'Common sense:' Data suggests disparity between law enforcement and Black Chattanoogans - WTVC
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — According to data, there are disparities when it comes to law enforcement and Chattanooga's Black community.
And advocates believe change needs to happen now.
A report from the National Urban League on the state of Black America showed African Americans saw the most inequality when it comes to social justice issues like being stopped while driving and the use of police force.
We did some digging, and in Chattanooga, we found similar results.
Criminal behavior becomes rampant in areas where people are deprived of the ability to take care of themselves," said Lakweisha Ewing.
Community advocate and Chattanooga resident Lakweisha Ewing says she sees most of the social justice disparities among Black Chattanoogans in areas with low income.
"There's a lot of poor ethnicities that are present in Chattanooga. But when we look at the indicators, what we're seeing is that people who get racialized as black, are at the bottom of many of those outcome barrels," said Ewing.
According to the National Urban League equality index, 43% of African Americans experienced inequality in areas like being stopped while driving and use of force with police contact.
And Dennis Clark with The Equity Alliance says it's no different in Chattanooga.
"It does impact the Chattanooga Black people are suffering the same disparities," said Dennis Clark.
Statistics from the city’s Chatta-data site show the area Downtown near MLK has the highest use of force rate from CPD.
In this area, 1 out of every 36 white residents is involved in a use of force incident since 2018.
But, in that same area, 1 out of every 23 black residents experienced the use of force.
"We do see a lot of crime happening downtown. Because we do have an influx of the homeless population downtown who live in urban areas," said Clark.
Clark and Ewing say if we want to see any change in these numbers there needs to be use of force policy changes nationwide.
That’s something The Equity Group is working towards now.
"Officers should be trained to defuse situations without even having to use force, or to take someone's life," said Clark.
But until we close these inequality gaps Ewing says the impact is felt by everyone, not just African Americans.
"We all have something to lose if we don't fix some of these basic fundamental social determinants in our community," said Ewing.
According to the Chatta-data site, two to six percent of 911 calls in Chattanooga result in an arrest with minimal incidents involving the use of force.
source: https://newschannel9.com/news/local/common-sense-data-suggests-disparity-between-law-enforcement-and-black-chattanoogans-04-19-2022
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