(Raw Story) – The shocking footage of South Carolina man Walter Scott being shot in the back as he ran from North Charleston police officer Michael Slager is once again putting attention on the large number of Americans who are killed by police.
But how big is that number, exactly? Several news organizations have tried to answer that question lately, and have all come up with the answer that it’s a very difficult figure to pin down because of the way the FBI and other agencies report data.
One thing we can say with some level of certainty: More black Americans were killed by police in 2014 than were killed in the World Trade Center attacks of September 11, 2001.
Here’s how we know that. According to the Centers for Disease Control, there were 215 black victims of the 9/11 attacks (136 men, 79 women). The CDC even has data on education — 109 of those victims had college degrees.