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These numbers show that black and white people live in two different Americas

Numbers can help put American racism in perspective. And here is what the numbers say: The United States is a vastly different country, depending on the color of your skin. For African Americans, hardship begins before birth. The infant mortality rate for blacks, for example, is more than twice that of white Americans.

Infant mortality rates per 1,000 live births

White Americans

4.7

African Americans

11

Canada

Mexico

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2017); World Bank via Federal Reserve

(Canada and Mexico, 2018).

Black women are more likely to receive late, or no, prenatal care, and they also face nearly three times the risk of pregnancy-related deaths.

Maternal mortality rates per 100,000 live births

White Americans

14.7

African Americans

37.1

Canada

Mexico

0

10

20

30

40

Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2018); Statistics Canada (2018);

Mexico’s Health Secretariat (2017).

But infant and maternal mortality are only part of the health risks plaguing the African American community. Black Americans also suffer from higher rates of hypertension, diabetes, asthma and heart disease than white Americans. Research suggests that social determinants — conditions in the places where we live, work, learn and play — are important drivers of health inequities, and that racism itself can harm health

In this parallel reality, family income is much lower. The percentage of black children living below the poverty line is three times that of whites.

Median household income

People under 18 in poverty

$80 thousand

40%

White

60

30

Black

40

20

Black

20

10

White

2002

2010

2018

2002

2010

2018

Source: U.S. Census

It’s not just income but employment itself: Blacks live in a country where the economy is always in recovery. Even though white Americans haven’t seen an unemployment rate near 15 percent in decades, African Americans have seen it many times — about once a decade over the past 50 years.

Unemployment rate

20%

Black

15

10

5

White

1974

1980

1990

2000

2010

2020

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics via Federal Reserve Bank

One form of discrimination believed to have cascading consequences is a practice known as “redlining.” From the 1930s to the late 1960s, areas with sizable black populations were marked with red ink on maps used by banks to determine who was eligible to get loans. It was often impossible for residents of those areas to secure home mortgages. If they got loans, the interest rates could be prohibitive. The practice was banned more than 50 years ago, but a 2018 study found that 3 out of 4 neighborhoods redlined 80 years ago continue to struggle economically today.

Home ownership is directly linked to wealth and, for centuries, blacks were essentially blocked from it. Underpaid or unable to buy a home, a large part of the black community remains unable to gain access to the main way that whites have achieved wealth and middle-class stability. As a result, the net worth of white households is now 10 times greater than black households.

Home ownership rate

Median net worth of a family

80%

$200 thousand

$171,000

White

White

60

150

40

100

Black

20

50

Black

$17,150

1980

2016

1994

2018

Source: U.S. Census, Federal Reserve Bank, 2016 Survey of Consumer Finances

In the United States, school quality is linked to neighborhood wealth. An analysis by the nonprofit EdBuild found that schools in mainly white neighborhoods received $2,200 more per student than nonwhite schools in the school year 2015-2016. This economic segregation correlates to educational outcomes.

Math SAT scores

Mean scores

People 25 and older

who went to college

600

40%

White

White

30

500

All groups

20

Black

Black

400

10

300

2006

2016

1993

2019

Note: Population25 and older who completed four or more years of college.

Source: College Board; U.S. Census.

In addition to growing up poorer and without access to mortgages and equal educations, black children are also much more likely to be arrested. Even though there has been improvement in the past few decades, the trend persists: Incarceration rates of African Americans in general remain 5.6 times greater than of white Americans. Black people are about 12 percent of the U.S. population, but one-third of the inmate population.

Arrests of minors aged 10 to 17

Adult incarceration rate

Per 100,000 people

Per 100,000 people

2,500

12,000

Black

Black

10,000

2,000

8,000

1,500

6,000

1,000

4,000

White

White

500

2,000

2008

2018

2000

2018

Source: U.S. Department of Justice

The long list of discrepancies comes together on fatal encounters with the police: Blacks are killed by the police at more than twice the rate of whites.

Rate of police killings

Black

31 per million

White

13 per million

Hispanic

23 per million

Other

4 per million

U.S. population

Black

42M

White

197M

Hispanic

39M

Other

49M

Source: The Washington Post’s database of police shootings since 2015.

The bottom line is clear. Here’s how the numbers add up: Whites live in one America and blacks live in another.

DMU Timestamp: February 27, 2021 01:26





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