George Floyd’s death at the hands — and under the knee — of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin has triggered a wave of peaceful protests and violent rioting in most major cities across the United States. Caught on video for the world to see, the incident has driven home the perception that African-Americans are excluded from America’s grand narrative of progress, in which conditions supposedly improve over time.
The data bear out that perception. According to a recent Brookings Institution study, as of 2016, “the net worth of a typical white family is nearly 10 times greater than that of a Black family.” And though the U.S. accounts for just 5 percent of the global population, it is home to 21 percent of the world’s incarcerated people, one-third of whom are African-American.
Scarcely a week goes by without a new story about African-Americans dying at the hands of police or vigilantes. Each episode is met with media hand-wringing and calls for reforms of police procedures. But the problem is never resolved, in part because it is actually many problems.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.