Whitey Ford
03-09-2020, 08:19 PM
‘None of this has changed': Madison's racial disparities have gotten worse, despite decades of reports, task forces and funded programs
decade ago, Dane County launched task forces to address racial disparities in the criminal justice system. A few years before that, Madison launched its Study Circles on Race program. The Madison Police Department, facing criticism for pulling over and arresting blacks at an alarming rate, began training officers to recognize their own implicit biases. And seven years ago, the Madison School District unveiled its framework to deal with the vast achievement gap between black and white students.
Today, the disparities are as wide as ever. In 2004, blacks, who made up 6% of the city’s population, accounted for about 15% of traffic citations and 29% of arrests. Last year, at 7% of the population, blacks were issued a quarter of city traffic citations, and in 2018 constituted 43% of arrests. In the same time frame, the proportion of black juveniles arrested went from 49% to 66%. In 2010, blacks made up 44% of inmates at the Dane County Jail; in 2018, it was 46%.
In Madison schools last semester, blacks who make up 18% of students, were handed 57% of all out-of-school suspensions. Last year, the district posted modest gains in black student achievement and graduation rates in its annual report, which it attributed to implementation of its 2012 framework, but the achievement gap remains among the worst in the nation.
Officials point to progress, but it’s hard to argue that Madison and Dane County are anywhere close to solving their racial disparity problems when black kids are arrested at seven times the rate of white kids, where the black unemployment rate more than doubles that of whites, and where housing costs make home ownership — and sometimes just making rent — a distant dream for poor families, who are disproportionately people of color.
All this despite years of effort by school, law enforcement, city and county officials and a variety of nonprofit groups.
https://madison.com/ct/news/local/govt-and-politics/none-of-this-has-changed-madison-s-racial-disparities-have/article_0490a398-46f5-54ea-af5c-66ff1a32dfac.html
decade ago, Dane County launched task forces to address racial disparities in the criminal justice system. A few years before that, Madison launched its Study Circles on Race program. The Madison Police Department, facing criticism for pulling over and arresting blacks at an alarming rate, began training officers to recognize their own implicit biases. And seven years ago, the Madison School District unveiled its framework to deal with the vast achievement gap between black and white students.
Today, the disparities are as wide as ever. In 2004, blacks, who made up 6% of the city’s population, accounted for about 15% of traffic citations and 29% of arrests. Last year, at 7% of the population, blacks were issued a quarter of city traffic citations, and in 2018 constituted 43% of arrests. In the same time frame, the proportion of black juveniles arrested went from 49% to 66%. In 2010, blacks made up 44% of inmates at the Dane County Jail; in 2018, it was 46%.
In Madison schools last semester, blacks who make up 18% of students, were handed 57% of all out-of-school suspensions. Last year, the district posted modest gains in black student achievement and graduation rates in its annual report, which it attributed to implementation of its 2012 framework, but the achievement gap remains among the worst in the nation.
Officials point to progress, but it’s hard to argue that Madison and Dane County are anywhere close to solving their racial disparity problems when black kids are arrested at seven times the rate of white kids, where the black unemployment rate more than doubles that of whites, and where housing costs make home ownership — and sometimes just making rent — a distant dream for poor families, who are disproportionately people of color.
All this despite years of effort by school, law enforcement, city and county officials and a variety of nonprofit groups.
https://madison.com/ct/news/local/govt-and-politics/none-of-this-has-changed-madison-s-racial-disparities-have/article_0490a398-46f5-54ea-af5c-66ff1a32dfac.html