Received from STOP MASS INCARCERATION NETWORK

The Full Extent of Police Brutality and Murder in This Country Is Being Massively Under-Reported and Covered Up Revolution| From a Reader | July 24, 2023 The police murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor in 2020 triggered an unprecedented, beautiful uprising of people across the U.S. (and reverberating around the world). It was a global expression of outrage at the degradation, brutality, and murder by America’s pigs and the systematic oppression of Black and other people of color. Since then, various researchers have been examining data that reveal the number of killings by the police in this country is being greatly under-reported by the authorities. In addition, because there is no national data compiled on non-fatal shootings or other injuries at the hands of the police, the full extent of the threat, and use, of force and violence by police as the cornerstone of maintaining this system is being hidden from view. A report published in October 2021 in the British medical journal Lancet found: "The number of people killed by police officers in the U.S. has been massively under-reported in official statistics over the past four decades, with an additional 17,000 deaths over that period, according to our new research." The researchers in the Lancet report compared data from the official U.S. National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) to three nongovernmental open-source databases on fatal police violence over the 40-year study period (1980-2019). They found that there were more than 30,000 police killings over those four decades—17,000 more than reported by NVSS. That means over those 40 years, police killings were under-reported by 55.5 percent. How is this possible? “The same government responsible for this violence is also responsible for reporting on it” The researchers' review of decades of data found many of the police killings are “misclassified” because the person responsible for certifying the cause of death “fails to mention police involvement”—by accident or design—in describing “how the injury occurred.” This happens most often when the victim is Black or Hispanic. Over the same 40-year period, Black people were estimated to be 3.5 times more likely to die from police violence than whites. However, the more sinister cause the researchers found was the “conflicts of interest” within the death investigation system that “dis-incentivise” (discourage) the medical examiners and coroners who certify from indicating police involvement. In many cases the medical examiners and coroners are embedded within police departments. Besides those willingly covering up to protect the pigs and the system they work for, a survey of National Association of Medical Examiners members in 2011 found that 22 percent of respondents reported having been pressured by an elected official or appointee to change cause or manner of death on a certificate. As one of the co-authors of the Lancet report put it, “The same government responsible for this violence is also responsible for reporting on it.” The online database Mapping Police Violence found that based on data from multiple sources, police killed at least 1,201 people in 2022. Black people were 26 percent of those killed by police that year despite being only 13 percent of the population. More people were killed by police in 2022 than any other year in the past decade. (97 percent of people killed by police in 2022 were killed by police shootings. Tasers, physical force, and being hit by police vehicles accounted for most other deaths.) They found that 59 percent of the police killings in 2022—685 deaths—began as traffic stops, police responses to mental health crises, or situations where the person was not reportedly threatening anyone with a gun. Black people were not only more likely than white people to be killed by police but also more likely to be unarmed, and less likely to be threatening someone when killed by police. Yet in only 11 of these 1201 cases—one percent—were the cops who did the killings charged with a crime. Finish reading this entire article here and also find the reference sources utilized in this article. VIDEO | Carl Dix Speaks On the Police Murder of Jarrell Garris in New Rochelle, New York We have received this video statement from Carl Dix, co-founder of the Stop Mass Incarceration Network, that speaks urgently to the police murder of Jarrell Garris, a Black man killed in New Rochelle, New York. His alleged offense? For eating a banana and some grapes! The link to this statement is here. Carl wants to hear from you about what you think about this murder, and what the Revcoms have to say it. @Carl_Dix Donate to support the continued publication of RiseUp! eNewsletter Tax-deductible contributions accepted, and checks should be made payable to the "StopMassIncarcerationNetwork/Alliance for Global Justice" and sent to this address: Stop Mass Incarceration Network, P.O. Box 941 Knickerbocker Station, New York, New York 10002-0900