# Why are young black men in the US 21X more likely to be killed by police than young white men? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 13, 2014, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-young-black-men-in-the-us-21x-more-likely-to-be-killed-by-police-than-young-white-men/701156 "2014-10-13T01:48:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 30
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-young-black-men-in-the-us-21x-more-likely-to-be-killed-by-police-than-young-white-men/701156/30 "2014-10-13T16:12:48Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Yes, it’s a problem, and even more harmful to black males than to the police. > > By committing a disproportionate amount of violent crime, young black males are contributing to distrust of themselves, both by the police and by every other demographic who objects to violent crime, and _increasing the risk to themselves_ in the long run. If young black males act differently (and negatively) towards the rest of society, it’s entirely reasonable to feel negatively inclined towards younhg black males, and to fear that a young black male might be more likely to commit a violent crime against either the police, or anybody else. > > I assume you agree this is a major problem, and harmful to young black males in the long run? > > Regards, > Shodan Here’s the problem with this post. You assigned collective responsibility to a demographic – young black males – for their disparate crime statistics. Most young black males _have nothing to do with this and contribute to this problem in no way_. Most young black males are entirely innocent of any wrongdoing. Most young black males act perfectly appropriately and respectfully to the rest of society. I am assigning collective responsibility to police (while recognizing that most police officers are fine individuals). _This is entirely different_. Police are not a “demographic” – it’s an occupation. They are trained and organized. They have formal, organized leadership with an organizational culture. This **organizational culture** is the critical difference – there is no organization culture for young black males (or any other ethnic/age demographic). And this organizational culture is the problem. This organizational culture, I believe, tolerates and even encourages young black males to be treated differently than young white males _for their race and race alone_. And this statistic demonstrates this. So your comparison is complete and utter bullshit, and shame on you for making it. Most black males are doing what they’re supposed to be doing, and you (and anyone else) have nothing to complain about the behavior of most young black males. While most police officers are also behaving properly, _this organizational culture that disproportionately harms young black males still exists_. Police officers and supporters of the police still have a duty to change this organizational culture. Young black males, on the other hand, have a duty to treat people with respect – _and most of them do this_. The majority of young black males is not the problem. The majority of police officers, similarly, is not the problem. The _organizational culture_ of many or most American police forces are the problem, in my opinion. There is no analogous organizational culture for young black males to criticize. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-young-black-men-in-the-us-21x-more-likely-to-be-killed-by-police-than-young-white-men/701156)._