Back in June, Tulsa Police Maj. Travis Yates – a sought after pundit, speaker and public figure in the authoritarian law enforcement scene – made a casually-cited statement in a radio interview claiming that cops are shooting Blacks not as often as they "probably ought to be."
Here's the full quote:
"If a certain group is committing more crimes, more violent crimes, and law enforcement’s having to come into more contact with them, that number is going to be higher. Who in the world in their right mind would think that our shootings should be right along the U.S. Census lines? That’s insanity. All of the research says we’re shooting African-Americans about 24% less than we probably ought to be, based on the crimes being committed."
Yeah, that's some great news for African Americans! The "research" says cops should technically be shooting people of color more often, so please be happy and content with the excessive levels of police abuse and brutality you're more likely to experience in America than a white person.
As you probably know, the words that literally came out of Maj. Yate's mouth quickly hit the web and then spread across the social media outrage channels. Before you could say "Tazer," his own mayor and police department were calling into question his words, and The New York Times was publishing in-depth reports about them.