RACIAL JUSTICE STATISTICS

Between 2006 and 2008, 24.7% of African Americans, 25.3% American Indians or Alaskan Natives, and 21.2% of people with Latino origins lived below the poverty level, compared with 10.5% of the white population (U.S. Census Bureau).

Between 2006 and 2008, 14.6% of white Americans did not have health insurance compared to 19.7% of African Americans and 33.3% of Hispanics (U.S. Census Bureau)

In 2008 of 25 -29 year olds, 93.7% of white, 87.5% of black, and 68.3% of Hispanic persons had received a high school diploma. 37.1% of white, 20.4% of black, and 12.4% of Hispanic persons had receive a Bachelor’s degree (National Center for Education Statistics).

Every hour someone commits a hate crime. Everyday at least eight blacks, three whites, three gays, three Jews and one Latino become hate crime victims (Southern Poverty Law Center).

An estimated 20 million households do not have a bank account (often referred to as unbanked), and another 20 million are underbanked (they may have a bank account but also use non-banks such as check cashing agencies, payday lenders or pawn shops for financial transactions). 60% of these households are white, 19% Latinos and 16% black. Their median household income was almost half the national median income. (2008; Center for Financial Services Innovation)

In 2007, while 32.7 percent of all households rented, 53.5 percent of African-American households and 50.1 percent of Latino households rented their place of residence (U.S. Census Bureau)

Thirty percent of black renters and 27 percent of Latino renters have a severe housing cost burden, which according to HUD is defined as spending more than 50 percent of their income on housing. This compares to 21 percent of white renters (Joint Center for Housing Studies).

Hispanic students were more likely than White students to report being threatened or injured with a weapon on school property in 2005 (10 vs. 7 percent) (Bureau of Justice Statistics)

Nine percent of Black students and 10 percent of Hispanic students reported that they were afraid of being attacked at school (including on the way to and from school), compared with 4 percent of White students. (Bureau of Justice Statistics)

In 2005, 10.3% of white students, 10.5% of Hispanic students, and 15.0% of black students ages 12 – 18 reported being targets of hate-related words. (Bureau of Justice Statistics)

Of the 7,780 single-bias incidents reported in 2008, 51.3% were racially motivated, 19.5% were motivated by religious bias, 16.7% stemmed from sexual-orientation bias, 11.5% resulted from ethnicity/national origin bias, and 1% were motivated by disability bias (U.S. Department of Justice Hate Crime Statistics).

In 2008, of the 4,934 victims of racial bias crimes, 72.9% were victims of an offender’s anti-black bias (U.S. Department of Justice Hate Crime Statistics).

Blogger's Note:  Many thanks to my colleague Barbara, who provided this article from the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) of Central Alabama, "Eliminating Racism and Empowering Women".