In the age of the Black millennials, more than half have one thing in common—knowing a victim of police brutality.
With the high profile cases of Trayvon Martin, Mike Brown, Freddie Gray, and Sandra Bland making headlines, the statistic is not as alarming as one would suspect.
A study conducted by the Black Youth Project at the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture at the University of Chicago delves into the attitudes extended towards Black, Latino, Asian, and white millennials in instances of policing. The “Black Millennials in America” report also explores the connection between guns and the legal system of the U.S. amongst the various racial demographics.
President Obama on Police Brutality: ‘The African-American Community is Not Making This Up’
Survey from the Black Youth Project Quarterly Survey stated that 24 percent of Blacks and 22 percent of Latino Millennials know someone who carried a gun in the last month. That demographic is overwhelmingly less than the 46 percent of White millennials who state the same fact.
Long before the #BlackLivesMatter movement mounted, police targeting POC was a practice.
Information released to the Associated Press on Wednesday states: “In the 2009 Mobilization and Change Survey, 54.4 percent of Black Millennials answered yes to the question ‘Have you or anyone you know experienced harassment or violence at the hands of the police?'” The report goes on to say that “almost one-third of Whites, 1 in 4 Latinos and 28 percent of Asian-Americans surveyed yes to the same question.”
The current landscape of the U.S. legal system does not offer much confidence in easing the qualms of Millennials of color.
In 2014, a Black Youth Project survey revealed that more than three fourths of the Black Millennial demographic is weary of the legal system with only 26.8 percent believing that the legal system is fair to all. 36.7 percent of Latinos, 38.1 percent of Asians, and 41 percent of Whites agree that everyone is treated fairly by the system.