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NYC Has 118,000 Missing Black Men
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Apr 20, 2015
Modified Apr 20, 2015
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By
Christopher Robbins
Published Apr 20, 2015
Modified Apr 20, 2015
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A new report shows that more than one of every six black men in the United States who should be between the ages of 25 and 54 have "disappeared" from free society, mostly due to incarceration or death. Nowhere is this number greater than in New York City, where there are 118,000 fewer black men than there should be.
Nationwide, there are only 83 black men for every 100 black women.
"The numbers are staggering," Becky Pettit, a professor of sociology at UT-Austin told the Times.
Black males die at higher rates from heart disease or accidents than white men (or black women), but the number one cause for death among black males ages 15 to 34 is homicide.
Violent crime has gone down drastically since the late '80s and early '90s, but the United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world—African Americans make up almost 1 million of the 2.3 million people currently imprisoned (though in recent years New York has lowered its prison population by 26%).
Young black men are 11 times more likely to be shot by the police than their white counterparts.
Ferguson, Missouri is the U.S. city with a population above 10,000 with the largest proportion of black men missing.
Tagged
black lives matter
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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