Math Says We Have To Look At White Males As The Main Source Of Our Problems
44 of our 45 Presidents have been white males. Congress is 80% male, 80% white, and 92% Christian. The Supreme Court is 75% white and 57% male. The President’s cabinet is 87% white and 87% male. This is the racial composition of our three branches of government. Diversity within all three has increased over time, but even if that’s the case, why do a lot of people blame our problems on minorities, migrants (authorized and unauthorized), and women? Not to point fingers (because we’re all in this together), but if the buck stops with leadership, isn’t it clear that we should be looking at white men as the source of our supposed problems?
Minorities and the General Population
The largest racial minority in the United States are black people at 13.2% The largest ethnic minority in the country are Hispanics and Latinos at 17%. Asians makes up 6% of the population. People of two or more races are 2.3% of the population. Native Americans including are less than 1%. Pacific Islanders are .1%.
The percentage of non-Hispanic white people in the U.S. population has reached an all-time low: 63%. In 2000, whites were 69% of the population. In 1980, they made up 80%.
Knowing these numbers, how can we blame these minorities for the supposed problems in the country when they have no representation to enact any of the policies that they want? The math does not add up.
Accountability In The Criminal Justice System
Blacks disproportionately commit crime in spite of their representation in the population. Unauthorized migrants knowingly commit a crime (it’s actually a civil violation and not a violation of a criminal statute) when they come to our country and stay beyond the time they are supposed to. These things are true.
Defendants in criminal trials are 68% black and latino. The judges are 80% white. What about lawyers?
88% of current lawyers come from a White/Caucasian background. This percentage has not changed much in the last 10 years. Just 4% of practicing lawyers in the United States are African-American/Black. Hispanics make up 3.7% of US practicing lawyers.
Asian-Pacific Americans make up an almost equal percentage of practicing lawyers when compared to Hispanics at 3.4%. In 2005, 70% of practicing lawyers were male. For the 2014 school year, however, 48% of new law students were women.
Complaining about revolving doors, sentencing and general problems with the criminal justice system should start with white men should it not? They are administering and “overseeing” the criminal justice system composed largely of defendants whom are racial and ethnic minorities. Are we really only looking for accountability from accused criminals and not those in charge of making sure they are both punished and rehabilitated?
Police Are Mainly White Males Also
In 2013, racial or ethnic minorities comprised 27 percent of local police officers, the Bureau of Justice Statistics(BJS) reported Thursday morning. That’s up from 15 percent in 1987, the first year the periodic study was conducted, and 25 percent in 2007, the last year it was conducted. In terms of raw numbers, there were 130,000 minority local police officers in 2013. That’s an increase of 78,000 officers from 1987 and 13,000 from 2007.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics said in the report there are more than 12,000 local police departments in the U.S. These agencies employ some 605,000 full-time staffers, approximately 477,000 of which are sworn officers (“those with general arrest powers,” per the BJS). The non-sworn staffers comprise some 128,000 of these employees.
Sixty percent of the increase between 2007 and 2013 stems from Hispanics and Latinos, and the estimated 12 percent of officers who were Hispanic or Latino in 2013 is more than twice the some 5 percent in 1987. Twelve percent of local police officers were black in 2013, up from 9 percent in 1987. Asian, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, American Indian or Alaska Native persons comprised 3 percent of local police officers in 2013 and 2007, but that’s “about four times higher than in 1987,” according to the BJS. As far as trends go, “in general, departments in larger jurisdictions were more diverse than those in smaller ones,” a summary of the study states.
There are also more females on the force across the U.S. In 2013, approximately 58,000 females worked as local police officers, whereas only 27,000 did so in 1987.
Business and Technology
Women represent about 5 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs. Minorities represent approximately 4 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs. Therefore, only 9 percent of the biggest companies in the U.S. have CEOs who are not white men.
In the tech sector, which the report defines as “industries that employ a high concentration of employees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics,” 68.5% of employees are white, compared with 63.5% across the private sector.
Asian Americans also made up a disproportionately high number of tech sector employees. Around 14% of those jobs were held by Asian Americans in 2014, compared with 5.8% across private industry.
African Americans, who made up 13.2% of the country that year, held just 7.4% of tech sector jobs. Hispanics, despite making up 17.4% of the population in 2014, held just 8% of tech sector jobs.
Women also held only 36% of tech jobs in 2014, compared with 48% across the private sector, a 25% discrepancy. The numbers get less diverse up the chain of command. White people made up 83.3% of tech executives, and 80% of all tech executives were men.
Education
In fall 2013, there were 1.5 million faculty at degree-granting postsecondary institutions: 51 percent were full time, and 49 percent were part time. Faculty include professors, associate professors, assistant professors, instructors, lecturers, assisting professors, adjunct professors, and interim professors. In fall 2013, of all full-time faculty at degree-granting postsecondary institutions, 43 percent were White males, 35 percent were White females, 3 percent were Black males, 3 percent were Black females, 2 percent were Hispanic males, 2 percent were Hispanic females, 6 percent were Asian/Pacific Islander males, and 4 percent were Asian/Pacific Islander females. Making up less than 1 percent each were full-time faculty who were American Indian/Alaska Native and of Two or more races.
Among full-time professors, 58 percent were White males, 26 percent were White females, 2 percent were Black males, 1 percent were Black females, 2 percent were Hispanic males, 1 percent were Hispanic females, 7 percent were Asian/Pacific Islander males, and 2 percent were Asian/Pacific Islander females. Making up less than 1 percent each were professors who were American Indian/Alaska Native and of Two or more races.
Terrorism
Since 9/11, 48 people have been killed by extremists who are not Muslim, compared to 26 killed by people who claimed to be jihadist. The non-Muslim groups include right-wing, anti-government organizations and white-supremacist groups. US law enforcement is well aware of the danger of white extremist groups. A recent survey done by researchers at the University of North Carolina and Duke University asked 382 US police departments to list top threats and 74 per cent listed anti-government violence, while just 39 per cent said “Al Qaeda-inspired” violence.
Your Beef Is With White Males, Not Minorities
Do you think politics is a corrupt enterprise? Blame white males as they dominate politics. Do you think the criminal justice system is a mess that needs to be completely overhauled? Blame white males as they dominate the composition of lawyers, judges and police. Do you think businesses and tech companies are greedy or value profits over people? Blame white males as they overwhelmingly run both. Do you think academia is a racket that has deviated from it’s mission of teaching towards indoctrinating? You guessed it, white males are running that too. Worried about terrorism? You better look to your anti-government white neighbor. The question is, why would one blame minorities and women in these sectors and industries when they literally have no power in any of them?
I have a crazy, wild, outrageous thought experiment. What if we were to give minorities and women power in the country? I wonder if things would be different? Might they even be better?
