Can we agree that any homicide is bad, is one too many?
Good.
Well, it appears Tennessee has the 10th highest rate in the country in which blacks were victims of homicide, according to the recently released Black Homicide Victimization in the United States analysis by the Violence Policy Center.
The analysis of 2012 data, the most recent available, offers some stark statistics about age, gender, weapon used, victim/offender relationship and circumstances. For those who have paid attention, though, the results are not surprising.
It's what was not included -- perhaps intentionally -- that is most telling.
* The homicide rate among blacks in Tennessee was 22.40 per 100,000. That was based on 246 victims.
* The average age of victims was 31, although 6 percent were less than 18 years old.
* Out of the 246 victims, 211 were male, 34 were female and one was of unknown gender.
* For homicides in which a weapon could be identified, 84 percent (184 of 218) were killed with guns, 13 killed with knives or other cutting instruments, 9 from bodily force and 10 by a blunt object.
* For homicides in which a victim-to-offender relationship could be identified, 74 percent of victims (112 of 152) were killed by someone they knew.
* For homicides in which the circumstances could be identified, 76 percent (106 of 139) were not related to the commission of any other felony. And of those 106, 63 involved an argument between the victim and the offender.
Tennessee had a higher rate of homicide for blacks than did the U.S.; matched the U.S. average age of victims; had a slightly smaller rate of male victims than the U.S. average; matched the U.S. percentage of homicide deaths related to guns; had a higher percentage of homicides by someone they knew than the U.S.; and had a higher percentage of homicides not related to the commission of any other felony than the U.S.
Across the country, for 2012, blacks made up 13 percent of the nation's population but 50 percent of its homicide victims.
What's not listed in the analysis -- nationally or for Tennessee -- are any statistics on the offenders in these black homicides. Since the offender could be identified in 152 of the 246 cases in Tennessee, the offender's race is unavailable. What is the percentage of black homicides perpetrated by white offenders, by black offenders? What is the percentage of black homicides perpetrated by law enforcement officers? We're not told.
Instead, the conclusion drawn by the Black Homicide Victimization in the United States analysis is odd -- perhaps intentionally -- in its twisted wording, blaming "homicide" for the black deaths and suggesting that reducing homicides in black communities would play a part in "ending our gun violence epidemic."
However, homicide itself does not not cause black deaths, white deaths or anyone's death. No, in Tennessee, 246 people (or more) caused the deaths of 246 black homicide victims. Homicide itself, the deliberate and unlawful killing of one person by another, is a cause of death that might be listed alongside heart disease, cancer or accidents.
And "ending our gun violence epidemic" is more the key to reducing homicides in the black community rather than the other way around. But that is far more complicated than implementing some form of gun control. It also involves ending the flow of illegal guns throughout the community and the unsafe and indiscriminate use of them when they are in someone's possession.
Yet, Violence Policy Center Executive Director Josh Sugarman shows a similar lack of understanding in a statement accompanying the release of the analysis.
"America's gun violence epidemic affects everyone," he said, "but it has a disproportionate impact on black men and women. Gun violence destroys lives, tears families apart, and traumatizes entire communities -- and too many elected officials have ignored this ongoing crisis. It is time for action."
He talks as if gun violence is like a cancer that can be excised with a surgical procedure. Remove the cancer, and individual lives, families and communities will improve. If it were that easy, presidents, governors and mayors would have bitten the bullet years ago, spent the money and removed the gun violence.
It's not that easy. Even if you remove the guns that are the props used by the bad actors in the homicides, you haven't eliminated the gangs or the poverty or the drugs or the lack of parental involvement or the lack of jobs or the lack of personal responsibility -- or even one guy disrespecting another one's girl -- that have led to the homicides.
The guns, no doubt, are a problem. Why a gun culture exists is the bigger problem to solve.