Twice in recent days events have reignited the debate about police violence against young black men — an issue seized upon by sincere reformers and hucksters alike.

First, we saw the blockbuster report by a mayoral task force that accused the Chicago Police Department of "institutional racism" when interacting with blacks and Hispanics. Chicago police, the report stated, "have no regard for the sanctity of life when it comes to people of color." Secondly, on Monday, city officials in Cleveland announced a $6 million settlement with the family of Tamir Rice, the black 12-year-old boy who was shot to death in 2014 by a white police officer who mistook Tamir's pellet gun for a real weapon.

"Tamir's death is not an isolated event. The problem of police violence, especially in communities of color, is a crisis plaguing our nation," lawyers for Tamir's family said, echoing the rhetoric heard from Black Lives Matter activists, Democratic polls and liberal pundits since events in Ferguson, Missouri, nearly two years ago.

Reported last New Year's Eve, an investigation by the British newspaper The Guardian found the number of black males between 15 and 34 killed by police outpaced that of whites in the same age group by 5-1. Among all age groups, blacks were twice as likely as whites or Hispanics to die at the hands of police. "This epidemic is disproportionately affecting black people," Brittany Packnett, an activist and member of a White House task force on policing, told The Guardian.

Let's be frank. Racist cops exist just as racist people exist in all occupations. Excessive or unwarranted police violence in the black community is a real concern.

But before commencing with bashing cops for targeting blacks, consider the other side of the coin. It's not just the cops who, as the Chicago task force put it, demonstrate no regard for human life.

Last November in Chicago, some men lured 9-year-old Tyshawn Lee from the playground where he was playing basketball. They subsequently put a bullet in his head, apparent payback in a gang-related feud.

That same month a reported gang member in New Orleans, Louisiana, opened fire in a crowded city park, wounding 17 people, 10 of whom were under 21. Fortunately, no one was killed.

Last month near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, two men shot up a backyard cookout. Five people, including four women, one of whom was eight months pregnant, were killed. Three others were wounded.

The common thread running through these incidents — and we could identify more — is that the victims and the suspects are black. In fact, that is the common thread running through most of the violence that claims black lives nationwide.

From 2011 through 2013, according to FBI data, 7,834 black people were murdered in the United States. Of those, 7,104 — or 91 percent — were killed by black suspects. The total number of murder victims in black-on-black slayings rivaled the number in white-on-white killings, yet the overall white population is five times that of blacks.

Tamir's lawyers are absolutely right: We hope no other family has to endure such a tragedy as befell them, and we hope change is coming.

But the violence crippling and terrorizing the black community in America is not the sole province of the police. Much of it is self-inflicted, and we need an honest discussion and corrective measures about how to fix that.

REPRINTED FROM THE PANAMA CITY NEWS HERALD