1000 Shots from the NYPD

The NY Civil Liberties Union analyzed NYPD data that raise serious questions about police shooting practices and about the lack of racial diversity in the NYPD’s leadership.

Some "highlights" include:
• Over the past two years, 90% of the people shot at by the NYPD were Black or Latino.
• 85% of leadership positions in the NYPD are held by white males
• In 77% of the incidents where officers shot at civilians, the police were the only ones shooting (see Sean Bell, Amadou Diallo, etc).

Read the NYCLU report and download the NYPD reports here:
http://www.nyclu.org/node/1756

Junk-Food Jungle

A new report by the California Center for Public Health Advocacy demonstrates that people who live near an abundance of fast-food restaurants and convenience stores compared to grocery stores and produce vendors, have a significantly higher prevalence of obesity and diabetes regardless of individual or community income.

Using a measure called the Retail Food Environment Index (# Fast-Food Restaurants + # Convenience Stores / # Grocery Stores + # Produce Vendors) they compared different urban areas and counties across California.

Read the report and see their methodology here: http://www.publichealthadvocacy.org/designedfordisease.html

The Great Depression, Part II

A recent survey of over 6,000 public school students in South LA, conducted by students from South Central Youth Empowered Thru Action, found that many young people in the area exhibit symptoms of clinical depression.

Some causes: violence in school, deep dissatisfaction with their choices of college preparatory classes, racial tension, gang violence, and the feeling like their schools are failing them.

For example, when asked "Do you feel safe in your school?", 36% either disagreed or strongly disagreed, with less than 3 in 10 expressing they feel safe.

Read the article in the LA Times here. Full report hopefully coming soon.

The Relevance of Police Brutality

The NY Times today cited a study from Ohio State which argues that using word problems in math classes is detrimental to student learning. "An experiment by the researchers suggests that it might be better to let the apples, oranges and locomotives stay in the real world and, in the classroom, to focus on abstract equations such as (40 (t + 1) = 400 - 50t)." (View article here).

The issue, as I see it, is not the use of word problems, but the relevance of the word problems chosen.

Sadly, this morning's news also brought word of the acquittal of the NYPD cops who killed Sean Bell. In New York City, the percentage of people killed by police who were Black was at least double that of their share of the city’s total population, according to a study done by ColorLines Magazine and The Chicago Reporter. (View article here).

We can use mathematics to understood, quantify, and address (in some ways) disparities like these that are all too relevant to our students. Or, maybe we should just heed the advice of our friends in Ohio, solve for t, and go on our merry way.

Survey on Homeless Youth in NYC

The most comprehensive study of youth homelessness in New York City in decades was released recently, providing what some say is the first realistic account of one of the city’s most vulnerable and misunderstood populations. According to a report by the Empire State Coalition of Youth and Family Services, on any given day there are more than 3,800 young people under the age of 24 living without a home – and up to 13,400 or more over the course of a year.

Read the article from City Limits Magazine

Download the official report

Two from the Times

From the front of the NYT website this morning:

• US Economy Unexpectedly Sheds 17,000 Jobs (nice use of the word "sheds" by the way).

• Exxon Mobile reports $40.6 billion in NET profit for 2007.

(That's $2.3 million per shedded job).

Surprise: Race Matters in New York!

Thought racism was yesterday's news?

A recent report from the Urban Justice Center's Human Rights Project provides a detailed (131 pages), data-rich report looking at race in employment, health, criminal justice, immigration, education, voting rights, domestic violence, housing, and child welfare.

The report looks a lot at schools and education, discussing military recruitment in schools, violence by police/school safety officers, and the school to prison pipeline - (ex: students of color are disproportionately suspended for the same infractions: 8.3 percent of all black students, 4.8 percent of Latinos and 2.5 percent of whites in the 2001 school year.)

Classroom applications: graphing, statistical analysis, rates and percents

Download the report here