All Lives Can’t Matter Until Black Lives Matter
Breaking down exactly why all lives don’t currently matter, the proof is in the numbers:
The Black Lives Matter movement has risen to prominence in 2020 beyond anything it had experienced in the early days of its existence. Some hear that statement and counter with “all lives matter,” believing it to be more inclusive. It’s not. In truth, all lives can’t matter until Black lives matter. For anyone having a hard time understanding why; the numbers should be all the proof needed.
According to the NAACP, 84% of polled Black adults believe white people are treated better by the police. In 2019, 63% of white adults agreed with that assessment.
Blacks represent only 5% of illicit drug users yet are 29% of those arrested and 33% of those imprisoned for drug-related crimes.
Of those who are convicted of a crime and are later exonerated, 47% are Black.
Black people are incarcerated at a rate approximately five times more often than whites.
As of 2016, Black people made up 27% of the prison population in the United States, which is twice their share of the population in the country.
When pulled over by the police, Black people are three times more likely to be searched and twice as likely to be arrested than whites.
48% of all prisoners serving life sentences are Black. An additional 15% are Latino.
One quarter of Black millennials have a close family member who is currently in prison.
A University of Michigan Law School study conducted in 2014 determined that with all other factors being equal, Black defendants were 75% more likely to have a charge with an accompanying mandatory minimum sentence than white defendants who committed the same crime.
Even when accounting for similar criminal histories and other factors, Black defendants receive prison sentences that are 19% longer than their white counterparts for the same crimes.
Black babies dies at twice the rate as white babies in the United States.
Even after making sure that factors such as age, education and location are equal, Black workers are paid 14.9% less than white, a wage gap that has only gotten worse in the past 20 years.
In general, wages for Black workers is only about 65% that of white wages. This figure only drops when accounting just for Black women, to the point that it takes the average Black women 17 months to earn the same amount a white man makes in 12 months. Access to education and other resources contribute to this disparity as well.
Black tenants are five times as likely to be evicted from their homes than whites.
Black Americans are currently twice as likely to die from COVID-19.
The numbers and the comparisons go on and on. If all lives matter than why is there so much disparity? The overwhelming statistical evidence lays out exactly why there is a necessity for a Black Lives Matter movement and how much work still needs to be done. So, if you still believe all lives matter, what are you going to do to make sure that’s actually the case?
