Data Visualizations
Whenever I happen upon an interesting study, I immediately spend every moment of my free time creating a data visualization. Here are some of my favorite data visualizations, along with the captions I posted on Instagram.
Felonies in Washtenaw County, Michigan
A new report analyzing case data from the Washtenaw County Circuit Court highlights stark racial disparities in who is charged with felonies within the county. These disparities span 11 types of felonies from over 3,600 charges dating back to 2013. In a county where white residents outnumber Black residents almost 6 to 1, these charges are wildly disproportionate and reflect the need for comprehensive changes throughout the criminal legal system.
The report uses the broad label “POC” throughout the analysis; however, Black people comprise 99% of people of color cited in the group’s analysis of felony categories.
Excerpted from the report [Report by Citizens for Racial Equity in Washtenaw (CREW), August 2020]: “Judges are human and not necessarily immune from the myths and biases, implicit as well as explicit, that have informed decisions and impacted our criminal legal system laws for decades, resulting in racial disparities in arrests, treatment, and incarceration of People of Color at astonishingly high rates.
We as a nation cannot fully address racial inequities in the criminal legal system that lead to mass incarceration until we start fixing it at the local level.
Washtenaw County, we have some work to do. The breadth of the racial disparities CREW documented and the impact in terms of punishment on People of Color are so stark that CREW presents this report to our community with a call for immediate action by those institutions responsible for funding, administering and overseeing the criminal legal system in Washtenaw County.”
Protester’s Primer
No matter the outcome of this election, people will be taking the streets. Here are some tips from the @miliberation Street Team’s Protester’s Primer on key information for street and support actions. Love supporting this group in any way I can with my designs and photography.
Disclaimer: This and the Primer are not intended to be relied upon as legal or medical advice, nor as a replacement for in-person training and practice in the field.
Earnings Gap
A new study from Michigan State University economists shows that since the late 1970s and early 1980s, earnings of Black workers have fallen relative to the earnings of white workers in much of the United States.
Michigan leads all states in the decline in earnings for Black workers, driven in part by the collapse of middle-class manufacturing jobs, says Charles Ballard, an MSU economics professor and study author.
“Forty years ago, Black workers earned more in Michigan than in any other state,” Ballard said. “Since then, in much of the country, Black workers’ earnings at least kept up with inflation, but white workers’ earnings grew faster.”
His research found Black men in Michigan earned about 20 percent less in recent years than 40 years ago when adjusted for inflation. Black women used to earn 15 percent more than white counterparts in Michigan; now they earn 15 percent less.
Black men, for instance, earned an average of $52,051 in 2017 values from 1976 to 1981. That fell 19.6 percent to $41,871 per year from 2012 to 2017.
White men also saw wages shrink, but by far less: down 2.8 percent to $55,372 from $56,979 over the same period.
In the 1970s, Black workers of both genders made more money on average in Michigan than any other state. Today, the state ranks ninth in earnings for Black women and 10th for Black men.
“Diversity has been a delusion for Black people in terms of economic progress,” said Kenneth Harris, president and CEO of the National Business League, which promotes Black business and economic development.
“The research suggests that if Michigan doesn’t start to address the economic disparity gap among Black people, they will not be competitive with the rest of the country, as the U.S. becomes majority Black and brown in the next 20 to 30 years.”
…key to understanding the difference in pay comes from what replaced manufacturing jobs: “higher-skilled, higher-tech jobs, where the payoff is having more education,” Ballard said.
Excerpt from @bridge.michigan article: “Study: Wage gap widens between Black, white workers, especially in Michigan” by Paula Gardner
