Video - “The Myth of Systemic Police Racism” is full of statistical and journalistic errors

Applying some skepticism to a recent WSJ Op-ed
Sociopolitical
Analysis
Author

Thadryan

Published

June 27, 2020

UPDATE: One of the articles misused in the piece has been retracted, with the authors calling out Mac Donald by name as misusing their work.

UPDATE (07/11/2020): The mysterious quote has been found and unleashed a new error. Brief rundown here, details to follow.

A recent op-ed that ran in the Wall Street Journal contains numerous severe statistical and journalistic errors and makes an enormous claim which is fails to defend. I’ve created a YouTube video showing my research, explaining the errors, and placing them in context.

  1. The piece relies heavily on research about police shootings specifically to make claims about police generally. This ignores literally every other way police can use force.

  2. The piece cites a study which prompted two follow-up papers that found errors and contradictory results, and in parts actually contradicts the claim the author is trying to make anyway.

  3. The piece also cites well-known research out of context which actually contradicts their claim when taken in context

  4. The author appears to fabricate a quote to make the piece sound more definitive (or something).