Jacqueline Smith’s letter (June 13) questions the existence of racism in policing, given that white people are also killed by the police.

Police violence is a problem that everyone should be concerned about, but it is one that affects black Americans disproportionately. Using the numbers that Smith herself provided, we can see that police have killed about twice as many white people as black people so far this year. However, the white population is approximately four-and-a-half times the black population.

The fact that black Americans are killed by the police at a much higher rate is a symptom of systemic racism. This racism — along with the high level of police brutality and violence in general — is what people are protesting. We should all be doing whatever we can to put an end to it.

Scott Harriman, Lewiston