It’s getting tougher to be black in the United States. Sure, everyone thought things would be different when we elected a black president, but apparently the police didn’t get the memo. The recent murder of Michael Brown by police isn’t an isolated incident. Police have been killing young black men since… well, since there was a police force. And it’s not just the police. Things are getting tougher for all black people in the United States, and here’s how.
1. Segregation is returning. According to research done by ProPublica, black children across the American South are currently attending mostly-black schools at levels which have not been seen in over four decades.
All-white schools no longer exist. However, there’s a new form of segregation: non-white students, especially blacks and Latinos, are being isolated from the rest. Furthermore, in suburbs, the rich white people are setting up exclusive schools.
2. Police brutality is not ceasing. In recent years, young black men have been at a greater risk of getting shot dead by police than young white men. To be precise, the risk is 21 times greater.
Between 2010 and 2012, there have been 1,217 deadly police shootings. In this period, black males between ages 15 to 19 were murdered at a sickening rate of 31.17 per million, while white males of the same age group were murdered at a rate of 1.47 per million. For the risk of being fatally shot by police to be equal between both races in those 3 years, 1 or more young white males would have to be killed every single week.
3. Racism is going nowhere. When Barack Obama was first elected president in 2008, 48% of Americans showed anti-back attitudes. Four years later, the number of racists had gone up to 51%.
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If you factor in implicit racial attitudes (this includes subtle racism, like dog whistles or monkey sounds), anti-black sentiment in the US is at 56%. Hispanics have it as bad, with anti-Hispanic sentiment across the US at 57%. Oh, and if you think Democrats aren’t racists, boy do you have it wrong. 55% of Democrats, 64% of Republicans and 49% of independents have anti-black sentiments. Well, shit.
If you’re black and living in the US, my heart goes out to you. In fact, my heart goes out to every non-white in the US. Racism hasn’t been this high in ages, and it has no signs of letting up.
What do you think we should do to address this disturbing issue?
Featured image: betto rodrigues / Shutterstock.com
3 Reasons Why It’s Getting Tougher To Be Black In The US
Summary
This post gives 3 reasons why is getting harder to be black in America. We examine segregation, police brutality, and racism.
