Let’s Talk About Driving While Black: Racial Inequality in Policing Explained with 3 Graphs
As protests have erupted nationwide and across the globe, there have been encouraging discussions about systemic reform for the multitude of institutional racisms faced by Black people, especially concerning how the Black communities are policed.
One area that has not been addressed as much as it should be is the grotesque imbalance of low level and no level traffic stops in the Black community, also known as racial profiling. The Wall Street Journal has provided three graphs of data from Minneapolis, the epicenter of the protests, that clarify the issue.
Let’s dive into the data.
What are the 3 Graphs That Explain Racial Inequality in Policing?
How Do These Graphs Explain Racial Inequality?
Let’s start with the first one
The Black population in Minneapolis has doubled since the 1980s but the incarceration rate has tripled over that same time frame. And that phenomenon is unique to the Black population, every other incarcerated ethnicity has remained level with the overall population.
For your visual learners here is another chart to illustrate the disparity.
Keep in mind that Minneapolis is regarded as one of the more progressive cities in the nation. When the data is extrapolated nationwide the numbers are grim, which segues nicely into our next point.
What is the 2nd Graph That Explains Racial Inequality For Policing?
I’m going to bottom-line this graph for you as blunt and succinctly as I can.
Black people get pulled over for bullshit at an astronomical rate
The first graph establishes that Black people make up 18% of the population in Minneapolis yet they account for 48% of the traffic stops in the city.
48 Percent!
That’s almost half!
That means for every 2 people pulled over in Minneapolis AT LEAST 1 person is Black.
When you look at the two graphs in tandem and combine it with the institutional prejudice highlighted during the protests two fundamental truths arise:
- Police go out of their way to pull Black people over. When over 80% of the motorists are a different ethnicity the police are identifying Black faces and flashing sirens, usually hoping to find drugs or an outstanding warrant, but settling for a citation.
- Police go out of their way to give White people a pass. Almost 60% of the population but only 32% of the traffic stops is an extraordinary gulf. White Privilege has been discussed in very eloquent and impactful ways already on this platform so I won’t rehash it here.
What I will do is explain the primary reason for the divide.
- If you are an egregious violator of the law, regardless of race you will be pulled over. If you are caught doing 95mph in a 55mph zone you will catch the sirens. In that instance, it doesn’t matter if you are White, Black, Brown, or Purple.
- On the other hand, race will be a factor when it becomes a grey area. If we use the same speed limit example police are far more likely to give a White motorist going 65mph “the benefit of the doubt” or bypass them entirely to pull over a Black motorist driving the same speed.
Why Did You Come To That Conclusion? Couldn’t This Issue Be Bigger Than Just Black vs White?
The data does not bear that out. Hispanics are 7% of the population and 5% of stops, Asians are 4% of the population and 1% of stops, even Other (whatever that means) is 12% of the population and 13% of the stops.
To further cement the point you may have noticed that the graph has two sections called Unknown and N/A.
Since the statistics are unclear I couldn’t include those in the racial breakdown but just for argument’s sake let’s add all of the Unknown and N/A cases to the total, and leave the number of Black traffic stops unchanged.
Blacks would still account for 32% of all traffic stops.
Let me put this another way.
The police would have to execute 54,000 additional traffic stops (a 49% increase) and none of them could be Black, to have an equal rate of traffic stops for both White and Black people.
As a friendly reminder, Black people only make up 18% of the population in Minneapolis.
The Thesis and Data Seem Pretty Straightforward, Why Do You Have A 3rd Graph?
The third graph is important because it highlights the disparity in violence and psychological ramifications of Racial Inequality in policing.
This graph highlights the disproportionality with which police rush to violence when dealing with Black people.
Police are 4x more likely to draw their weapon and fire, and more Black people die from those interactions than any other race combined.
Why Is The Relationship Between Black People and the Police So Combustible?
The Pew Research Center did an extensive survey that shed some light on the mentality of police officers nationwide. The results were alarming. Here are some of the highlights.
- 92% of White police officers believe our country has already made changes to give Black people equal rights with white people. This is opposed to 57% of the White public and 12% of the Black population.
That’s a difference of 80(!) points between the police and a segment of the population they are sworn to protect.
- 72% of White police officers believe the death of Blacks during encounters with police were isolated incidents instead of signs of a bigger problem. That is opposed to 44% of the White public and 18% of the Black population.
- 68% of White police officers believe the Black Lives Matter protest was motivated a great deal by long-standing bias against police.
When both sides believe the other is biased against them and one side thinks there is a problem where the other side does not it becomes easier to understand the social unrest that engulfed the nation.
What Is So Different About Police Interaction With White Citizens As Opposed to Black People?
The video below is an infamous example of an interaction that no Black person, even those in positions of power, would fathom having with the Police.
And her name is Karen (although hers is spelled with a C ) which makes it a perfect metaphor of the white audacity enjoyed during routine stops.
From a black perspective, several remarkable things happen in this video
- Young white people were free to walk around and loiter in the area -It probably seems innocuous but Black people, especially young black people in that scenario would be instructed to remain in the car. If they were outside of the car they would not be moving around without impunity. Assuming they weren’t placed in restraints such as handcuffs or zip ties, they would be instructed to sit still and if they did wish to move the police would have to permit them to do so.
- Unchecked Verbal Abuse -She told the police that they were morons who couldn’t form complete sentences several times, and then told an officer to “Shut the Fuck up.” There are many examples of Black women who have been slammed to the ground for requesting basic explanations or clarifications. In the case of Sandra Bland, the result was incarceration and death. Yet this woman was allowed to verbally abuse these officers with no repercussions.
The officers were praised for their restraint, but since we know this restraint is possible it’s not unreasonable to wonder why it’s not applied uniformly.
- If you focused on the verbal abuse you may have missed the officer say something I can guarantee no cop has ever said to a Black person ever.
“Ma’am I need you to step back because I keep backing up and you keep coming forward and I’m literally pinned against the car, I can’t go back any further.”
If a black woman exhibits that identical behavior it is a sure-fire disorderly conduct charge and a high probability her face would be rudely introduced to the hood of a squad car.
If a black man does that it might be the last thing he does on this Earth.
The woman in the video didn’t hesitate and kept advancing recklessly, oblivious to the possibility she could be disciplined.
Living that carefree must be nice.
But Police Officers Are Tasked With Upholding The Law, If They Are Arresting Black People At A High Rate Doesn’t That Mean Black People Are Committing Crime At A Much Higher Degree?
If you have examined the data and explanations put forth and still believe the system is fair and just, most likely nothing I can say here will change your mind, but I will give it a shot anyway.
The clearance rate for rape cases was 22%. That means 4 out of every 5 rape cases in Minneapolis go unsolved (!)
And when you think it can’t get any worse they recently discovered 1,700 rape kits spanning 30 years that went untested.
These brave women already dealing with unfathomable physical trauma and mental anguish still found the courage to verbalize the abuse and subject themselves to a kit only to see it lay dormant in some cases for decades.
You hate to say it, but if the police weren’t so busy targeting black people they could instead direct their energy to apprehend the vile scumbags raping mothers, daughters, and nieces.
Those women deserve justice and we all deserve equality. The silver lining of all the unrest and tragedy is that I am more optimistic than ever that we can build a society where both objectives are accomplished.
Thank you for participating in the discussion.
