The surge in gun crimes in Minneapolis is claiming Black victims at a vastly disproportionate rate to the city’s demographics.
Last year, police counted one Black shooting victim for every 150 Black residents in Minneapolis, compared to one white victim for every 3,768 white residents, according to data presented to the City Council this week.
White people comprise about 60% of Minneapolis’ population, versus 19% Black or African people, according to census data. Yet only 9% of shooting victims are white so far in 2022, compared to 83% Black, the data from Minneapolis police show. Two-thirds of the victims also are under the age of 31, and a majority of shootings occurred in specific hotspot areas in north and south Minneapolis.
The data highlight the compartmentalization of how and where violent crime is surging, and, in turn, how residents are living starkly different daily realities based on demographics, said City Council Member LaTrisha Vetaw, chair of the Committee on Public Safety, who is Black and resides in the Jordan/Willard-Hay area of the North Side.
The surge in gun crimes in Minneapolis is claiming Black victims at a vastly disproportionate rate to the city’s demographics.
Last year, police counted one Black shooting victim for every 150 Black residents in Minneapolis, compared to one white victim for every 3,768 white residents, according to data presented to the City Council this week.
White people comprise about 60% of Minneapolis’ population, versus 19% Black or African people, according to census data. Yet only 9% of shooting victims are white so far in 2022, compared to 83% Black, the data from Minneapolis police show. Two-thirds of the victims also are under the age of 31, and a majority of shootings occurred in specific hotspot areas in north and south Minneapolis.
The data highlight the compartmentalization of how and where violent crime is surging, and, in turn, how residents are living starkly different daily realities based on demographics, said City Council Member LaTrisha Vetaw, chair of the Committee on Public Safety, who is Black and resides in the Jordan/Willard-Hay area of the North Side.