The demographics of racial inequality in the United States

In an article that was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences last year, Edwards, Lee, and Esposito discovered that 1 in 1,000 Black men and boys can be expected to be killed by police at some point in their lives, that Black men are 2.5 times more likely than white men to be killed by police, and that law enforcement-related deaths are the leading cause of death for young Black men. These figures may have come as a shock to some people but not to others. As with any scholarly work, these results were briefly covered by the media before being forgotten as the country’s focus shifted to more recent, urgent topics [1, 2].
The sad deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, among other recent incidents, have re-ignited public interest in these figures. These estimates of racial inequalities in police brutality are now being used to support the need for large, structural changes in how we approach policing communities, along with meticulous work by other academics, journalists, and activists. Initiatives to “defund the police” and reparations claims that demand for the allocation of funds to Black communities may provide a road ahead for long-lasting reform [3, 4].
It’s crucial to assess other oppressive institutions that have an effect on the Black community as politicians and communities consider what reinvestment in Black communities means. For instance, we must take into account Dorothy Roberts’ critical caution that we must not translate the defunding of the police into increased investment in child welfare organizations that have historically monitored and forcibly divided Black families. Dorothy Roberts is a professor of law and sociology at the University of Pennsylvania [4].
The scientific study of human populations known as demography can assist direct policy considerations around reinvestment. Quantifying ethnic, social, and economic problems and pinpointing potential remedies are all well within the purview of demography, which does more than merely count things. African Americans in Philadelphia during the end of the 19th century had racial inequities in their economic and health situations, according to W.E.B. Du Bois, a renowned academic in the disciplines of sociology and social demography in the United States. Both this landmark effort and his subsequent demographic research served as advancement tools for Du Bois. He used statistics from his studies in his advocacy to push for justice and equity for African Americans in law and practice [5].
We felt it could be useful to offer a few significant figures that illustrate the oppression that Black communities in the United States experience today because we are demographers and policy scholars. We incorporate fresh data from a poll conducted by the Social Policy Institute at Washington University in St. Louis in addition to drawing on the work of several experts and journalists. Between April 27, 2020, and May 12, 2020, the poll interviewed 5,500 nationally representative respondents from every state in the United States [6, 7].
Black issues have a wide demographic reach, affecting not only the legal system but also those of education, housing, banking, health care, and social welfare. The facts of racial disparity in the United States are barely touched by the data shown here. These figures must serve as a guide as we start to rethink police, eliminate oppressive structures, and reinvest in Black communities[8, 9].
Justice is at stake. One in every three Black men born in 2001 will serve time in prison, and one in every two Black persons with a college degree or higher has a relative in prison. The criminal justice system is now monitoring one out of every eleven Black adults (in jail, on parole, or on probation) [10, 11].
Generally, Black men are 2.5 times more likely than white men to be killed by police, and law enforcement-related deaths are the leading cause of death for young Black men. One in every three Black men born in 2001 will serve time in prison, and one in every two Black persons with a college degree or higher has a relative in prison. The criminal justice system is now monitoring one out of every eleven Black adults.
References
[1]       F. Edwards, H. Lee, and M. Esposito, “Risk of being killed by police use of force in the United States by age, race–ethnicity, and sex,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 116, no. 34, pp. 16793-16798, 2019.
[2]       T. Winston, “Police brutality and the impact on minorities,” California State University, Northridge, 2021.
[3]       L. P. Huber, T. Gonzalez, G. Robles, and D. G. Solórzano, “Racial microaffirmations as a response to racial microaggressions: Exploring risk and protective factors,” New Ideas in Psychology, vol. 63, p. 100880, 2021.
[4]       M. F. Crusto, “Black lives matter: Banning police lynchings,” Hastings Const. LQ, vol. 48, p. 3, 2020.
[5]       R. E. Goldfarb, “The Communication Of Controversy: An Examination of How College Students Engage with Political Debates on Social Media,” Brandeis University.
[6]       H. L. Mycroft, “Strange Times: The creation of a nomadic community education Imaginary,” University of Huddersfield, 2020.
[7]       W. O. Myers, “Daily Control: Immigrant Experiences with Social Control,” Kent State University, 2021.
[8]       E. Shadmi et al., “Health equity and COVID-19: global perspectives,” International journal for equity in health, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 1-16, 2020.
[9]       O. O’Donnell, “Access to health care in developing countries: breaking down demand side barriers,” Cadernos de saude publica, vol. 23, pp. 2820-2834, 2007.
[10]     J. García-Godos, “Victim reparations in transitional justice–what is at stake and why,” Nordic Journal of Human Rights, vol. 26, no. 2, pp. 111-130, 2008.
[11]     V. R. Almendral, “Tax avoidance and the European Court of justice: What is at stake for European general anti-avoidance rules,” Intertax, vol. 33, p. 562, 2005.
 

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