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I don't have a source for this, but it is a well-known argument in the USA that:

black on white crime is huge, ergo black racists are a big problem

But, is black on white crime actually huge in the USA?

One way to judge whether its "huge" is of course, by comparisons. So, is black on white crime bigger than black on black crime in the USA? If not, then black on white crime might be explained not by racism, but simply by the fact that black people commit more crime on average, period.

Since there are more white people than black people in the USA, an appropiate answer should take that into account, using per capita units or something.

user56reinstatemonica8
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    Not exactly the same question, but the same logical mistakes apply. – Sklivvz Aug 20 '17 at 08:33
  • To answer your title question: At least regarding murder, no. [Politifacts](http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/nov/23/donald-trump/trump-tweet-blacks-white-homicide-victims/) looked at the numbers, and 90% of black people are killed by black people, while only 15% of white people are killed by black people; so statistically, black people are a *lot* more likely to kill another black person (which is to be expected). – tim Aug 20 '17 at 08:36
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    Nowhere near 90% of black people are killed by black people. In 2013, there were 2491 black people alleged to have been murdered. There were roughly 45 million black people that year. That's less than .01%. The correct formulation is: of black people alleged to have been murdered, 90% (2245) are killed by other black people. Specific numbers from 2013, but other years have similar results. – Brythan Aug 20 '17 at 15:26
  • @Brythan Yes, obviously 90% of black people are not murdered (or if we add those murdered by white people, 98%). It's the phrasing from the source, but I can see how it might be unclear, so thanks for the specification. – tim Aug 20 '17 at 15:48
  • @Sklivvz: It's a different question for several reasons. First, because it's asking about crime in general, not just killing. Second, because the other question (wrongly) invokes "what Black Lives Matter is protesting". – jamesqf Aug 20 '17 at 18:12
  • Even if true, it's a non-sequitur. Committing a crime against a person not your color is not automatically about race. –  Aug 26 '17 at 01:20
  • @fredsbend In fact, it's not even causative - if a predominant portion of blacks are below the poverty line, and whites above, then white people are more likely to get robbed *because they have more worth stealing*. – Shadur Aug 26 '17 at 12:59
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    @Shadur: But OTOH, if blacks and whites tend to live in different areas, it's much more convenient to steal from the folks nearby than to travel to some other area where you'll stand out. – jamesqf Aug 26 '17 at 18:05
  • (continued) I doubt there can be an accurate answer to the question, since it assumes that a) all crimes are reported; and b) every crime report notes the race of both victim and perpetrator. In a large number of cases, the perpetrator's identity is not known. The FBI reports clearance rates of under 50% for violent crimes, just over 20% for property crimes: https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2011/crime-in-the-u.s.-2011/clearances – jamesqf Aug 26 '17 at 18:15

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