For Black Kids, Gun Violence Is an Education Issue, Too

This post was originally published on Word In Black By: Joseph Williams Study after study confirms it: as the coronavirus pandemic disrupted daily life in the U.S., gun violence surged nationwide, but disproportionately affected Black communities. Alarmed by increases in majority-Black cities like Detroit, Washington, D.C., and Milwaukee, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared gun homicides a public health crisis. But data in a new report has found that the tide of pandemic-era gun violence also swept in a disturbing number of school-age Black boys and girls, creating an educational crisis. Since 2019, gun homicides among Black youths have more than doubled, and Black children are six times more likely than their white peers to die from gunfire, according to the February report by KFF, a health policy nonprofit. The report also found that Black boys and girls made up nearly half of all young people killed by firearms in the U.S., even though they make up just 14% of the youth population. Moreover, the report found that most of the deaths were classified as homicides — not suicides or accidental shootings. “In general, children of color are more often exposed to gun violence than their White peers,”...