Statistics show African Americans make up the majority of New Orleans, at about 60 percent. Still, crime analysts say African Americans have been extremely overrepresented as victims of murder for decades. Accounting for at least 80%.”The reality is up to 92% of the victims are African American,” said Peter Scharf, a professor at the LSU School of Medicine.”If you line up 100 Black folk — most of them Black men — and someone said, ‘Out of all these people lined up, being faced with violence, only eight percent have a chance to live.’ Wouldn’t you look at it like, ‘That is an emergency, man’?” said Oliver Thomas, a councilman of District E.Councilman Thomas said years of systematic racism and the lack of resources are just some of the factors. “Why do we not resource this group? Why have we not focused on this group? Is it because it’s Black men? Because we do not focus on the group, we see Black women, Black girls and Black children also becoming victims,” Thomas said.”I think in our community, there is a consistent lack of resources and lack of knowledge about the resources we do have,” said Ray Bender, the owner of The Hangout NOLA. “It’s unfortunate.”The Hangout NOLA is a local venue aimed at offering youth positive outlets in their spare time. Bender said those stats bleed into every aspect of New Orleans, including Black-owned businesses that really want to be a part of the change. “The only way for us to thrive is the support from each other,” Bender said.They all hope the city can move forward in a positive direction. “Our resources. Our attention. Our academics. Our social science ought to address this issue as a collective right now. And maybe one would say if it were not Black folk being killed at such high percentages, everyone would have already come together to deal with it,” Thomas said. Local leaders met privately Tuesday with leaders from Omaha, Nebraska, on how they were able to lower their crime rates. WDSU will keep you updated on this situation.
Statistics show African Americans make up the majority of New Orleans, at about 60 percent.
Still, crime analysts say African Americans have been extremely overrepresented as victims of murder for decades. Accounting for at least 80%.
“The reality is up to 92% of the victims are African American,” said Peter Scharf, a professor at the LSU School of Medicine.
“If you line up 100 Black folk — most of them Black men — and someone said, ‘Out of all these people lined up, being faced with violence, only eight percent have a chance to live.’ Wouldn’t you look at it like, ‘That is an emergency, man’?” said Oliver Thomas, a councilman of District E.
Councilman Thomas said years of systematic racism and the lack of resources are just some of the factors.
“Why do we not resource this group? Why have we not focused on this group? Is it because it’s Black men? Because we do not focus on the group, we see Black women, Black girls and Black children also becoming victims,” Thomas said.
“I think in our community, there is a consistent lack of resources and lack of knowledge about the resources we do have,” said Ray Bender, the owner of The Hangout NOLA. “It’s unfortunate.”
The Hangout NOLA is a local venue aimed at offering youth positive outlets in their spare time. Bender said those stats bleed into every aspect of New Orleans, including Black-owned businesses that really want to be a part of the change.
“The only way for us to thrive is the support from each other,” Bender said.
They all hope the city can move forward in a positive direction.
“Our resources. Our attention. Our academics. Our social science ought to address this issue as a collective right now. And maybe one would say if it were not Black folk being killed at such high percentages, everyone would have already come together to deal with it,” Thomas said.
Local leaders met privately Tuesday with leaders from Omaha, Nebraska, on how they were able to lower their crime rates.
WDSU will keep you updated on this situation.
