“You’re more likely to be struck by lightning, then shot by the cops as a black man in the USA.” I frankly didn’t believe it, it was outlandish and absurd as most quick facts are, but I spent the next hour proving it to be false.

As I looked more and more into the subject, I found that the volatility of the statement could only hold true if you used very specific databases that didn’t even line up with one another. The numbers being measured here were the entire world’s stats for being struck by lightning and just the numbers of black people who are shot by cops.

I looked into statistic after statistic, yet no matter how you cut it, the only way to make it true was to make an unfair calculation. If you’re wondering, in 2024 in the entire state of Florida, 5 people died after being struck by lightning, and at least 96 people are estimated to have died as a result of interactions with police, with ⅓ of those people being black.

According to multiple government sites, even in the lighting capital of the world, only 5 people died from lightning compared to 32 black people being the victims of police brutality, a year. My friend eventually did concede and tell me that it was a test to see how gullible I was, but it got me thinking: what if I had just taken it at face value? I trust my friends, and if that statement didn’t sound crazy to me, I would have just internalized that.

This got me to thinking that if everyone just took all information at face value, anyone could lie about anything. What if I told you 1 in every 10 immigrants commits a dangerous crime that can be linked back to a terrorist group? What if it was every 1 in 20, 30, 40? At what point would my made-up facts sound believable?

You’re not going to fall for that; if I said shaving makes hair grow back thicker? Or sugar causes hyperactivity in children? Or that Napoleon was short? Or that the Great Wall of China is the only man-made object visible from space? Why care so much that all of those facts are false, it’s harmless. Who cares if someone thinks Napoleon was short?

The reality is that one wrong bit of information can perpetuate so much more wrong, and even harmful rhetoric. That’s why I care so much that one absurd fact, as long as people believe it, will keep being used as a tool for harm and discrimination. Hate can start so small and be seemingly agreeable, like a fun fact or a joke.

In the case of the fact that started me on my path of research, it would be easy to accept that police brutality isn’t a big deal, right? I mean, if lighting actually kills more than cops ever do according to the research, than policy brutality becomes less important or dangerous by comparison.  It starts with something small like that, and then those incorrect facts are used to keep pushing an ideal that stems from likes.

I have seen firsthand the damage that misinformation can do. Yet it feels almost impossible to communicate how something as simple as a wrong fun fact can do so much harm.

I don’t think people have horrible intentions when they spread random facts, I don’t think people are out to get you when they get something wrong. But everyone needs to see the damage that not making sure the information they are told is true, has on the conversation about police brutality and about the discrimination that different minority groups face. I think everyone wants to have an open dialogue about these issues, but these fun facts turn the water murky and make people defensive.

I employ you, whenever you’re having a conversation with anyone, make sure the facts that you share are true. It’s the first step to creating a more accepting environment.