From the moment Black life is conceived, it faces discrimination, marginalization and dehumanization. Before Black mothers give birth, they encounter a health care system that does not give Black mothers the same standard of care as white mothers. According to 2019 figures by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Black infants are 2.3 times more likely to die before birth and Black mothers are 2.5 times more likely to die during pregnancy than white mothers.
Denials of systemic racism reflect more than just repudiations of data covering everything from bank loans to school suspensions; they reflect the sheer refusal to listen to the experience of others and the presumption that people of color, who are expressing their pain, are somehow either lying about it, not strong enough to overcome it, or should just be happy it used to be worse.
In 2017, Roland Fryer, professor of economics at Harvard University, analyzed the previous 10 to 15 years of national data based on 426,000 observations of police-public contact, 5 million individual police stops involving New York City's Stop and Frisk Program, 16,000 arrests from the Houston Police Department, and 1,316 shootings involving 12 large city police departments.
His peer-reviewed study determined Blacks and Hispanics were 53% more likely to experience non-lethal uses of excessive force by police such as putting their hands on a civilian, pointing a weapon at them, pushing them into a wall or to the ground and striking them with a baton. He also found that "even when officers report civilians have been compliant and no arrest was made, Blacks are 21.2% more likely to endure some form of force in an interaction." Additionally, Fryer found that while Blacks were 1 percentage point (statistically significant) less likely to have a weapon, there was still discrimination against minorities on the lowest levels of non-lethal force.
Perhaps revealing to some, the data merely provided the statistical support to claims and frustrations in the Black community for centuries. In fact, there is reason to believe Fryer's numbers are conservative estimates of disparities Black and Hispanics face. In a recent interview, Dr. Lamont Hill argued the data is from cooperative police departments "so we could intuitively believe that the most racist police departments aren't submitting the data."
I have seen people vehemently deny Black Americans face discrimination, racism or any type of subjugation. The counter-argument often made is that Black-on-Black crime and Black culture is the cause of all Black suffering. Many people also argue more white people are killed by police officers every year, which fails to take into account disproportionate rates based on population size. These counter-narratives delegitimize not only the lived experiences of Black folks but also their lived reality. According to Stephen Harper, former Canadian Prime Minister, "I don't think in a democratic society, you can actually say to large numbers of people your concerns are not legitimate ... [A] fundamental concept of a democratic society is that the people's views are legitimate."
Some point out exceptional successes of Black celebrities as evidence that racial profiling and discrimination don't exist. Let's take a look at one example.
Two police officers pulled over Stephen A. Smith, ESPN sports analyst, with his 8-year-old daughter in the back seat. Smith was cooperative and only asked why he was pulled over. The officer immediately became belligerent and began speaking to him with profanity. His partner recognized Smith and pulled his partner to the back of the car to talk with him. The officer returns and tells Smith to "have a nice day" and lets him go. Imagine how this situation could have ended if Smith was not a well-known TV personality.
Roland Fryer's study confirms what I have seen and understood my entire life as a Black man, which is that there is a certain way I need to act when pulled over by a police officer. I must keep my hands on the top of the steering wheel at all times. I must make the officer feel at ease by code-switching, which is when a person customizes his style of speech based on the audience or group being addressed. I must survive the encounter.
As Lebron James recently stated during a playoff press conference, "I know people get tired of hearing me say it, but we are scared as Black people in America. Black men, Black women, Black kids, we are terrified ... you have no idea how that cop that day left the house. You don't know if he woke up on the good side of the bed. You don't know if he woke up on the wrong side of the bed. You don't know if he had an argument at home with his significant other. You don't know if one of his kids said something crazy to him and he left the house steaming. Or maybe he just left the house saying that today is going to be the end for one of these Black people. That's what it feels like."
How we got to this place of negating data and denying the lived experiences of significant numbers of the U.S. population is an entire lesson in U.S. history. However, what is a debate for some is a matter of life and death for others. If we are to move forward, and we must, we need to listen to what our Black friends, neighbors and colleagues are trying to tell us.
That will be the day when Black lives truly matter.
Rickey Booker Jr., Ed.D., is a trainer, facilitator and consultant with the IDEALS Institute at the University of Arkansas Office for Diversity and Inclusion. His views are his own and do not necessarily represent the position of the University of Arkansas.