Fun Fact: Did you know that African-Americans represent over 40% of the U.S. Prison Population? Did you also know that African-Americans make up only 12% of the U.S. total population. Let's crunch some numbers:
Estimated people in America: 313.9 million people (2012)
Estimated African-Americans in America: 38,929,319 (2012)
THIS MEANS AFRICAN-AMERICANS ACCOUNT FOR 12.6% OF THE TOTAL U.S. POPULATION
U.S. Prison Population: 2.2 million people are currently in jail. This is by far the worlds leading number of people incriminated in a country.
How many of these people are African-American?
40% of the U.S. Prison population is made up of African-Americans (non-hispanic blacks)
Also if we were to take a look at the demographics of CAPITOL PUNISHMENT in the states of California and Texas:
CALIFORNIA (73.5 percent White) (6.6 percent African-American)
742 total killed, 269 Black, 257 White, 179 Latino, 12 Native-American, 25 Asian
TEXAS (80.3 percent White) (12.4 percent African-American)
278 total killed, 115 Black, 78 White, 81 Latino, 4 Asian.
How many of these will be read before anything changes? How long must this continue to happen in order for people to care?
"Unarmed black teen killed by police in Missouri." 2014
"Police kill black man in Ohio playing with a toy gun at Walmart." 2014
"Unarmed black man shot to death on South LA by police." 2014
"Unarmed black man suffocated by police in broad day light." 2014
"Unarmed black teen shot to death in car by nervous driver." 2014
"Unarmed black teen shot to death in Florida by police." 2014
Should I go on? Why is it that the people who are supposed to protect our lives in case of danger are the exact same people I feel endangered around? Why is it I look over my shoulder whenever a cop sees me driving? Why is it I've been pulled over and pulled out of my car out of suspicion? Why is it I've been ticked for going to slow or driving speed limit in wet conditions? Why was I almost thrown in juvy (jail for minors) for two years, at 12 years old, for assault and robbery because I fit the description of a 'black kid, 5'10 to 6'0 talk, with glasses'? Why was I arrested after asking a cop for his badge number (legal in Colorado) because he broke the law? Why was I thrown in jail on false charges instead? Why do I have an absolutely clean record but I feel like I've committed heinous crimes whenever I see police? This has got to stop. People might think my anger is unwarranted because, "I have never seen racism." "Racism doesn't exist anymore." "They must have done something wrong." "That doesn't happen that often." As much stuff as people complain about in the world concerning the rights of other people you would think everyone would collectively agree that something needs to be done about the current state of our justice department that sees it fit to kill and incriminate African-Americans at a higher rate than any of rate in the U.S. And it has been like this for hundreds of years! It hurts me to see so many people effected by the injustice that still plagues our own streets but we are supposed to ignore it because its a thing of the past? No this is reality. If nothing happens now then it just gets worse from here.
#whosenext?
#me?
Estimated people in America: 313.9 million people (2012)
Estimated African-Americans in America: 38,929,319 (2012)
THIS MEANS AFRICAN-AMERICANS ACCOUNT FOR 12.6% OF THE TOTAL U.S. POPULATION
U.S. Prison Population: 2.2 million people are currently in jail. This is by far the worlds leading number of people incriminated in a country.
How many of these people are African-American?
40% of the U.S. Prison population is made up of African-Americans (non-hispanic blacks)
Also if we were to take a look at the demographics of CAPITOL PUNISHMENT in the states of California and Texas:
CALIFORNIA (73.5 percent White) (6.6 percent African-American)
742 total killed, 269 Black, 257 White, 179 Latino, 12 Native-American, 25 Asian
TEXAS (80.3 percent White) (12.4 percent African-American)
278 total killed, 115 Black, 78 White, 81 Latino, 4 Asian.
How many of these will be read before anything changes? How long must this continue to happen in order for people to care?
"Unarmed black teen killed by police in Missouri." 2014
"Police kill black man in Ohio playing with a toy gun at Walmart." 2014
"Unarmed black man shot to death on South LA by police." 2014
"Unarmed black man suffocated by police in broad day light." 2014
"Unarmed black teen shot to death in car by nervous driver." 2014
"Unarmed black teen shot to death in Florida by police." 2014
Should I go on? Why is it that the people who are supposed to protect our lives in case of danger are the exact same people I feel endangered around? Why is it I look over my shoulder whenever a cop sees me driving? Why is it I've been pulled over and pulled out of my car out of suspicion? Why is it I've been ticked for going to slow or driving speed limit in wet conditions? Why was I almost thrown in juvy (jail for minors) for two years, at 12 years old, for assault and robbery because I fit the description of a 'black kid, 5'10 to 6'0 talk, with glasses'? Why was I arrested after asking a cop for his badge number (legal in Colorado) because he broke the law? Why was I thrown in jail on false charges instead? Why do I have an absolutely clean record but I feel like I've committed heinous crimes whenever I see police? This has got to stop. People might think my anger is unwarranted because, "I have never seen racism." "Racism doesn't exist anymore." "They must have done something wrong." "That doesn't happen that often." As much stuff as people complain about in the world concerning the rights of other people you would think everyone would collectively agree that something needs to be done about the current state of our justice department that sees it fit to kill and incriminate African-Americans at a higher rate than any of rate in the U.S. And it has been like this for hundreds of years! It hurts me to see so many people effected by the injustice that still plagues our own streets but we are supposed to ignore it because its a thing of the past? No this is reality. If nothing happens now then it just gets worse from here.
#whosenext?
#me?
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