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Racism in the United States: By the Numbers

2014-12-30 · explainer · John · 3:56 · watch on YouTube

Topic: US politics & society · mode: Advocacy & fundraising · tags: heavy topic

John argues from data on criminal justice, hiring, education, health care and wealth that systemic racial bias against African Americans in the US is not debatable, while urging listening to people affected by racism.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — John's nervousness about discussing racism; surveys of white Americans' views; his claim that systemic bias against African Americans is not debatable

  • ★ John says he is nervous to talk about racism because he is not an expert and racism is big, complex and nuanced, while the internet doesn't specialize in nuance. (playful) — 00:00:01
  • ★★★ John says recent surveys show about 75% of white Americans see no racial bias in criminal justice, and a slight majority don't see racism as a significant problem. — 00:00:12 · United States
  • ★★★ John says that, as far as he can tell, whether systemic bias against African Americans exists in the US is not really debatable, so he will look at data. (hedged) — 00:00:24 · United States

00:00:35 — Criminal justice data: sentencing gap, drug arrests, stops and searches, exonerations, juveniles tried as adults, callbacks for former inmates

  • ★★★ John cites a US Sentencing Commission report from last year (2013): African American men's prison sentences averaged 20% longer than white men's for similar crimes, and the gap has widened over the past decade. — 00:00:37 · United States
  • ★★★ John says black and white people use illegal drugs at almost identical rates, but black people are three times more likely to be arrested for drug possession. — 00:00:52
  • ★★ John says African Americans are far more likely to be stopped and searched by police where good records exist, though the contraband hit rate is often higher among white people. — 00:00:59
  • ★★ John says DNA exonerees are disproportionately black, black kids are likelier to be tried as adults and get life sentences, and black former inmates get fewer callbacks from employers. — 00:01:13

00:01:30 — Job market: race tangled with class, health and wealth; the 2004 University of Chicago resume study

  • ★★ John says race is hard to isolate in research because class, health and wealth also drive systemic injustice and none is fully separable from race. — 00:01:32
  • ★★★ John describes a large 2004 University of Chicago study: thousands of identical resumes differing only by name; 'Lakisha' and 'Jamal' got 50% fewer callbacks than 'Emily' and 'Brendan'. — 00:01:42
  • ★★ John says he is pretty sure the callback gap is about race, and that studies consistently show racial bias in US hiring and around the world. (hedged) — 00:02:06

00:02:15 — Education: Algebra II and chemistry offered less often at mostly black and Latino high schools

  • ★★ John says among US high schools with mostly black and Latino students only 74% offer Algebra II and 66% chemistry; mostly white schools are much higher. — 00:02:15

00:02:31 — Health care: the American College of Physicians 2010 report and widening life-expectancy disparity

  • ★★★ John quotes an American College of Physicians report: overwhelming evidence shows racial and ethnic minorities get poorer-quality health care, even controlling for insurance status. — 00:02:31 · United States
  • ★★ John says that by some measures, including life expectancy, the racial health disparity has been increasing for decades. — 00:02:46

00:02:53 — Correlation is not causation; economic inequality and race; the racial wealth disparity and inheritance

  • ★★ John cautions that most of this research establishes correlations, which is not the same thing as causation. — 00:02:53
  • ★★ John says the US's tremendous economic inequality is a factor in racial disparities, but race also factors into class and economic status. — 00:02:58 · economic inequality, United States
  • ★★★ John says much of the US racial wealth gap is inheritance: white people far more often inherit, largely because African Americans basically couldn't accrue wealth for most of US history. — 00:03:06 · United States

00:03:21 — Conclusion: denying systemic racism denies a huge body of evidence

  • ★★★ John concludes that, though he is only scratching the surface, denying systemic racism means denying a huge body of evidence that racial bias affects almost every facet of American life. — 00:03:21 · United States

    “to deny the existence of systemic racism is to deny a huge body of evidence”

00:03:32 — Listen to the voices of people affected by racism, not only data; playlist and links in the description; sign-off

  • ★★★ John says statistics matter, but we must also listen to people affected by racism: data is cold in a way humans are not. (hedged) — 00:03:32
  • ★★ John says he has put together a playlist and some links in the description as a start toward listening to people affected by racism. — 00:03:52 · doobly-doo

In the description and comments

  • ★★ In the description John links his playlist on racism and asks viewers to let him know suggestions for additions. — video description
  • ★★ In the description John notes that his stop-and-search figures come from California, and that New York's data, though not as good, appears comparable. — video description
  • ★★ In the description John adds that hiring studies like the name-swapped resume study have found similar results in the UK and in Australia. — video description · United Kingdom, Australia
  • ★★ In the description John adds that African American students are more than twice as likely as white students to be suspended, even in preschool. — video description · United States
  • ★★★ John updates his survey figures: the most recent polls show fewer white people thinking racism is not a problem than the polls he used, though still a huge divide. — video description
  • ★★ John recommends non-video voices on race: Roxane Gay's work in Slate and The Butter, a New York Times story on recent black graduates, Chris Rock's interview, Ashley Ford's commentary and Kiese Laymon's writing. — video description · The New York Times

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: 2004 University of Chicago resume study · African Americans · institutional racism · racism

Also: Organizations: American College of Physicians · United States Sentencing Commission · University of Chicago

Groups: White Americans

Rituals: Four-minute rule

Terms: doobly-doo

Concepts: correlation does not imply causation · economic inequality · identifiable victim effect · life expectancy · racial wealth gap

Places: United States

Only in the description or credits: Ashley C. Ford · Australia · California · Chris Rock · Gawker · Kiese Laymon · New York (state) · Roxane Gay · Slate · The Butter · The Hollywood Reporter · The New York Times · United Kingdom

Also centred on African Americans: On Lives and Mattering · What I've Been Thinking About · ---

Also centred on institutional racism: The Best and Worst of 2014 · On Lives and Mattering · ---

Also centred on racism: The Best and Worst of 2014 · What I've Been Thinking About · ...Not My Proudest Moment · --- · So Much to Do

Later videos replying to this one

Part of an exchange of 3 videos, 2014-12-30 – 2015-01-09.