Lit, Culture and Identity 2008 Black America

Economy On average, blacks make 61% as much as whites do Three times as many blacks as whites live below 125% of the poverty line. Less than half of black and Hispanic families own a home (47.4% and 49.1%) compared to three quarters of white families. Source: The State of Black America 2010, The National Urban League The Inner City Press

Education The dropout rate for black high school students was13 percent in 2009 (2% among Hispanics and 10% for whites). According to the most recent statistics, the nationwide college graduation rate for black students stands at 43 percent. This figure is 20 percentage points below the 63 percentage rate for white students. (Journal of Blacks in Higher Education) However, the index showed a 15 percentage decline in college enrollment for recent African- American high school graduates from 2007, with black students less likely to enroll compared to recent white high school graduates The average black 17-year-old reads at the level of a typical white 13-year-old, according to the 2004 National Assessment of Educational Progress (Perie, Moran and Lutkus 2005). On every section of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) college entrance exam, black students graduating from high school in 2006 received average scores roughly 18 percent—about 100 points, nearly a full standard deviation—below white students’ scores (College Board 2006). ***studies suggest the dropout rate for blacks vary widely by state, anywhere from 5% in North Carolina to 80% in Detroit. Source: The State of Black America 2010 The National Urban League

Education: “Acting White” Those who pursue behaviors associated with upward mobility, such as education, certain types of speech, and deference to authority, run the risk of alienating peers and losing valuable community support. This does not appear to be true in private schools This effect also disappears in schools that are more than 80% black.

Health 10.8% of whites, 19.1% of blacks and 30.7% of Hispanics were without health insurance in Obesity Epidemic Among black children ages 6-11, 18.6% of boys and 24% of girls are overweight Among Hispanic children, it is 27.5% for boys and 19.7% for girls. For white children, 15.5% for boys and 14.4% for girls. Source: The State of Black America 2010, The National Urban League

Health: AIDS According to the 2000 census, blacks make up approximately 13% of the US population. However, in 2005, blacks accounted for 49% of the estimated 37,331 new HIV/AIDS diagnoses in the U.S. Of all black men living with HIV/AIDS, the primary transmission category was sexual contact with other men, followed by injection drug use and high-risk heterosexual contact The rate of AIDS diagnoses for black women was nearly 23 times the rate for white women. The rate of AIDS diagnoses for black men was 8 times the rate for white men Source: Center for Disease Control

Civic Engagement Black Americans are extremely engaged in civic life (politics, community groups, voting drives, etc.), more than whites and Hispanics Source: The State of Black America 2010, The National Urban League

Social Justice Of all sub-indexes of the Equality Index, the Social Justice sub index showed the most improvement Jail sentencing for blacks decreased 15 percentage points, from 93 percent in 2007 to 77 percent in Also, the average sentence for blacks decreased from 44 months to 40 months, while the average sentence for whites increased from 34 months to 37 months.

Social Justice: The Bad News America has more than two million citizens behind bars, the highest absolute and per capita rate of incarceration in the world. Black Americans, a mere 13 percent of the population, constitute half of this country’s prisoners. A tenth of all black men between ages 20 and 35 are in jail or prison; blacks are incarcerated at over eight times the white rate. DWB: Driving While Black/Brown

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