The Black Lives Matter movement was sparked by several police shootings, shootings which many people thought were unjustified, and attributed to racial bias by police.
However, are police systematically racially biased when it comes to the use of lethal force?
There appears to be racial bias in non-lethal use of force. And there appears to be racial bias in other aspects of the legal system, such as sentencing. See this review by Slate Star Codex for decent review of the literature (circa 2014):
https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/11/25/race-and-justice-much-more-than-you-wanted-to-know/
However, there does not appear to be racial bias in lethal use of force by police.
"A new study confirms that black men and women are treated differently in the hands of law enforcement. They are more likely to be touched, handcuffed, pushed to the ground or pepper-sprayed by a police officer, even after accounting for how, where and when they encounter the police.
But when it comes to the most lethal form of force — police shootings — the study finds no racial bias.
“It is the most surprising result of my career,” said Roland G. Fryer Jr., the author of the study and a professor of economics at Harvard. The study examined more than 1,000 shootings in 10 major police departments, in Texas, Florida and California."
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/12/upshot/surprising-new-evidence-shows-bias-in-police-use-of-force-but-not-in-shootings.html
https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/fryer/files/empirical_analysis_tables_figures.pdf
However, are police systematically racially biased when it comes to the use of lethal force?
There appears to be racial bias in non-lethal use of force. And there appears to be racial bias in other aspects of the legal system, such as sentencing. See this review by Slate Star Codex for decent review of the literature (circa 2014):
https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/11/25/race-and-justice-much-more-than-you-wanted-to-know/
However, there does not appear to be racial bias in lethal use of force by police.
"A new study confirms that black men and women are treated differently in the hands of law enforcement. They are more likely to be touched, handcuffed, pushed to the ground or pepper-sprayed by a police officer, even after accounting for how, where and when they encounter the police.
But when it comes to the most lethal form of force — police shootings — the study finds no racial bias.
“It is the most surprising result of my career,” said Roland G. Fryer Jr., the author of the study and a professor of economics at Harvard. The study examined more than 1,000 shootings in 10 major police departments, in Texas, Florida and California."
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/12/upshot/surprising-new-evidence-shows-bias-in-police-use-of-force-but-not-in-shootings.html
https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/fryer/files/empirical_analysis_tables_figures.pdf