Being Black In Present Day White America.
In light of recent events — that of the tragic death of George Floyd, brought about by a US police officer — it’s been highlighted, as it has been time and time again, that it is difficult, and dangerous to be Black in a majority white America.
No one should have to feel unsafe because of the colour of their skin — an epidermal layer which decides so much of how you’re treated on every level of society and, worst of all, by law enforcement.
From 2015 to 2020, the rate of fatal police shootings on black men in the US stood at 30 per million of the population, compared to only 12 per million of the white population — that means that a black man is 2.5 times more likely to be killed by a police officer, then a white man. The most recent murder is, of course, that of George Floyd who was arrested on suspicion of using a counterfeit bill — which he may or may not have known was fake. Floyd said he didn’t want to sit in the police car because he was claustrophobic, and an officer responded to this by pinning him to the ground, and kneeling on his neck for eight minutes and forty-six seconds, during which time Floyd called out for his mum, and repeatedly told officers that he was dying.
This is far from the only case of lethal discrimination carried out by the police against the black community. In October 2019, a black woman was shot dead through her window, by police officers who’d been called to her house by her neighbour, who had been concerned about her welfare.
Though race-fuelled violence is among the worst things that black people living in the US experience, it is — unfortunately — far from being all that the black community is up against in modern day America. In fact, racism in the US — whether it’s conscious discrimination or implicit bias — affects every part of life, from education, to employment, to housing.
Systemic racism, sometimes referred to as institutional racism, describes the type of racism that’s built into every aspect of society, resulting in fewer education and employment opportunities, as well as harsher treatment by the justice system and by law enforcement, such as harsher prison sentences, and having to endure more severe treatment by police officers.
What could be described as the root of systemic racism is that — many years after the Civil war — the government practiced Redlining, dividing cities into sections considered desirable, or undesirable, for investment. Black communities were denied the opportunity to invest in property in the desirable areas, and this continued for many years, limiting the wealth that the black population could accumulate — this also prevented black people from acquiring loans, and other services. Resultantly, the majority of the black population still reside in these areas. This affects the quality of education children receive, since schools are funded mostly by property taxes in the area, and so these schools end up being underfunded. In turn, this is likely to diminish the number of black teens going to top colleges, and getting the top jobs.
What’s more, even if these obstacles are thwarted, and a black person manages to achieve the same results, and earn the same qualifications as their white neighbours, they are still likely to be discriminated against, due to implicit bias, which results in decisions that may be consciously or unconsciously made, and shows a preference for a certain shade of skin. In the US, according to Harvard, the average preference is biased towards lighter skin.
A study by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that resumes were 50% more likely to instigate a call back for a job if the name was white sounding, compared to if the resume had a black sounding name — the names used were Marianne Bertrand and Sendhil Mullainathan.
Here are a few more shocking statistics about the effects of systemic racism, which highlights the extent of its impact on the black population in the US:
· The median net worth for a white family in the US is $171,000, while then median for a Black family was $17,600
· Black unemployment is approximately twice as high as white unemployment
· Black college graduates are twice as likely to be unemployed as white college graduates
· Black children are almost 2.5 times as likely to die before their first birthday, compared to white children, and black mothers are 3 times as likely to die during childbirth
A graph to show the distribution of wealth between white and black families in the US:
To add to the sufferings of the black community during this period of frustration and anger, is the continuing threat of the coronavirus to the population. While protestors have had to gather closely together to accommodate the masses of people supporting the Black Lives Matter movement, it is those in the black community who are most at risk from losing their lives because of the virus.
Black Americans in the US are three times more likely to die from COVID-19, and this disparity is greater in states with worse public health amenities and less funding, such as Louisiana, where 32% of the population is black, yet more than 70% of people who have died in this state from the coronavirus are black
Yet there is hope. In recent times, there has never been such global outrage against racism, and against police brutality towards black people. Protests are happening all over the world; in London, Berlin, Rome, Madrid and many other major cities, people have gathered in their thousands to show their support for the Black Lives Matter movement, and many other protests are happening in smaller cities too. In Bristol, England, for example, protestors have torn down a statue of the slave trader Edward Colston, and thrown it into the harbour.
In the US, protests around the country have been erupting for two weeks, and it seems that things might be starting to change. The officer Derek Chauvin, who kneeled on Floyd’s neck until he took his last breath, has been charged with second-degree murder, and the officers who were present at the time — and who had previously not been held accountable — have been charged with aiding and abetting murder. More than this, a supermajority of the Minneapolis City Council has revealed their intention to defund and dismantle their city’s police department, a big step in ensuring that this tragic occurrence isn’t repeated in the future.
The protests have also led to a test of President Trump’s ability to handle such difficult and delicate situations, which — it’s safe to say — he has failed. Now he has pulled back the military forces he originally deployed, and protestors are no longer in danger from soldiers and tanks, definite positives have come out of his terrible decisions. Fellow republicans, such as Colin Powell, have revealed that they will be voting for the opposition — the Democratic candidate Joe Biden — in the November election. Hopefully, this means the US can finally be rid of Trump, which will undoubtedly help to nourish the Black Lives Matter movement.
Every single person on this planet has a duty to continue the fight against racism — to save black lives from being needlessly taken and to build a society which is fair for everyone, regardless of the colour of their skin.
