Black and Hispanic murders are unlikely to be resolved | Complex Reasons

DALLAS (CBSDFW.com)- Outside Miller's house in southeastern Dallas, one-year-old Rory Norman can still be seen blinking the dimples given by his mother.

"It feels like everything still happened yesterday," said Ebony Miller, standing by her sign with a picture of it still planted on the lawn in the front yard. "Why am I still? What was the reason. Who?"

Miller and her family woke up one night in January 2020 with a gunshot.

"The person may have gone through here," said her brother, Jaron Miller, pointing at the passage along the side of the house, which is now protected by a gate. .. 

Someone fired a bullet next to the house that night. Dallas police chief Lenny Hall said the bullets were angled downwards and aimed at the family's bed.

"He went from room to room," Jaron said.

Rory's uncle was injured.    

"I was hit by five of them," said Jaron, who still has a scar on his left shoulder.

He was dead by the time the family arrived in Rory's room.

"It happened on my watch, and I'm angry, and this sh-must stop in this city," Chief Hall announced at a press conference.

City leaders expressed anger as violent crimes surged.

"We must bring the murderer to justice quickly," Mayor Eric Johnson tweeted.

"We will not rest until we know exactly what happened," said Chief Hall.

Ebony was convinced that the police would find the person in charge.

"And they just disappeared," she said.

Two and a half years later, I haven't been arrested yet.

"I feel like they've forgotten about him," she said.

Rory was one of the 236 people killed in Dallas that year. Dallas police have reported that they have resolved more than three-quarters of these cases and recorded a murder clearance rate of 77.69%. This is well above the national average, dropping to about 50%. 

When the CBS News Innovation Lab dug into the FBI's pile of criminal data, something impressive was found. If the victim is black or hispanic, the murder is much less likely to be resolved in the United States. In fact, police have been successful year after year in ending murders involving white victims, but not in ending murders involving black victims.

In 2020, when Rory died, the Innovation Lab found that police were 28% more likely to identify suspects in white murders than blacks. did. Not surprising for Ebony.

"The area we are staying in ... crime, what's happening in this area isn't that important," said Ebony.

In Miller's Bonton district, most residents are black or Hispanic. Less than 6% identify as white. And Ebony feels that police, city leaders, and the media take violent crimes here for granted.

"It feels like they think it's something else in the bonnet," Ebony said.

She says she and Jaron were suspicious, even though she was a victim.

"Of course, being a young black man means,'He was a gangster. What was his mother doing? Who was she talking to?'" He said about a question that seems to be ..

In a new interview with CBS News, the former Chief Hall, who resigned at the end of 2020, said that the race of the victims was in a litigation effort. She said it wouldn't affect her. 

"All murderers have the same level of attention," she said.

"There is no retreat near the colors," asked CBS News correspondent Jim Axelrod.

"It's not my experience. I've never seen it," Hall replied.

UT Dallas Professor Tim Bray (former Deputy Secretary of the Illinois State Police) agreed that some murders could be easily resolved.

Let's say that one group of populations is much more likely to commit murders or assaults that occur between intimate partners, known families, or commerce. These are more than strange crimes. It tends to be easier to resolve. It's a bad type of situation, "Bray said.

There is another explanation. 

"I think there are many factors, some of which are concerns about blacks coming to the police," said Jesuorobo Enobakhare, chair of the Dallas Police Oversight Commission. .. ..

In a minority community, witnesses are unlikely to be reluctant to provide information, he said.

"There is a lot of distrust here," Enobakhare said. "Black men and women killed by police are associated with slower phone response times in the black community, as opposed to the white community."

But he We are seeing signs of progress in cities like Dallas.

"Chief Garcia really goes out and listens to the community," he said of the current police chief, Eddie Garcia. “If you feel like you've heard it, you're more likely to establish trust.”

But police aren't the only ones trying to repair a relationship. After spending 13 years behind the bar for a deteriorating robbery, Marcus Esther is now spending time promoting peace in poorly serviced areas like Pleasant Grove, where he grew up. 

"People in the urban community consider the police to be takers, and when they enter the community, they are taking. What you see is whether they kill you or yours. Take away your freedom or they take your car back. Take it, take it, take it, take it, take it. Therefore, a code of silence comes out against them. "

He said the code only further afflicted the black and brown community. So he insists, they need to be part of the solution.

"Someone is responsible and stops acting. You know what I mean because we are dying here. We are dying. Someone Shoots my daughter. I want someone to stand up and tell me. I did it. "

Ebony is convinced that someone knows who killed his son.

"I feel like they have to know. They haveto know something," she said.

One day she will get her confident answer. For now, she's focused on moving forward.

She tells me, "Many people always told me,'I thought you would be faint.'" They thought I would fall apart.

Instead, Ebony returned to school and became a pediatric nurse. Jaron also graduated and started her own business. Ebony recognizes Rory's achievements. She feels he is still very present in their lives. They said his memory empowered them to go against all expectations. ..

"People think that if this happens in your life, you won't go anywhere. You'll be in the same position for the rest of your life, so prove they're wrong Please prove that you are wrong, "she said.