By TATIANA PROPHET

How can both be true, that police kill more unarmed whites — yet if you are a black man, you are statistically more likely to be killed, unarmed, in a police confrontation? Think of it this way: Since white people make up more than 60 percent of the U.S. population, the number of white people who never experience harassment or bodily harm from police eclipses the amount of black people who escape such unfortunate encounters — whether through their own choices or simply, luck. That’s because black Americans make up a mere 13 percent of the U.S. population.

As to whether there is deliberate targeting and/or racism, circumstances are important. There’s plenty of senselessness in retrospect, from the recent shocking killing of George Floyd over the incredibly minor “crime” of passing a counterfeit bill to buy a pack of cigarettes, to being in the wrong place at the wrong time or keeping bad company.

The totals fluctuate every year, but the circumstances and senselessness are all too familiar.