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Videos from a YouTuber called AK Nation show up every now and then in my YouTube feed. I’ll occasionally watch one of these videos because I find Mr. AK intriguing. He’s a black dude who didn’t get the memo that we’re supposed to pussyfoot around when we discuss violent crime. He sees black Americans as the main driver of our violent crime problem and he isn’t afraid to say so. In fact, he doesn’t use the term “gun violence” to describe the daily cavalcade of shootings he sees courtesy of our country’s local news. He uses the term “sun violence.”
Is Mr. AK right? Are black Americans the main driver of violent crime in America? Or is Mr. AK a savvy but unethical businessman who is only using the provocative term “sun violence” because he knows it will tap into the virulent anti-black racism that afflicts this country and attract more eyeballs to his videos?
New York City Shooting Data to the Rescue
The good news is that we don’t have to rely on feelings or anecdotal evidence to determine the veracity of Mr. AK’s schtick. New York City, for instance, collects comprehensive demographic data on the shooters and shootees involved in civilian-on-civilian shooting incidents. Let’s look at the results for 2022.
In 2022, there were a total of 1,716 civilian-on-civilian shooting incidents. The race/ethnicity of the shooter was known in 1,076 of these shooting incidents (roughly 63 percent). Here’s the breakdown of known shooter demographics:
| Race/Ethnicity | Count | Percentage of Known Shooters | Percentage of NYC Population |
|---|---|---|---|
| Black | 764 | 71.00 | 24.3 |
| White Hispanic | 177 | 16.45 | 25.5 |
| Black Hispanic | 111 | 10.32 | 3.5 |
| Asian/Pacific Islander | 13 | 1.21 | 14.2 |
| White | 11 | 1.02 | 32.1 |
| Total | 1076 | 100 | 99.6 |
Of the 1,716 civilian-on-civilian shooting incidents, the race/ethnicity of the shootee was known in all but one of them. Here’s the breakdown of known shootee demographics:
| Race/Ethnicity | Count | Percentage of Known Shootees | Percentage of NYC Population |
|---|---|---|---|
| Black | 1158 | 67.52 | 24.3 |
| White Hispanic | 307 | 17.90 | 25.5 |
| Black Hispanic | 161 | 9.39 | 3.5 |
| Asian/Pacific Islander | 50 | 2.91 | 14.2 |
| White | 38 | 2.22 | 32.1 |
| American Indian | 1 | 0.06 | 0.4 |
| Total | 1715 | 100 | 100 |
Now a question: If generic “gun violence” were truly the problem in New York City, wouldn’t it affect all demographic groups equally? In other words, wouldn’t every group’s shooter and shootee percentages kind of match its percentage of the population? Why are white Hispanics, Asians, and whites underrepresented in shooter and shootee percentages and black and black Hispanics overrepresented? And why are Asians and whites dramatically underrepresented and black and black Hispanics dramatically overrepresented?
In New York City anyway, it looks like sun violence is more of a problem than gun violence. And nowhere is this sad truth more evident than when it comes to New York City’s youth. Here’s the breakdown of known youthful shooters (under 18) in 2022:
| Race/Ethnicity | Count | Percentage of Known Youthful Shooters | Percentage of NYC Population |
|---|---|---|---|
| Black | 105 | 82.03 | 24.3 |
| White Hispanic | 12 | 9.38 | 25.5 |
| Black Hispanic | 10 | 7.81 | 3.5 |
| White | 1 | 0.78 | 32.1 |
| Asian/Pacific Islander | 0 | 0.00 | 14.2 |
| Total | 128 | 100 | 99.6 |
And here’s the breakdown of youthful shootees:
| Race/Ethnicity | Count | Percentage of Known Youthful Shootees | Percentage of NYC Population |
|---|---|---|---|
| Black | 114 | 72.15 | 24.3 |
| White Hispanic | 26 | 16.46 | 25.5 |
| Black Hispanic | 13 | 8.23 | 3.5 |
| Asian/Pacific Islander | 3 | 1.89 | 14.2 |
| White | 2 | 1.27 | 32.1 |
| Total | 158 | 100 | 99.6 |
Homicides Nationwide
New York City, of course, might be an outlier when it comes to sun violence. To test this possibility, I went to the CDC to get the demographics of homicide victims in 2021. Here are the results:
| Race/Ethnicity | Population | Homicides Suffered | Homicide Rate Per 100,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| White | 196,833,431 | 6,215 | 3.2 |
| White Hispanic | 54,628,180 | 4,089 | 7.5 |
| Black | 41,858,536 | 14,313 | 34.2 |
| Black Hispanic | 3,202,321 | 216 | 6.7 |
| Asian | 19,685,901 | 313 | 1.6 |
| All | 331,893,745 | 26,031 | 7.8 |
Again, because the vast majority of homicides are intra-group (white-on-white, black-on-black, etc.), it’s safe to say that black Americans are the main driver of violent crime in America. Black Americans are roughly 12.6 percent of the population but account for roughly 55 percent of the homicides.
To show how truly horrendous sun violence is in America today, I decided to see how the homicide rate of America’s various demographic groups would rank on the world stage. In other words, if black America formed its own country, and it was only populated with black Americans, how dangerous would that country be relative to the rest of the countries in the world? Here are the results:
| Race/Ethnicity | Homicide Rate Per 100,000 | World Ranking |
|---|---|---|
| Black | 34.2 | 8th most dangerous country |
| White Hispanic | 7.5 | 51st most dangerous country |
| Black Hispanic | 6.7 | 55th most dangerous country |
| White | 3.2 | 86th most dangerous country |
| Asian | 1.6 | 125th most dangerous country |
Final Thoughts
Sunlight is the best disinfectant. If we want America to be a less violent place, we can’t shy away from the truth. Asian Americans are doing great. We should all be as respectful of our fellow man as Asian Americans are. White Americans are doing good, but definitely have room for improvement. Hispanic Americans, both white and black, have a lot of room for improvement. And black Americans should be very, very ashamed of themselves.
But here’s the rub: Black Americans will never be very, very ashamed of themselves because our woke overlords don’t believe in accountability for black Americans. In fact, our woke overlords are doing everything they can to separate black Americans from accountability. Are black Americans racist? No. They can’t be racist because they don’t have “power.” Are black Americans lousy students relative to other groups? No. They’re underrepresented on Ivy League campuses because the SAT is “racist.” Do black Americans suck at having kids within the confines of marriage? No. Out-of-wedlock births are high in the black community because the “school-to-prison pipeline” has robbed black women of potential husbands. According to our woke overlords, black America has absolutely no culpability for any woeful circumstance it currently suffers. If there’s anything wrong in the black community, it’s all the fault of whitey. So expect the plague of “gun violence” to haunt America for many more years to come.
Okay, groovy freedomist, that’s all I got. What say you? Let me know what you think when you get a chance. Peace.
Very informative article. As a black person myself, I find it appalling at how crime has devastated our communities and how our so-called “leaders” have turned a blind eye to the crisis.
I couldn’t agree more. There are two types of sabotage: self-sabotage and other-sabotage. For an overwhelming majority of Americans, self-sabotage is way more of a problem than other-sabotage. And self-sabotage is something every American has the power to stop. But rather than focus on self-sabotage, our “leaders” focus instead on other-sabotage. I guess you make more money and get more votes by stroking egos and playing the blame game. If our “leaders” really cared about the well-being of Americans at the bottom, they’d be imploring such Americans to take a cue from their Asian-American brothers and sisters: Don’t have kids out of wedlock, don’t blow off education, and don’t engage in crime. It’s as simple as that. Avoid those three blatant forms of self-sabotage and you’ll have a pretty good shot of doing something worthwhile with your life. You’re a good man, Vincent. I admire your courage to challenge the received narrative. We need more Americans like you. Peace.
I recall seeing some counter-intuitive things about violent crime. 1) the age of the perpetrator can skew the rate of crime. when you have a bunch of geezers in society, they’re not preying upon one another. they don’t even shoot the damn kids walking on their lawns. just bitch at them.
2) when providers of recreational pharmaceuticals compete for regional distribution rights (aka turf) they settle their disputes by killing each other. Thus, we can see a drop in the crime rate as one gang wins its war for drugs.
These factors have little to do with race.
Agreed. I don’t believe black Americans engage in more crime because they are morally inferior to other races and ethnicities. I think it’s entirely cultural. Black Americans have simply embraced a subprime culture to a greater extent than other races and ethnicities. And you are spot on about “providers of recreational pharmaceuticals.” If black gangs dominate the illicit drug trade, black people are going to dominate the ranks of the shooter and shootee in shooting incidents. A true test of black affinity for crime–at least in New York City, anyway–is to see if black New Yorkers are overrepresented in violent crimes less connected to the drug trade (robberies, muggings, car theft, assaults, etc.). I’m going to download that particular dataset from NYC’s OpenData portal this weekend and do a little research. I’ll let you know what I find. Have a great weekend, my friend. Peace.
Gun control measures that the Democrats want will never solve the problem. Bad people don’t follow the law and all these measures will do will be to make it harder for law abiding citizens to defend themselves. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t look at measures that will have a positive impact without seriously impacting our constitutional rights. The bigger problem is why are so many of the gun violence offenders and victims black or black Hispanic, in proportions much greater than their representation in the overall population? Who is teaching them that violence is the answer to a better future? The answer has to start with fixing the broken community by strengthening the core family unit and supporting single mothers so they can be positive role models, hold men financially and otherwise responsible for the children they create, figuring out how to better improve educational outcomes, providing more job training, etc. Young people must know that they are not victims and can achieve whatever they set their minds and efforts to. Encourage them to become law abiding citizens by working hard, respecting others and not expecting or depending on anyone or anything for their success. Start now with kids in elementary and middle school and pray that these and future generations can turn things around.
Amen, Pat. Well said.
The majority of American shootings are comitted by members of groups that vote Democrat. Democrats want gun control. We could stop over 50% of American shootings by disarming Democrats, and the Democrats should support it.
Yes, bring “stop and frisk” to any community that votes Democrat 70 percent or more. That will surely make America a safer place. Great point, JDF. Love the way your mind works. Peace.
if the government of a city determine its residents voted Democrat 70% of the time, that Democratic government isn’t going to stop people who voted for said government. So I don’t see your logic. Do you want the federal government to impose stop and frisk nationwide? You, who want freedom from government oversight? And stopping and frisking people for no reason isn’t very pleasant. Sounds like Nazi germany. Is that the country you want to live in? Where only certain people ( assumption is you mean people of color) get stopped?
Tongue in cheek. I was just riffing on a comment and being a little flippant. But I do believe stop-and-frisk could be an effective tool in our quest to mitigate the carnage on America’s streets. And it need not be Nazi-Germany like, which is a legitimate concern. Stop-and-frisk should be treated like a property taking, and those who suffer it and are innocent (i.e., they’re not carrying an illegal firearm) should be compensated (with, say, a $50-$100 gift card). Years ago, for instance, I was pulled over by the cops for driving while white in a black neighborhood. And I had no problem with being profiled because a lot of young white males were venturing into this black neighborhood to buy drugs. The cops were just trying to put a lid on the illicit drug trade which was ruining the quality of life in this particular black neighborhood. So I understood why they were violating my rights. And because I was in this black neighborhood for a legitimate reason (I worked at a nearby warehouse and was going to Chicken Delight for my dinner break), it would have been nice if I were compensated for suffering the vehicular equivalent of stop-and-frisk. Excellent comment as always, IM. Cheers.
I wonder where you got that statistic?
Good question. I’m assuming it’s a statistic derived from inference. In New York City, for instance, 97 percent of the perpetrators of gun violence are either black or Hispanic. Since blacks and Hispanics are a big part of the Democrat voting block, it’s safe to assume that there are far more Democrat shooters than Republican shooters in New York City.
That’s not a scientific way to quote a statistic about American shootings.
True.