By Sarah Bohn, Magnus Lofstrom and Lynette Ubois, Public Policy Institute of California, June 3, 2020
At no time in recent history have deep racial disparities in well-being appeared as obvious as they do today. The death of George Floyd at the hands of police officers last week is the latest in a long history of violence against African Americans in this country. At the same time, the coronavirus pandemic has disproportionately affected Californians according to race. As glaring and immediate as the current injustices are, they are a culmination of long-term trends that have resulted in a gulf of opportunities—and outcomes—across racial and ethnic groups.
In this post, we focus on California’s African American population, quantifying disparities with white Californians across a range of areas: criminal justice, health, income and wealth, and education. Disparities in these areas are deeply embedded and must be addressed if California is to improve the safety, health, and overall well-being of its African American communities.
Criminal justice. Despite California’s relatively small African American population (6%), about 15% of all stops made by the state’s eight largest law enforcement agencies are of African Americans. Roughly 16% of all arrests are of African Americans, and African Americans account for 26% of the state’s probation population, about 25% of the jail population, and 29% of the prison population.
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