What the Hell is Wrong with America? The Truth about Racism and Justice for All — James E. Wright II, Stephanie Dolamore, and RaJade M. Berry-James (2022)
This article argues that systemic racism is embedded throughout major U.S. policy systems—including criminal justice, education, housing, healthcare, and elections —producing unequal outcomes for Black Americans through historical and institutional structures tied to white supremacy and racial inequity.
1. Systemic Racism as a Structural System
2. Criminal Justice & Policing
3. Education System & Cultural Oppression
4. Housing, Segregation & Economic Inequality
5. Healthcare & Health Disparities
6. Elections & Political Power
7. Solutions & Calls for Action
⭐ Star Facts
- Black children make up only 14% of the U.S. youth population but account for 32% of juvenile arrests, 42% of detentions, and 52% of transfers to adult court.
- Black Americans are 13.1% of the U.S. population but represent 34% of the total correctional population. In some states, Black incarceration rates are more than 10 times higher than white incarceration rates.
- Research cited in the article found Black people in New York City were more likely to be frisked and subjected to force during police stops, despite being less likely than whites to possess contraband.
- The article traces the origins of American policing partly to slave patrols designed to capture and control enslaved Black people.
- In Chicago, 90% of schools closed in 2013 were majority-Black schools, demonstrating how educational policy disproportionately affected Black communities.
- Black students are punished more harshly than white students for similar behavior, contributing to the “school-to-prison pipeline.”
- The article argues that standard U.S. curricula overwhelmingly center Eurocentric perspectives, while Black history and culture are often treated as secondary or “special topics.”
- Baltimore passed one of the first explicit racial segregation housing laws in U.S. history in 1911, banning Black residents from moving into white neighborhoods.
- In Baltimore, life expectancy in predominantly Black neighborhoods (“The Black Butterfly”) was about 70 years, compared to 84 years in predominantly white neighborhoods (“The White L”).
- Black Americans are roughly 13% of the U.S. population but represent around 40% of the homeless population and 50% of homeless families.