When the news reports statistics on crime and policing, it invariably quotes numbers that demonstrate that arrests of black Americans are proportionally much higher than their percentage in the population. The conclusion always implies that this is the result of problems in white law enforcement, and that reform there is the solution.
This may or may not be the case. But I think this kind of reporting does not get at the real core of the problem. The real problems are poverty, inequality, poor educational opportunities and the breakup of the family. Policing crime is not the real solution. It’s working to eliminate the root causes of crime. This is the real work, and it’s not easy. But it must be done.
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