America in Black and White

“When the cost of freedom is your entire life, and decades after wars have been fought and won, there is no end in sight for the price you continue to pay for freedom, then you have paid and are paying too much.” Author.

When the number of Black people who have fought in American wars exceeds 7 percent (one in every thirteen Black people) of the total living population of that race of people today, and you still have no freedom and no quality of life, then you have paid and are paying too much. When the median White household holds $188,200 in wealth—which is 7.8 times that of the typical Black household (only $24,100), and you still have no freedom and no quality of life, then you have paid and are paying too much. When less than 2.5 percent of America’s wealth belongs to Black people, who make up 14 percent of the total population, and you still have no freedom and no quality of life, then you have paid and are paying too much.

When Black people have the highest unemployment rates of civilian non-institutionalized Black and White men and women over age twenty, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and a Black man is more than twice as likely to be unemployed as a White man, and you still have no freedom and no quality of life, then you have paid and are paying too much. When Black people—men in particular—are overrepresented among prisoners by a factor greater than five to one (32 percent versus 6 percent), and you still have no freedom and no quality of life, then you have paid and are paying too much. When the rate at which an unarmed Black person is likely to be shot dead by law enforcement officers on the streets of America is three times that of a White person, which means you as a Black person venture the streets in fear of your life because of those who should protect and serve, then you are not free, and you have paid and are paying too much. And worse, when those who should protect and serve you rely on a doctrine called qualified immunity, which allows them to walk free after decimating your civil rights and taking your life, you are not free, and you have paid and are paying too much.

When lenders and insurers red-line cities and towns to keep Black people out, making Black-area zip codes the basis on which loan interest rates and auto and health insurance premium rates are determined, ensuring that Black people pay on average 30 percent more for mandatory health and auto insurance than White people, you have paid and are paying too much. When the total average federal spend each year is $6.5 trillion and less than 1.7 percent of that spend goes to Black businesses and Black communities, then you have paid and are paying too much. And when, as a consequence, generationally deprived Black communities resemble war zones, with broken-down drug-infested buildings, and young Black men stand on corners at midday with no jobs, no future, and no hope, and armed police units sit on either side of their street corners twenty-four hours a day, then you have no freedom and you have paid and are paying too much.

When at birth Black people have a shorter life expectancy compared to White people (70.8 and 76.4 years, respectively) as of 2021, and Black people experienced larger declines in life expectancy than White people between 2019 and 2021, then you have paid and are paying too much. When Black infants were more than two times as likely to die as White infants at birth and beyond (10.4 versus 4.4 per 1,000), then you have paid and are paying too much. When Black women had the highest rates of pregnancy-related mortality, and Black children were over twice as likely to be food insecure than White children (13 versus 4 percent) as of 2021, then you have paid and are paying too much.

When Republicans redistrict a jurisdiction, redlining Black people into areas that limit the power of their vote, denying them the basic tenets of democracy, and rendering their “one person, one vote” power ineffective, then Black people have paid and are paying too much. When the Democratic Party receives, on average, 80 percent of the Black vote, and then proceed to systematically ignore the plight of Black people as designated here in this book, and Black people continue to give away their vote to such Democrats, with no conditions attached, then the Black people have lost their sense of self-worth and self-esteem, have no freedom, and are paying too much.

When a Black Democratic president, Obama, could ascend to the highest and most powerful office in the world, and yet become the worst thing to happen to Black people, for he did nothing to change the plight of Black people outlined above—and even went as far as to completely ignore the plight of Black people as outlined in this book, thereby cementing the plight of Black people in the eyes of White America—then Black people will be less free today than tomorrow. His deliberate nonresponse to Black people’s plight set the stage for White people to ask, behind closed doors, “If he didn’t care, why should we? They had a Black president, who had all the power in the world, and he did nothing for them; how can anyone expect us to do more?”

When the Republicans vie for the Black vote but make only token references to the plight of Black people in America, and Black people still shift their votes to Republicans, with no conditions attached and no demands made, then Black people have become their own worst enemy and have lost their sense of self-worth and self-esteem.

Black Americans fought America’s wars and bled and died for America’s freedom—yet they are not free, are poorer for the price paid, and are still treated like third-class citizens in a first-world nation.