Are black Americans incarcerated more than whites because they commit more crimes or because the system discriminates against them?
The answer is that it isn’t either or, nor is that the complete picture.Most of the differences in incarceration rate are related to concentrated poverty.Concentrated poverty -> increased local crime rate -> increased demands for police presence -> increased police patrols -> increased traffic stops etc. -> increased tickets -> poverty results in unable to pay tickets and thus failure to appear -> warrant for failure to appear -> next time stopped results in arrest or the individual flees/resists arrest to avoid missing work -> caught -> poor quality lawyer due to unable to afford one -> go to jail and miss work -> fired -> reduced ability to find employment and have bills to pay -> don’t find job -> commit crime to pay bills -> eventually caught -> poor quality lawyer due to lack of funds -> longer jail time and even less ability to find workAs we can see a vicious cycle occurs. The increased patrols catch a higher percentage of the minor violations which turn into more serious violations due to inability to pay the fine for the minor violations.So even if ethnic groups committed violations of traffic laws at similar rates - there will be more violations caught by those living in conditions of concentrated poverty - and the increased rate of minor violations being caught can eventually lead to loss of job and then more serious violations.We also see that outcomes in the judicial system are significantly dependent on socioeconomic status. If you can afford a more expensive lawyer you have a better chance of an acquittal or of negotiating a better plea deal.There are other ways that poverty feeds into this issue (more obese individuals tend to receive longer sentences, and poverty increases the rate of obesity; people in poverty have poorer quality education and thus worse job prospects; people in poverty lack social networks that can provide them with job opportunities; people in poverty have more stress and thus increased risk of domestic violence; people in poverty tend to have vehicles in worse repair and thus more likely to be stopped; etc.).So most of the difference is due to socioeconomic factors and, due to historic racism (Jim Crow laws, housing discrimination) and other factors there are more African Americans living in neighborhoods of concentrated and multigenerational poverty.
Do you think the killing of Michael Brown (August 2014) is a big deal?
In isolation it's not a big deal, except to his family and the community. It's sad, but would not be a "big deal" more than any other of many deaths that day.But it's not in isolation. It's one of thousands of incidents and policy decisions that indicate a huge deal. Broadly:White people with power are afraid of black people.The life and/or freedom of a black person is not worth the price of a box of cigars, a hooded sweatshirt, a pack of cigarettes, or a whole bunch of other things."Riot" is the collective noun for African-American who have legitimate complaints. Murder of crows, gaggle of geese, herd of buffalo, riot of angry black people.When in doubt, many police officers consider their own safety far more important than the safety of those around them.Even when not in doubt, the police department would rather malign a victim than just admit that an officer made a mistake and apologize for the loss of life. The life of a black person is certainly not worth the price of a cop's pension.When enough people are angry at the government, the government would rather roll tanks onto the street than listen to the reasons they're angry.Tanks (and other weapons and armor better than what we give to our soldiers in war zones, as far as I can tell) are easily available to local police departments, just in case there's a horrific terrorist attack...or (what I'll call for the sake of striking a nerve or two) some uppity black folks need to be put in their places, which is apparently worse. "Preserving order" apparently means turning peaceful demonstrations into violent riots by aiming rifles into crowds, throwing tear gas, and arresting reporters.No matter how many times we "have a national conversation," we'll see you back here in another couple of weeks/months when the next black guy gets killed for no good reason. Someone put Al Sharpton on standby, because the media coverage isn't complete without him.In other words, it illustrates a hierarchy. People with authority, despite the phrase "public servant," are at the top, and must be protected at all costs. Young black men are waaay at the bottom, with alleged reasons ranging from their dress code to their proximity to crime, but boils down to racism. Everybody else can float between the two.And that is not only "a big deal," but one of the biggest, at least in the United States.