives Matter movementhave described"black-on-black" criticismsa diversionthat ignores underlying issues like poverty.

What we know is that gun violence absolutely presents tragedy every single day, said Brittany Packnett, a prominent voice in the movement,on PBS NewsHourin December. But if black life really matters to people who insist that black-on-black crime is the real issue, then pay attention to poverty."

Poor white Americansexperience violent crimes at rates virtually equalthat of poor black Americans,asMassie points outina2014 Department of Justice study.Black and white Americans kill members of their own races atsimilarrates, too.

According to2014 FBI data, 90% of African-American homicides were committed by African Americans. Similarly, 82% of white American homicides were committed by white Americanswhat we might, but dont, call white-on-white crime.

The difference:Morethan one in four black Americans livein areas of extreme poverty,according toa 2015 Century Foundation study. Only one in 13 whites live in such areas.

(h/ts Decoded, Vox)

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Why Black Lives Matter doesn't focus on black-on-black crime