Racism around the world

Racism, Damn Racism, and Statistics: Using a Truth to Tell a Lie

by SAMSUN KNIGHT

JULY 22, 2013, 9:47 AM

During the first World War, a prominent British politician campaigned against the issuance of helmets. He cited the statistic that head wounds had increased twelve times over since the government had started issuing steel helmets to all soldiers in 1916.

Can you guess why he was wrong?

(Hint: someone shot in the head without a helmet dies, while someone shot in the head with a helmet …receives a head wound.)

Richard Cohen is now famous for reporting in his Washington Post editorial that, “[i]n New York City, blacks make up a quarter of the population, yet they represent 78 percent of all shooting suspects – almost all of them young men.” A couple weeks previous, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s office released a set of statistics to corroborate his claim that the NYPD should stop-and-frisk fewer white people and more black people. They reported that 90% of those identified as murder suspects were blacks or Latino, and only 7% were white.

In response to the above claims, Ed Brayton of freethoughtblogs.com reported the following:

A study of stops by the New Jersey State Police on the New Jersey Turnpike, for example, found that 15% of the drivers on the turnpike were minorities, but blacks were 42% of those stopped for a traffic violation and 72% of those subsequently arrested — despite the fact that blacks and whites were equally as likely to be violating traffic laws at the time. 77% of all searches were of minorities. A similar study in Maryland found that 17% of drivers on a major highway were black, but 70% of those stopped and searched were black. For minorities on the whole, they constituted 21% of all drivers but 80% of those who were stopped and searched.

But here’s the even more important finding. In both of those studies, whites who were pulled over and searched were actually more likely to have illegal drugs or contraband in their vehicles. In New Jersey, whites were twice as likely to be found with illegal drugs or contraband than blacks and five times more likely than Latinos. The same thing held true in Maryland.

In June of 2012, the New York Times reported that over half of all black people in New York City of working age did not have a job in 2012. The average search time for a black New Yorker was a full year, considerably longer than the average search duration for whites. The number of discouraged black workers was 40,000, compared to 22,000 discouraged white workers. Again, black people make up only about a quarter of the population of New York.

None of these numbers tells the whole story, nor do they paint a complete picture altogether. Be wary of anyone who claims that they do.

Image courtesy of Shutterstock

by SAMSUN KNIGHT

source: bigthink.com

Racism in Australia:  Some Scary Statistics

Racism is something that shouldn’t exist in our modern world, but it does.  What’s even more troublesome than its existence is its prevalence in Australia

• There are two groups that remain the targets of racism: the first group contains folks from a myriad of backgrounds and skin colors.  These folks are the “visual” minority.  The second group is comprised of people or organizations who expresses their anti-racist views in any capacity, be it professionally or personally.

 Most of us fall into one of these two groups.

•  A recent study showed that 40% of Australians believe some ethnic groups/religous groups simply do not belong in this country, namely Muslims and Middle Easterners.

 Forty percent of Australians? That’s nearly half of the country, or at least those surveyed.  What kind of world are we living in when nearly half our neighbors feel that others need to leave and pronto, just because of where they’re from and what they believe in? Maddening.

•  The Challenging Racism Project discovered that one out of every five Australians have experienced racial verbal abuse and 11% have suffered from race-based exclusion from social activities and/or their workplace.

 One out of every five people is simply too many.

•  Many students and parents from ethnic communities reported racial harassment and verbal abuse within schools, colleges, and universities, according to the Report of the National Inquiry into Racist Violence in Australia.  Worse, the students reported that the teachers did not intervene and sometimes even instigated harassment.

 It is terrible that the kids are doing this to each other; it is inexcusable that teachers allow this behavior; it is horrifying that some assist the bullies in their racial taunting.

•  The national Kids Help Line assembled data over the course of five years and found that students who spoke another language than English were not only more likely to experience bullying at school, but the bullying occurs outside of school by adults in addition to children.

 Adults bullying children = disgusting.

 Sadly, you may be all too familiar with these statistics and situations. Perhaps you or your children are victims of racist violence or behavior.  On the other hand, you might think that this is a subject that doesn’t really concern you. It’s time to reconsider that fact that it does concern you:  if you have a child, it is your responsibility to be a good example for that child.  Monitoring your own viewpoints and instilling values of acceptance will help your child become the change that’s so desperately needed in view of this frightening situation.

Article written by Charlotte A. F. Farley

source: http://www.globalkidsoz.com.au

THE RACIAL INCOME GAP

Black college men end up just a few dollars ahead of whites who went no further than high school.

45% of black children live below the poverty line, compared with 16% of white youngsters.

From 1939 to 1959, the earnings of black men relative to whites improved by over one third. However, from 1972 to 1992, the relative earnings of black men tapered off---and this was the period of affirmative action.

Black unemployment rates, for as long as records have been kept, have been at least double those experienced by whites. Today, the definition of unemployment has been sufficiently restructured (the figures no longer count people on welfare, those whose unemployment benefits have expired, those in jail or in the military) to become nearly meaningless. However, it is reasonable to claim that unemployment levels among urban youth exceed 60%.

THE GAP IN EDUCATION

Black professors hold less than 5% of faculty positions. Less than 5% of the K-12 teaching force is black. About 85% of this group is centered in urban areas.

Of all the doctoral degrees awarded in 1990, just 3.5% went to black men and women.

The attrition rate of black university students at many prestigious universities is greater than 60%.

Most NCAA universities refuse to release attrition rate for athletes. An NCAA study showed that nearly 75% of Division I black athletes failed to graduate.

While black students represent 16 % of all public school students, they make up nearly 40% of those classed as learning disabled.

There are more black men in jail than in college. 

From "Two Nations" by Andrew Hacker
source: http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu