Almost 7000 men were killed at the battle of Iwo Jima During World War Two. It was one of the fiercest battles that U.S. Marines and Sailors fought against the mighty imperial Japanese Army over a 35 day period. If you would like to get a descriptive idea about the horrors of war, read about the battle of Iwo Jima.

In the United States every year the number of black men killed in homicides is close to the equivalent number of men who died at the battle of Iwo Jima. Over 90 percent of these black men killed, die at the hands of other black men. 

Whenever people point to the amount of violence amongst the black citizenry to show the hypocrisy of those who only seem to complain when a black person is killed by the police or a white person, those pushing the narrative of black oppression get offended. 

They say that pointing out the obvious that blacks are mostly killed by other blacks is a deflection. The deflection is a way of taking attention away from the obvious abuse of black people by others in the society. (In a facebook discussion recently, one person even angrily said that “there is no such thing as black on black crime”). Then they say people commit crimes in the communities where they live.

They then scream, nobody talks about white on white crime. Nobody talks about Asian on Asian crime. Nobody talks about Hispanic on Hispanic crime. Nobody talks about Native American on Native American crime. Why is it that every time people attempt to point out the obvious brutality of the police against black people, or the violence committed by white people against black people like we saw with George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery that everyone deflects to “so called black on black crime?”

Well the answer to that is simple. True, people commit crime in the communities wherever they live. Here is the difference though. When it comes to crime in any community, whether it be white on white crime, Hispanic on Hispanic crime or any other group, no ethnic group/race slaughters or commits violence against their own like black people do. When it comes to crimes committed against other ethnic groups, no other group is as prolific as blacks. The numbers are staggering. Now that statement is either true or it is not. It does not matter how one feels about that information. 

Is it a verifiable fact or is it a lie?

When it comes to unwarranted acts of violence by the police against black people, the numbers pale in comparison to the carnage that is taking place in the black community. They are not even minutely close. So pointing out the staggering number of blacks killed by other blacks is not to suggest that society should not be outraged when they point to the rare cases of outright police abuse. People should be outraged. 

They police have been entrusted with a huge responsibility in caring for it’s citizens. Balancing that care and protection with the authorization of the state to use violence against its citizens is a very sensitive issue. When that trust is betrayed it causes a sense of helplessness and sometimes people feel a need to lash out. It’s understandable.

These emotions however should never give way to the realities that are actually happening on the ground, and the truth is that over the last fifty years the killing of black citizens by the police have declined significantly to the point where it rarely happens. 

Yes this goes against the narrative and the propaganda put out by the Democrat Party and the media, but it is the truth. Now, acknowledging this does not mean that we should not strive to do even better, or be callous to the death of anyone, but the responsibility to do better lies with everyone, not just the police.

The police are often called to operate in a dark seedy world where the worst of human nature is often on display. In that world, violence and intimidation are common tools that are used to fulfill desires. The acts of brutality, the disregard for human life and the depths of depravity that people go to in the criminal world are unimaginable.

It so happens that a large number of the people who operate in this world are black. It is a natural consequence that the police would have more encounters and interactions with black people as a result of this reality, and because of it; there is more opportunity for things to go wrong between the police and black citizens.

Lets honestly address the issue of police brutality, rare as it is in the black community whenever it does happen, but we also have to address the issue of criminal behavior by a section of black citizens.

So, it’s not that police brutality does not matter, the point is that their is a much bigger problem that needs attention. It is the rhinoceros in the room.