TheRoot.com recently posted an in-depth article on the 5 worst states to live in if you are black and the results might surprise you….
Taking into account various factors including “education, health, incarceration rate, economics and general misery,” the list includes Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, and Mississippi.
Take a look at how Wisconsin and Ohio stacked up:
Wisconsin
So bad it should get ranked twice, the state of Wisconsin incarcerates black people at the highest rate in the country—13 percent. Within the state, 49 percent of black men under 30 have already been incarcerated, mostly because of its mandatory-minimum-sentencing drug laws, overall hostility toward drug users (prison is often preferred over treatment) and “driving while poor,” aka having a suspended license because of unpaid fines. Other problems with Wisconsin include its punitive voter-ID law, which disproportionately affects African Americans, and its education of black kids—boy, is it bad at education.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation put out a report this year ranking Wisconsin as the worst place to raise black children. (It beat out Mississippi, which was the second-worst place.) The foundation gave Wisconsin a score of 238 out of 1,000 for “its ability to prepare black children for educational and financial success.” The national average score was 345, with Hawaii receiving the highest score, 583. Adding insult to injury, Wisconsin was ranked 10th overall in preparing white children for success.
And its largest city, Milwaukee, is among the most segregated cities in the United States.
Ohio
Thank goodness they have LeBron, because Ohio is having a rough time otherwise. The Buckeye State is home to the second-highest infant mortality rate in the country. The median black household income is a horrid $26,039 (pdf), compared with $45,400 for white Ohioans. (The national median income for black households is not awesome but better than Ohio at $33,321.) Cleveland ranks in the top 10 most segregated cites. Ohio is also No. 6 on the list of worst places to raise black children. Oh, and the voter suppression: Ohio has run into myriad voting snafus affecting the black vote, going back to the re-election of George W. Bush in 2004.
