Public Highlights Mass Murders, Ignores Most Murders: Racism?

[Draggingtree]

PJ Media:

Public Highlights Mass Murders, Ignores Most Murders: Racism?

 

Cornel West's assertion is as simplistic as that of gun control advocates.

by

Clayton E. Cramer January 13, 2013 - 12:00 am

 

Cornel West recently expressed his belief that the concern Americans have about mass murder reflects a racist lack of concern with the real problem with murder, which is largely black on black.

He has one valid point: mass murders get very disproportionate coverage. In 2011, there were just under 14,000 murders in the U.S.; all the mass murders combined each year are less than 1% of that. Why do they get so much attention?

I can see why Professor West might assume that racism is at the core of this overemphasis. The most common murder in the U.S. is a black or Hispanic young man killing another black or Hispanic young man, usually in a dispute over drugs, gang affiliation, or territory. In some cities, not only are murderers overwhelmingly people with criminal records, so are their victims.

Not everyone with an arrest record is a criminal, of course,