Rather, the following analysis assesses the accuracy of the factual claims made in relation to each of the nine individuals, their treatment by police, and their underlying offenses, if any, and provides any significant relevant details that might be missing from the meme. The question of whether racial basis played a role in the nine specific incidents cited in the Occupy Democrats meme goes beyond the scope of this fact check.
However, experts disagree on whether those differences should be attributed solely or primarily to racial bias, or if other factors might play a role. The point of the meme was therefore clear: that a racial discrepancy exists between, on the one hand, the manner in which white men suspected of heinous acts of violence are arrested and detained, and on the other, the way in which Black men and women who have committed no offense, or only trivial offenses, are subjected to violence at the hands of police.Īcademic research indicates that a discrepancy exists between the rates at which individuals from Black and other ethnic minority communities are subjected to police violence, and the rates at which white individuals are subjected to police violence. The caption that accompanied the meme was “This is why we kneel” - a reference to long-running protests against police violence and racial injustice that have prevailed in sports and other forums in recent years. The meme contained information about nine incidents, three involving white men who were suspected or convicted of multiple murders but, according to the meme, were “arrested without incident,” and by contrast, six incidents involving Black men and women who had committed no underlying offense, or only a relatively very minor offense, and yet were killed by police officers or died in police custody. The meme came after Robert Aaron Long, a 21-year-old white man, was arrested on suspicion of murder in connection with a March 16 shooting rampage at Atlanta-area spas, which left eight people dead, most of them Asian American women. In March 2021, the popular left-leaning Facebook page Occupy Democrats posted a meme that purported to highlight racial discrepancies in police violence in the United States.
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