Google Form for this lesson is here.
1. Based on the excerpt above, what is colorism and why does it matter?
2. If you are not black, what was interesting from the reading? If you are black, what else would you include that the author did not mention?
Race and Segregation
One way that racism continues in the United States is through continued segregation. Please explore the evidence below for how segregation continues and both exemplifies racial inequality and amplifies it.
Racial Dot Map The University of Virginia used census data to create a map of where people from different races live (called the racial dot map). Click on->access the map<-. Search the map for examples of segregation.3. Identify one example of segregation on the racial dot map. Describe where the segregation is.
After you have tried to identify some examples of segregation on your own, look at this analysis (from Patheos 2018) of the racial dot map.
Segregation in rental market This 2018 research by economists Early, Carrillo, and Olsen finds that discrimination causes black renters to pay substantially more than whites for identical homes in identical neighborhoods; the amount of the exploitation is greater the more white the neighborhood.
4. Hypothesize at least one way how segregation might contribute to economic, health or educational disparities.
Race and Health
Social factors play an important and well-documented role in health outcomes. Race is especially correlated to health outcomes because racial inequalities are so stark and have persisted for so long. Please examine all of the evidence below that race affects health outcomes.
American Academy of Pediatrics (2019) published this statement about how childrens and teens can be harmed by racism and what doctors and healthcare providers should do to improve health outcomes.
Racism Impacts Your Health, a 2018 article from The Conversation documents a literature review of the myriad ways that racism impacts health outcomes for minorities including: higher systolic blood pressure, increased blood pressure and higher rates of hypertension.
The American Journal of Epidemiology (2007) found a link between racism and breast cancer summarized by the National Institute of Health.
The American Public Health Association study of hypertension/heart disease published a link between racism and heart disease in the American Journal of Public Health (2012)
This study published in the journal of Ethnicity and Disease shows that African-Americans experience worse health outcomes than African immigrants! Lower hypertension among 1st gen African immigrants compared to multigenerational Americans who are black shows that the stress of growing up in the United States where racism against Americans who are black has a real effect - it's not simply genetics (although possibly epigenetics).
This 2010 fact sheet from the Center for American Progress shows disparities in health for all races including who has health coverage, chronic diseases and causes of death for African Americans/Blacks, Hispanics, Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders, Native Americans, Asian Americans.
A 2016 report on life expectancy from PBS reveals that Americans who are black have a shorter life expectancy from the moment they are born. The disparity continues throughout life so that African Americans live about 4 years shorter than white Americans on average.
NPR reported (2018) on a Center for Disease Control study published in JAMA Pediatrics of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and the effects on health. Those identifying as black or Latino and those with less than a high school education or an annual income below $15,000 were more likely to have more ACEs.
This article reported in the NY Times (2018) shows that Black infants in America are now more than twice as likely to die as white infants — a racial disparity that is actually wider than in 1850, 15 years before the end of slavery!5. What is one of the racial disparities in health that you find most compelling?
Race and Punishment
A 2016 Yale University study of discipline disparities in preschool found that implicit bias towards preschool students perceived as black resulted in teachers monitoring their behavior more closely and punishing them more often including in expulsion rates!
Vox shows racism at school from preK-12 in 7 charts (2015).
https://www.vox.com/2015/10/31/9646504/discipline-race-charts
This article from the Sociology of Education (2017) shows that implicit bias results in black girls being punished harsher for subjective offenses. In other words, when the offense is subjective, school officials are more likely to perceive black girls as being worthy of punishment. You can read the article and use my annotations to answer questions about it. Then see the data source from the article below to look up data on your own.
US Dept of Education just released data on racial disparities in every school and school district in America (from preK-12). Here’s how you use the data to show if/how your school discriminates against black students and other marginalized groups. First, lookup the most recent year of data available for your school and/or school district. Right now that’s data on the 2015-16 school year. Here’s where you go: https://ocrdata.ed.gov/DistrictSchoolSearch#schoolSearchHere's a link to Samual Sinyangwe's tweet about this.Click on the Discipline Report on the right side and you’ll see which groups of students your school is most likely to suspend, expel, and refer to law enforcement. You can also see who’s more likely to be arrested at school using the “school-related arrests” tab.
Harsher treatment toward Americans who are black does not just occur in schools. This 2019 study from the Proceedings of the National Acdemy of Sciences of the United States of America concludes that, "people of color face a higher likelihood of being killed by police than do white men and women, that risk peaks in young adulthood, and that men of color face a nontrivial lifetime risk of being killed by police."
Although this is a more anecdotal bit of evidence, I saw this video from Youtube (Watch from 2:30-6:15 and 12:50-18:50) and thought what an amazing contrast to the videos of police stopping Philando Castille, Sandra Bland, Terence Crutcher, Levar Jones and the stopping of black men by police.
This 2019 Marshall project study details sentencing disparities in the criminal justice system (2019). Not only are Americans who are black more likely to get stopped by police, they are also more likely to get a harsher punishment than the whites who are convicted of the same crimes.
The Equal Justice Initiative founded by Bryan Stevenson reports on sentencing disparities (2017) as well.
Vox reports (2017) on University of Michigan Law School report on sentencing disparities published by the United States Sentencing Commission. Among the key findings is that, "Black male offenders continued to receive longer sentences than similarly situated White male offenders."6. Comment on some of the evidence above in the disparities of how Americans are punished based on race. What was compelling/surprising?
Race and Finances
The Economic Policy Institute (2016) found that the wage gap among different races is growing more as the inequality, in general, grows. The report lists key findings as well as policy suggestions.
The Guardian analyzes the EPI report here. Some notable findings include: the wage gap is worse than in 1979, and that college graduation does not mitigate the disparity as black college graduates earn 10% less than their white cohorts.
Inequality.org published a report on racial inequality showing that the disparity is not just income but also wealth and homeownership.
7. Any questions about the effects of racism on Americans who are black?
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