In 2020 those identifying or identified as Black or African American made up 13.5% of the U.S. population, according to CDC estimates (that for
definitional and other reasons don’t quite match the
results of the 2020 U.S. Census). They also made up 55.6% of the homicide victims, and 65.6% of the
increase in homicides relative to 2019. To put it another way, the homicide rate for Black Americans rose from 22.9 per 100,000 in 2019 to 30.7 in 2020. For all other Americans, the rate went from 3.2 to 3.8.