State-sanctioned violence has been a prominent subject of critical discussion in the writings of many, if not the majority, of Black philosophers. Likewise, for philosophical accounts of protest, which—among not only Black philosophers but moral and political philosophers in general—often take the history of African-American protest as a central empirical flashpoint. In what follows, I offer an empirical account of the relationship between these topics. While not strictly philosophical, I put forth an analytic framework and empirical substantiation that are important for those thinking philosophically about state-sanctioned violence and the protests it inspires. In the contemporary United States, the enduring repercussions of the War on Drugs and Crime—manifested in police militarization and the violence inflicted on Black Americans by law enforcement—are a focal point in the examination of state-sanctioned violence. Although national attention to the disproportionate violence Black Americans face from police has notably declined since 2020, the rates of police violence against Black Americans remain alarmingly high. The 2024 Police Violence Report found that Black Americans alone accounted for a quarter of all police-related fatalities …