There is an onoing civil war occurring in the black and Latino community, as gun violence and homicide rates continue to rise.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, gun violence is the leading cause of death for black males ages 20 to 24, and the second leading cause of death for Latinos ages 15 to 24. A black male is four times more likely to get shot than die from a car accident, and the most recent FBI Uniform Crime report stated that 90 percent of black victims are killed by black offenders. The Violence Policy Center released a study showing that 47,000 Latinos were killed due to guns between 1999 and 2013, 41 percent of those homicides were age 24 and younger.

The overall national homicide rate is 4.57 per 100,000 people. For white people the rate is 2.52 per 100,000, Latinos 5.7 per 100,000, and 18.03 per 100,000 people for black people, which is four times higher than the national average.

Much of the data is limited though, as government agencies often report data on race but not on ethnic origin. Most studies are broken up into three categories: White, Black, Other . Therefore it is very hard to find statistics on just how many Latinos have died from gun violence, meaning the numbers are likely higher then reported. Some studies have even shown that homicide rates for whites is similar to blacks. I find these to be highly inaccurate because most of the time they do not specify what percent of the white population is actually Latino and not Caucasian. If it is 2.52 per 100,000 compared to 18.03 per 100,000, having similar homicide rates seems impossible.

This is truly an epidemic and with such overwhelming statistics why hasn’t immediate action taken place? We as a society continue to allow this to happen on a daily basis, we allow for such environments to exist and trap these people of color. By not speaking up or acknowledging the magnitude of this crisis we are allowing it to further expand, meaning more lives to be lost. I just don’t understand this. Why are we killing each other? Why do we hate our own kind? It is our own kind doing all the killing here and in doing so we continue to regress. The overall image portrayed of Latinos and Blacks is negative. They are seen as uneducated, violent, and criminals. Changes need to be made, unification must happen. These shootings are keeping the people divided, and continuing the persistent segregation that Blacks and Latinos have always faced. People of color have always been oppressed, treated unfairly and confined to minimal opportunities of growth. If the statistics were to be reversed and the white homicide rate become four times greater then the national average, would it be taken the same way or would immediate action occur from the government and it become a priority of change? Now is the time to take action, have our voices heard, save lives, and grow as a people.