Protests have already persisted for days across the US over the death of George Floyd, an unarmed African-American, at the hands of Minneapolis police. Demonstrators took to the streets - not only to express their outrage at the treatment of Floyd - but to call for rooting out racism.
The US has a long history of unfair and unequal treatment of African-Americans. This manifests in various ways. African-Americans are more likely to be treated as criminals. They are also treated differently in health care, education, and in the labor market. The statistics below further illuminate the hardships faced by African-Americans in the country nowadays.
Under US law
A protester shouts slogans to the police following the death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd on a street in lower Mahattan in New York, US, May 29, 2020. [Photo/Xinhua]
According to the US National Council on Crime and Delinquency, Black youths referred to juvenile court are likelier to be incarcerated or wind up in adult court or prison than white youth despite similar crime rates.
Black Americans make up roughly 30 percent of juvenile arrests and referrals to juvenile court as well as 37 percent of incarcerated juveniles, 35 percent of juveniles sent to criminal court and 58 percent of juveniles sent to adult prison.
African-Americans are arrested for drug use at a much higher rate than white Americans, although surveys show actual drug use is at similar levels in both groups.
In 2018, around 750 out of every 100,000 African-Americans were arrested for drug use, compared to around 350 out of every 100,000 white Americans, according to FBI and US Census data.
A number of studies have shown race influences the likelihood a defendant will receive the death penalty.
In Harris County, Texas, for example, the District Attorney's Office was more than three times as likely to pursue the death penalty against black defendants as their white counterparts, according to an analysis released in 2013 by University of Maryland criminology professor Ray Paternoster.
On economy
People wait for a distribution of masks and food in the Harlem neighborhood of New York, US, April 18, 2020. [Photo/Agencies]
Under the circumstances of the COVID-19 outbreak and protests in the United States, African-Americans' economic reality has started to draw public attention.
A survey by Pew Research found that in April, 44 percent of African-Americans said that they or someone in their household experienced a job or wage loss due to the coronavirus outbreak, compared to 38 percent of white adults.
During the pandemic, another blow for African-Americans has been unemployment, which often leads to homelessness. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on May 8 that the country shed 20.5 million jobs in April, and the unemployment rate rose to an unprecedented 14.7 percent. Among the unemployed, 16.7 percent are African Americans, who rely heavily on the leisure and hospitality sector, which lost 77 percent of its jobs as travel ground to a near halt.
Three quarters of them admitted that they don't have emergency funds to cover expenses, and more than 45 percent "cannot pay some bills".
Even relief isn't equitable. A survey found black businesses were less likely to be approved for aid from the federal government's Paycheck Protection Program. Experts warn that could worsen the financial wealth gap between whites and blacks.
In labor market, African-Americans also have more difficulties to get a job, never mind a good one, than their white counterparts. They continue to face systematically higher unemployment rates, fewer job opportunities, lower pay, poorer benefits and greater job instability.
They also receive fewer employer-provided benefits than white workers. Only a little more than half of African-Americans - 55.4 percent - had private health insurance in 2018, compared with 74.8 percent of whites.
On healthcare
A woman holds a child as she walks past people waiting in line to receive testing during the global outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outside Roseland Community Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, US, April 7, 2020. [Photo/Agencies]
As the number of deaths from the novel coronavirus moves past 100,000 in the US, African-Americans account for a disproportionate share of COVID-19 fatalities.
As of May 20, about 23 percent of reported COVID-19 deaths in the US are African-Americans, even though they constitute roughly 13 percent of the total population according to racial demographic information released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
There is also a disproportionate percentage of African-American deaths at the state level.
According to CDC data, Black Americans make up 33 percent of Louisiana's population, but they account for about 54 percent of COVID-19 deaths. In Michigan, African-Americans make up roughly 14 percent of the population and account for about 39 percent of deaths.
Existing health differences, such as poorer basic health and barriers to health care, may make members of ethnic and minority groups particularly vulnerable to public health emergencies such as the COVID-19 outbreak, according to a CDC report.
African-Americans are almost twice as likely to be uninsured as whites. In all age groups, Black Americans are less likely than whites to be able to see a doctor in an average year due to cost.
Long-term mistrust of the health care system, language barriers, and the financial impact associated with missing work to receive care also lead to asymmetric treatment.
Compared with whites, Black Americans have a higher mortality rate and a higher prevalence of chronic diseases.
The CDC released a report on March 31 that said smokers and people with diabetes, chronic lung disease or heart disease may be at increased risk of developing serious complications if they get infected with COVID-19.
According to a CNBC report, diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and asthma are more likely to plague African-Americans than other racial groups.
On education
Mila Contreras-Godfrey, a graduating senior at Beaver Country Day School, waits in her prom dress for her classmates to arrive to pose for photographs, after prom was cancelled due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, at Larz Anderson Park in Brookline, Massachusetts, US, May 22, 2020. [Photo/Agencies]
While African-Americans are catching up to their white counterparts in terms of college enrollment, there has been less progress in closing the degree attainment gap.
According to data released by US Department of Education, 23 percent of African Americans 25 to 29-year olds held a bachelor's degree or higher in 2018, up 5 percentage points from 18 percent in 2000.
By comparison, degree attainment for white aged 25 to 29 increased from 34 percent to 44 percent during the same time period.
In 2018, about 33 percent of African-American adults aged 25 to 29 had at least a two-year college degree, an increase from 26 percent in 2000. Among white adults, this level of degree attainment grew from 44 percent in 2000 to 54 percent in 2018.
African-American children, on average, score lower on tests and are given lower grades than Asian, White and Latino students. In adolescence, many of them fail courses and drop out of school, according to an article published in Young Children by the National Association for the Education of Young Children in the US.
