Congressional Black Caucus to Host Twitter Town Hall on Police Accountability

The story

• On Tuesday, the Congressional Black Caucus will host a Twitter Town Hall on Community Policing and Police Accountability. Participants are encouraged to ask a question using the hashtag #CBCDemandsJustice.
• CBC Chairman Cedric Richmond (D-Louisiana) and other members of the Caucus will take over the CBC’s Twitter account from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Why it matters

• A Tweet pinned to the top of the CBC’s feed features the names of 14 Black people who were killed by police or died in their custody. The CBC says, “They and many others should still be alive.”
• According to The Root, “people are looking for answers and solutions to the pervasive problem of police violence against black people.”
• While there are no comprehensive, generally accepted data on police shootings and other forms of violence, a 2014 Vox analysis found that U.S. police kill Black people at disproportionate rates: Black people accounted for 31 percent of police killing victims in 2012, even though they made up just 13 percent of the U.S. population.
• The disparities appear to be even starker for unarmed suspects, according to an analysis by The Guardian of 2015 police killings. Racial minorities made up about 37.4 percent of the general population in the United States and 46.6 percent of armed and unarmed victims, but they made up 62.7 percent of unarmed people killed by police.

What do you think?

Are you concerned about police violence? Tweet your question to the CBC using #CBCDemandsJustice, hit Take Action, and share your thoughts below.