Thursday, June 04, 2020

George Floyd: What has Trump done for black jobs, poverty and crime?

By Jake Horton BBC Reality Check
4 June 2020
GETTY IMAGES
President Trump is looking to pick up black votes in the 2020 election

As protests continue across the US over the death of an African-American man, George Floyd, President Donald Trump has said he's done "more for the black community than any president since Abraham Lincoln".

He tweeted that he had delivered the lowest African-American unemployment, poverty and crime rates in US history.

So how has he done?
1. Is African-American unemployment the lowest in history?

The African-American unemployment rate reached 16.7% in April this year - the highest since March 2010.

It's spiked sharply because of the huge impact of the coronavirus crisis on the US economy. And this has disproportionately affected African-Americans - their unemployment rate is two percentage points higher than the overall figure.

But it's worth saying it went as low as 5.5% in September last year - the lowest figure recorded since the US Department of Labor started collecting these statistics in the 1970s.
Image copyrightBBC NEWS

Prior to the coronavirus crisis, there had been a consistent downward trend in African-American unemployment under President Trump.

But it's a trend which began under President Barack Obama, who saw the rate decline from 12.6% to 7.5% during his two terms in office from 2009 until 2017.

However, there remains a disparity in wages between different groups in the US.

The average income of African-American households is almost 60% less than white households, with growth stalling under President Trump, according to the latest statistics.
2. Is the African-American poverty rate at a record low?

In 2018, the latest data available, the African-American poverty rate was 20.8% - which is the lowest on record, beating the previous year, since the official count began in the 1960s.

That represents 8.9 million African-Americans in poverty, according to the US Census Bureau.

African-American poverty has been falling since 2010
Source: US Census Bureau

The US Census Bureau calculates poverty by judging that if a family's total income is less than the family's needs, then every person in that family is considered to be in poverty.

Black poverty also came down under President Obama, and was 21.8% in 2016 - his last full year in office.
3. Is crime committed by African-Americans lower than ever?

This is hard to answer with any certainty.

There are crime statistics gathered by the FBI, but there isn't comprehensive data categorised by race.

Violent crime overall has fallen under President Trump, continuing a trend which started after a peak in 1991.

African-American arrests have been dropping in recent years


Source: FBI

When you look at the number of African-Americans arrested - which can give some indication - you can see arrests have come down over recent years.

They've remained relatively steady for the last four years.

The latest available data is from 2018 and shows that 2,115,381 African-Americans were arrested, according to FBI statistics.

CULTURE
Stars show solidarity with George Floyd protesters

From Spike Lee to Taylor Swift and George Clooney, stars are speaking out against police brutality, racism and Donald Trump. Here's how they're showing their solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.



In Spike Lee's 1989 film Do the Right Thing, the character Radio Raheem, an African American living in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bed-Stuy is strangled by a white cop. Sadly, in the wake of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the film's message of racial injustice seems more relevant than ever 30 years on.

"This is history again, and again and again…This is the thing: the killing of black bodies, that is what this country is built upon," said filmmaker Spike Lee on Monday. During the interview with CNN host Don Lemon, he released a short film on police brutality titled 3 Brothers – Radio Raheem, Eric Garner And George Floyd. Garner and Floyd, like the character from his film, were killed at the hands of white police officers and the clip intercuts footage from the different events. Lee's new short could not be more timely, as the US responds to a legacy of violence against African Americans and demands systematic changes to policing against minorities.


'Have the courage to look at us as humans'

Major US stars have shown their support to the cause, using their sizeable platforms to spread a message. Calling himself "a dad and a black man in pain" rapper Jay-Z called on politicians prosecutors and officers to "have the courage to look at us as humans, dads, brothers sisters and mothers in pain" and prosecute those responsible for Floyd's death to the fullest via a post in his Roc Nation Instagram account.

Actor George Clooney also wrote on Monday a powerful essay against racism for the Daily Beast news site, calling for "systematic change" in the country: "The anger and the frustration we see playing out once again in our streets is just a reminder of how little we've grown as a country from our original sin of slavery," he wrote. "This is our pandemic. It infects all of us, and in 400 years we've yet to find a vaccine."


George Clooney's essay is titled 'America's Greatest Pandemic Is Anti-Black Racism'

The sheer number of reactions to some Tweets criticizing Trump's management of the crisis also reflects the population's indignation. For instance, Taylor Swift's post reacting to the US president's prior controversial statement on Twitter, "When the looting starts the shooting starts," in which she states that he has been "stoking the fires of white supremacy and racism" during his "entire presidency," has become her most-liked Tweet ever, collecting over 2.5 million reactions.

Some celebrities have also taken to the streets. Pop singers Halsey and Ariana Grande marched with protesters over the weekend, commenting on social media along the way.

Grande tweeted about the experience of marching on Sunday, writing that the hours of peaceful protesting "got little to no coverage," a reference to the fact that the violent scenes have been grabbing the media's attention.

The experience of pop singer Halsey appeared to allude to the kind police brutality during protests which has spurred viral videos and outrage. "I don't know how to articulate the horrors of today," she wrote on Twitter on Monday, adding that the National Guard and officers were "firing rounds into kneeling crowds," and calling for medical support.



Taylor Swift to Donald Trump: 'We will vote you out in November'

Berlin clubbers' demonstration faux-pas

Meanwhile, over the weekend multiple demonstrations to protest the death of George Floyd took place in Berlin on Sunday, with an estimated 1,500 participants.

Parallel with the march in Berlin on Sunday, a demonstration to save Berlin's club scene floated down the city's Landwehr canal, as 3,000 primarily white party-goers listened to techno music in more than 400 boats and inflatable dinghies, urging authorities to support the city's club culture which is under threat as clubs remain closed due to public health risks associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

One boat of reveling protesters had a sign stating "I can't breath" [sic], a reference to Floyd's last words before his death. The connection was criticized by some as a shameful display of white privilege in Berlin, including theater and opera director Ersan Montag. "This is disgusting Berlin" he tweeted. The juxtaposition of the demonstrations taking place not too far from one another was jarring for others in the city's cultural scene.


"While black people are on the streets facing brutal repression, & while #BlackLivesMatter march was happening in #Berlin, an almost purely white parade was demanding clubs be open. I defend #clubculture but this is a manifestation of #WhitePrivilege & is disgusting," transfeminist queer activist and filmmaker Leil Zahra Mortada similarly wrote.

As protests continue in the US, further demonstrations are planned in Germany for the coming weekend, including demonstrations in Stuttgart, Munich, Hamburg, Cologne and Berlin.



IN PICTURES: US PROTESTS OVER GEORGE FLOYD, POLICE KILLINGS RAGE IN DOZENS OF CITIES
From peaceful to violent
Protests were mostly peaceful on Saturday, though some became violent as the night wore on. In Washington, D.C., the National Guard was deployed outside the White House. At least one person died in shootings in downtown Indianapolis; police said no officers were involved. Officers were injured in Philadelphia, while in New York two NYPD vehicles lurched into a crowd, knocking people to the ground. 1234567891011

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Date 02.06.2020
Author Sarah Hucal
Related Subjects White House
Keywords George Floyd, United States, Ariana Grande, Spike Lee

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