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Matt Barnes used social media on to denounce the tired trope of Black on Black crime in the wake of rapper XXXTentacion‘s death on Monday.

“We can point the finger & try to blame whomever but that’s facts!! We need to cherish this life,cause we only get one.. Stop doing shit to fit in, to impress others or sell records…” Barnes wrote in the post.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BkMMLssFUBC/?taken-by=matt_barnes9

Since men lie, women lie and number’s don’t, here’s some recent scientific evidence for the non-believers when it comes to Black on Black crime. A study by the Vera Institute of Justice examines the myth and in turn presents numbers to destroy it.

“A report by the Bureau of found that most violence occurs between victims and offenders of the same race, regardless of race,” the report reads. “The rate of both Black-on-Black and white-on-white nonfatal violence declined 79 percent between 1993 and 2015. The number of homicides involving both a Black victim and Black perpetrator fell from 7,361 in 1991 to 2,570 in 2016.”

But for those in the back who refuse to move past the 90’s where Black on Black crime was heralded as an actual issue: Black on Black crime is a propaganda tool used to falsely prop up the age-old stereotype regarding Black men and women’s propensity to violence. So let’s stop evoking it.

Although a suspect has not been identified in the rapper’s fatal shooting, Barnes positioning could be deeply problematic if XXXTentacion’s shooter is revealed to not be a person of color.

And note: this is the same Black man who decided to drive 95 miles an hour to physically assault his former teammate, Derek Fisher. Fisher and Barnes’ ex, Gloria Govan, have been in a romantic relationship for over three years. Barnes cited concerns for the welfare of his kids as the reason he fought Fisher and not intense jealousy, but I digress.

There are children being torn from their parents at our borders and Black men and women still can’t get equality in this country, so alas we have actual problems to focus on.

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