Greene County Democrat

Tag: women

  • Newswire:Study finds nearly 90 Percent of Black homicide victims were killed with guns

     Handgun with ammunition

    By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent


    According to a new and comprehensive study on gun violence, Black men, women, boys, and girls remain the most impacted victims of homicide in America, yet year after year this shocking and unacceptable toll is allowed to continue.
    The study published by the Washington, D.C.-based Violence Policy Center, revealed that in 2019, the United States recorded 7,441 Black homicide victims.
    African Americans represent 14 percent of the U.S. population, but accounted for 52 percent of all homicide victims, the study authors found.
    The annual study, Black Homicide Victimization in the United States: An Analysis of 2019 Homicide Data, also ranks the states according to their Black homicide victimization rates. Officials said it’s based on unpublished data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation Supplementary Homicide Report.

    The study details homicide rates for 2019, the most recent year for which comprehensive national data is available. For homicides in which authorities could identify the weapon used, 88 percent of Black victims (6,190 out of 7,056) were shot and killed with guns. Of those, 64 percent (3,935 victims) were killed with handguns.
    On average, more than 20 Black Americans died each day from homicide – 17 were known to have died from gunshots.
    “These deaths almost always involve a gun, and the resulting devastation ravages families, friends, and community members,” Violence Policy Center Executive Director Josh Sugarmann stated in a news release.
    “The goal of our research is to help support advocates and organizations working on the ground to stop this lethal violence while, at the same time, continuing to educate and engage the public and policymakers on the need to address this ongoing national crisis,” Sugarmann said.
    The study also revealed that the Black homicide victimization rate in the United States was nearly four times the overall national victimization rate and nearly seven times the white homicide victimization rate.
    In 2019, the Black homicide victimization rate was 18.08 per 100,000. In comparison, the overall national homicide victimization rate was 4.79 per 100,000. For whites, the national homicide victimization rate was 2.69 per 100,000.Further, 87 percent of Black homicide victims were male (6,454 of 7,441) and 13 percent were female (986 of 7,441).
    The authors noted that Black male homicide victimization rate in the United States was “more than four times the overall male victimization rate and more than eight times the white male homicide victimization rate.”
    In 2019, the homicide victimization rate for Black male victims was 32.49 per 100,000. In comparison, the overall rate for male homicide victims was 7.68 per 100,000 and the rate for white male homicide victims was 3.88 per 100,000.

    For homicides in which the victim to offender relationship could be identified, 77 percent of Black victims (2,282 out of 2,954) were killed by someone they knew.The number of victims killed by strangers was 672.
    For homicides in which the circumstances could be identified, 70 percent (2,856 out of 4,102) were not related to the commission of any other felony. Of these, 56 percent (1,591 homicides) involved arguments between the victim and the offender.
    With a homicide rate of 50.64 per 100,000 residents, Missouri ranked the highest. Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Louisiana, Kentucky, Arkansas, Michigan, and Oklahoma rounded out the top 10.
    The authors said individuals living in communities where violence is prevalent are at higher risk for a broad range of negative health and behavior outcomes.
    An increased understanding of how trauma resulting from community violence influences development, health, and behavior can lead to improvements in the way many social services are delivered as well as policy changes at the local and federal levels.
    “At the same time, the firearms industry, looking to expand beyond its shrinking base of white male gun owners, has launched an organized marketing campaign focusing on Black and Latino Americans,” the study authors wrote.“If successful, such efforts can only increase gun death and injury in these communities.”
    The full study is available at http://vpc.org/studies/blackhomicide22.pdf.

  • The wage gap: terrible for all women, even worse for women of color; Tuesday was ‘Equal Pay Day’

    By: Lydia O’Connor Reporter, The Huffington Post

    Fast Food Protests
    A woman carries a sign for equal pay as she marches with other protestors in support of raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour as part of an expanding national movement known as Fight for 15, Wednesday, April 15, 2015, in Miami. The event was part of a national protest day to coincide with the April 15 deadline for filing income taxes. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

    How much does being a woman cost over a lifetime? A lot more if she’s Latina.
    Tuesday was Equal Pay Day — the day that marks how far into the year full-time employed women have to work in order to earn what their male counterparts earned in the year prior. To mark the occasion, the National Women’s Law Center released a report showing how much the wage gap costs women over their lifetime. The findings, released earlier this month, are based on 2014 U.S. Census data showing the difference between women’s and men’s median annual earnings for full-time, year-round employees, multiplied by 40 years. The data comes from a Census study that does not take immigration status into account, meaning it doesn’t make distinctions about whether or not people are undocumented.
    We’re often reminded that women earn 79 cents for every dollar men earn, but what sometimes gets lost is that the gap is much worse for Latinas, black women and other women of color. Here are some of the NWLC’s most jarring takeaways about being a woman of color working in the U.S.:
    Women overall lose out on more than $400,000 over the course of their careers, but most women of color are shorted more than double that.
    Men out-earn women in all 50 states and in Washington D.C. For full-time, year-round employees nationwide, women earn a median annual $39,621 compared to men’s $50,383 — a yearly difference of $10,762. If a woman works for 40 years, then, that adds up to a lifetime shortfall of $430,480 as compared to a man.
    But most women of color can expect to lose out on a lot more. When compared to the earnings of white men, that wage loss figure rises to $883,040 for Native American women, $877,480 for black women and $1,007,080 for Latinas.
    The gap is smaller — though still nowhere near equitable — for Asian-American women, whose lifetime wage difference compared to white men totals $365,440. So, you know, just a third of a million dollars, instead of an actual million dollars.
    In a shocking number of states, white men earn more than twice as much as Latinas.
    There are 12 states, or about a quarter of the country, where Latinas on average earn less than half of what white men make per year. In order from greatest lifetime wage gap to least, these states are New Jersey, California, Maryland, Connecticut, Texas, Massachusetts, Washington, Illinois, Rhode Island, Utah, Georgia and Alabama.
    For black women, the above is true only in Louisiana, and for Native American women it’s only true in Delaware. There are no states where, overall, men earn twice as much per year as women, and no states where white men earn twice as much as Asian-American women.
    Our nation’s capital is setting a horrible example.
    At first glance, Washington, D.C., doesn’t look like one of the most dire environments. With lifetime wage losses for women overall totaling $288,560, it’s the seventh best state for working women.
    But when lifetime wage loss for black women and Latinas is stacked up against the lifetime earnings of white men, D.C. comes in dead last. It’s also the second worst for Asian-American women and eighth worst for Native American women.