Only 16% of Population is Black, But 91% of Those Cited for Jaywalking Are Black

The law is pretty straight forward right? Do the crime, do the time. But whether or not you do the time, or pay the penalty, usually stems from whether you’re called to account for your infraction. More often than not, blacks are arrested and cited for crimes, whereas white are just allowed to walk – literally.

This is exactly what VíveloHoy learned when the Spanish language site submitted a freedom of information request for years of arrest data for the towns Champaign and Urbana Illinois.

According to the 2010 Census, the two municipalities are only 16 percent black, but more than forty percent of the arrests in the town were of black people. And don’t even try jaywalking because, apparently, there is just something about a black person jaywalking that sends the police in Urbana and Champaign over the edge, at least according to the data.

ViveloHoy reports:

In Champaign from 2007 to 2011, 658, or 88 percent, of the 744 jaywalking arrests were of black people.

In Urbana, the percentage of black arrestees for the same crime was even higher during those same years.

From 2007 to 2011, 110, or 91 percent, of the people cited for jaywalking in Urbana were black.

To ViveloHoy’s credit, they kept digging, and discovered that the reason more blacks were arrested for jaywalking is because there are fewer sidewalks in black communities. Essentially, blacks are being punished because their communities are underfunded. How that for fair?

That’s probably not the entire explanation, but it’s a beginning. And it shows how blacks are automatically treated as criminals, and cited for infractions, while cops often look the other way when the same infraction is committed by a white person. Sadly, not all crimes are equal. The weight they carry is determined as much by hue as anything else.

 

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4 Responses to Only 16% of Population is Black, But 91% of Those Cited for Jaywalking Are Black

  1. DeepEntity August 27, 2012 at 5:00 pm

    They need to have more Black police officer’s in Black area’s. Could you imagine if there were a majority Black police force in a white community?

    Reply
  2. Corky Johnson August 28, 2012 at 9:46 am

    Blind justice as the court houses symbolize ( a white woman ) holding two scales suppose to represent blind and equal justice.

    But justice turns a blind one when it comes to people of color. When will our system learn, that we are all in this together ???

    What is it going to take, or what must we do to respect the
    constitution: That all men and women are created equal.

    Reply
  3. Parvenu August 28, 2012 at 12:25 pm

    The news item inspired me to create a new acronym, namely WWB or Walking While Black. If the cops in the NYPD are ever forced to stop arresting black people on bogus “marijuana in public” charges, they might resort to bagging black folks for WWB….. jus say’n.

    Reply
  4. Erma Magee August 29, 2012 at 12:10 pm

    Have you not heard the saying when your white your right no matter what!

    Reply

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