Pure survival instincts might well be why people stereotype and profile. President Barack Obama yesterday extemporaneously gave a blunt 19-minute talk on being black in America. There are 100 protests planned on the Zimmerman innocence issue this weekend. The President had to say something. What he said was personal as a black man, but cautious. All the statistics prove out his points. Black men are indeed stereotyped.
I've seen only one newspaper article by an African-American also being similarly responsible about the Trayvon Martin - George Zimmerman trial results. But Thomas Sowell is with the Hoover Institution, a conservative organization.
So why is there so much profiling of Blacks? Let's begin by looking at jail demographics. About 1% of Americans are incarcerated. By race of men 18 and older:
I've seen only one newspaper article by an African-American also being similarly responsible about the Trayvon Martin - George Zimmerman trial results. But Thomas Sowell is with the Hoover Institution, a conservative organization.
So why is there so much profiling of Blacks? Let's begin by looking at jail demographics. About 1% of Americans are incarcerated. By race of men 18 and older:
- Black 7%
- Hispanic 2%
- White 1%
A particularly telling statistic has to do with divorce rates:
Broken families lead to more problems and more problem children. Children born to unwed mothers:
- Black 72%
- Native Americans 66%
- Hispanic 53%
- White 29%
- Asian 17%
Percent of children from fatherless homes:
- 90% of homeless/runaways
- 85% of youths in prison
- 80% of rapists with anger problems
If you were in dark alley (and you should avoid them), what would you do if you see an obviously black figure approaching you?
What is the solution? Most ethnic immigrant groups approach normalcy (good and bad) by the third generation. But most African-Americans are at least in the fifth generation. One necessary transition would be for Black leaders to stop always reacting in anger and instead work to improve those telling statistics. I wish I had a simple solution for how this could happen.
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