Writing for the Huffington Post, Kim Farbota claims that statistics commonly used to highlight perceived inequities in the black communities are, in fact, “racist.” Dr. Farbota “earned a PhD in neuroscience and master’s in public affairs from the University of Wisconsin prior to attending Yale Law School, where she will complete her JD in 2015.”
Her article, aptly titled “Black Crime Rates: Your Statistics Are Racist,” argues that statistics do not show the reality of crime in the United States. Instead of economic and educational disadvantage in African American communities that leads to crime, Dr. Farbota writes that the simple fact of the matter is that racism is behind high crime rates in the black community.
Again, it’s not the fact that many black people live in disadvantaged communities with low educational standards that lead to high crimes. It’s racism of whites and those in charge of the “system” that leads to high crime rates.
She then makes several additional claims, none of which she backs up with sources. While she does link to other websites, none actually buttress her overall statements.
According to Dr. Farbota, statistics are racist because, “1. If a black person and a white person each commit a crime, the black person is more likely to be arrested.
“(2) When black people are arrested for a crime, they are convicted more often than white people arrested for the same crime.
“(3) When black people are convicted of a crime, they are more likely to be sentenced to incarceration compared to whites convicted of the same crime.”
With this one, Dr. Farbota explains that “one study found that in a particular region blacks were incarcerated for convicted felony offenses 51% of the time while whites convicted of felonies were incarcerated 38% of the time.” But, once again, she leaves out exactly what felonies were committed and whether they normally do lead to prison time or commuted sentences.
Dr. Farbota then literally makes up some numbers to back up her claims, writing:
“So, if 1,000 white people and 200 black people (a ratio of 5:1 to reflect the U.S. population) commit the same crime, here is what the eventual prison population could look like:
“100 white people and 74 black people might be arrested.
“50 white people and 48 black people might be convicted.
“19 white people and 24 black people might be sentenced to prison.”
According to Dr. Farbota, the statistics that she made up “demonstrates that there are systemic differences in how blacks and whites are treated by the law.”
Before the end of her article, Farbota wants to make it clear once again that it is racism, not systematic poverty and lack of education, behind crime in the African American community (emphasis mine): “Poverty, geography, and lacking educational and career opportunities all likely play a role. These factors exacerbate the effects of systemic racism and feed the cycle of incarceration, joblessness, and poverty that plagues some segments of the black population.”
All 200 of the huff-po readers are reading this.
any excuse but to have criminals take personal responsibility for their actions. I don’t care what color , race, sex, orientation you are if you did the crime you do the time, own up to it and stop making excuses or worse let others make excuses.
“Knowledge is good.” – Faber College, Animal House
“Math is hard.” – Barbie
A time honored quote:
“Facts are stubborn things”
An unomac quote:
“Progressives are stupid things”
What a dingbat. If she really wants to blame white racists for black communities’ (whatever the hell those are) problems, then she should point her finger at LBJ and his “war on poverty” and the democrats who created the nanny state enslavement on the entitlement plantation. It made the black American dad irrelevant and has, if nothing else, proven that big government is a piss poor substitute. Black Americans aren’t the only ones, either. They were just the first, because at the time, they were the most vulnerable. Socialist democrats are the ones who have screwed black Americans, and they’re screwing everyone now. The ironic thing is she would probably disagree and view what I said as some kind of heresy.
And, of course, the lefties believe that blacks are the only racial group in the history of the world that are so incompetently stupid they cannot triumph over even the slightest microaggression.
Why aren’t they ever asked to explain why their opinion of blacks is so low?
Just another one of Hussein’s foot soldier if-I-had-a-daughters. Nothing to see here…
One is entitled to their own opinions. One is NOT entitled to their own facts.
Denying that there are such things as facts, things that can be proven to be true beyond reasonable doubt, is simply solipsism – the belief that the self is the only object of knowledge. But you cannot be an honest solipsist if you argue with the knowledge pronouncements of others whether or not those others are solipsists themselves.
In other words, Farbota isn’t even a consistent or honest hypocrite. She’s simply an ideologically driven silly person.
1. The black is more likely to get caught.
2. The black tries to use the race card at trial.
3. See #’s 1 & 2 above.
Besides, her ‘facts’ are BS.
Here is a homework assignment for the professor: Out of 1000 murders, 500 hundred are committed by white murderers and 500 are committed by black murderers. Please explain why 12% of the population commit 1/2 the murders.
Any oblique reason for transference of guilt from personal responsibility is manna from heaven for the Black Lies Matter crowd.
So tired,
So very tired of Black Vaudeville.
And those who pay to keep it rolling.
Ebonics is racist. Self segregation is racist.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts.
http://www.city-journal.org/2015/25_4_decriminalization.html
“… they are convicted more often than white people arrested for the same crime.”
How did they both commit the same crime?
Ms. Fartola is disingenuous, at best. First she claims that the statistics are racist, then she admits that negroes commit more crimes, just tha it ain’t the negroes’ fault.
So … which is it?
For a second there I thought she was going to blow the whistle on my community’s dirty little secret: once a year we bring in a busload of brothers and sisters to my lily white community and arrest each and every one of them for whatever trumped up charges we can, just to do our part in cooking the crime stats–and we award a prize to the one with the most creative charge for the year.
She is further proof that the American educational system is seriously broken. All that supposed education and she is still
stupid! She must have been given those degrees for showing up, paying the fees and participating. Hence, she is the proud mama of a number of participation degrees
Been broke. Back in the 80s or 90s a negro guy graduated Georgetown Law School with a 1.8 GPA. He’s probably with the ACLU or SPLC now. Or a Congressman.
Or maybe flippin burgers for the clown.
Naw … that’d be too much like work …
Maybe if the blacks were not committing so many crimes, in volumes disproportionate to their relative percentage to the population, the statistics would reflect that?
So, her problem isn’t really with the statistics, but with the irrational, stupid, violent, black criminals that drive them. Small wonder she seeks to shift blame from those actually responsible, onto someone else.
The fact is that even the filthy rich negro athletes, rappers, actors, etc… that are worth hundreds of millions and live in exclusive wealthy neighborhoods are still high crime savages. They are loaded and privleged and worshipped yet continue to routinely beat, shoot, rape, and murder at the same ghetto percentages. Argument debunked….
Can I charge Dr. Farbota with crimes against logic and proven mathematical theory?
It’s much worse than that. If you assume the sexes are equivalent, that means 6% of the population are black males. Of that 6%, the ones 16-24 years old are the most likely offenders. They’re probably no more than 2% of the total population. That 2% is committing 50% of all murders.
Oooh! Let me!
1. If a black person and a white person each commit a crime, the black person is more likely to be arrested.
How on Earth can she – or anyone – know that? We have a measure of people who have committed crimes and were not arrested? Or is she really saying that the conviction rate for blacks arrested for a crime is lower? Gosh, it does sound different when said _that_ way, doesn’t it? Oh, but wait, I guess it can’t be that because…
“(2) When black people are arrested for a crime, they are convicted more often than white people arrested for the same crime.
This proves that her point (1) must come from her knowledge of the racial makeup of people who committed crimes for which they were not arrested. I wonder if God gave her that knowledge, because its literally impossible for humans to know it otherwise.
But let’s look at (2) at face value. Could that possibly mean that blacks might have a higher recidivism rate than whites, and hence get harsher sentences for their second, third, or later violent felony? I mean, it just seems more *honest* to control for the number of priors, doesn’t it?
“(3) When black people are convicted of a crime, they are more likely to be sentenced to incarceration compared to whites convicted of the same crime.”
Fascinating. See (2).
I realize that HuffPo is a lefty rag, but even they are usually more reasonable than this. Heck, I don’t even think the NY Times would have published this drivel.