“It is the most surprising result of my career.” So said Harvard economist Roland G. Fryer Jr, who crunched the numbers and found that while there is a racial bias when it comes to the use of police force, there is no clear bias specifically when it comes to police shootings. As the NYT points out, “the result contradicts the mental image of police shootings that many Americans hold in the wake of the killings (some captured on video) of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo.; Laquan McDonald in Chicago; Tamir Rice in Cleveland; Walter Scott in South Carolina; Samuel DuBose in Cincinnati; Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, La.; and Philando Castile in Minnesota.”

+ Even this study needs to be viewed in the broader context of other numbers related to race and law enforcement. From WaPo: Aren’t more white people than black people killed by police? Yes, but no.

+ Of course, such chasms between the numbers and our perceptions (driven by images, soundbites, and preconceived notions) are far from rare. Compare the numbers reflected in this headline to the popular view: “Intentional attacks on police officers are at historically low levels under President Obama.”

+ For some perspective, consider that in Chicago, there have been 2,100 people shot this year. Related to all of this, I shared a few reflections on America’s long week.