# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Join our mission as we call on major retailers to pledge 15% of their shelf space to black-owned businesses.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
After an initial decrease in the youth detention population since the pandemic began, the rate of release has slowed, and the gap between white youth and Black youth has grown.

Olivia Alford, left, a high school student, protested with her family in Pontiac, Mich., this month in support of a classmate who was jailed because of a probation violation for failing to complete her virtual homework. Credit... Emily Elconin/Reuters

WASHINGTON - Black youth detained in juvenile justice facilities have been released at a far slower rate than their white peers in response to the coronavirus, according to a new report that also found that the gap in release rates between the two groups had nearly doubled over the course of the pandemic.

The report, released this month by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, illustrates one more disparity the coronavirus has exacerbated for Black children, who are disproportionately funneled into the juvenile justice system. At the outset of the pandemic, juvenile public defenders and youth advocates worked to free thousands of children from detention facilities as public health officials warned that correctional institutions were becoming virus hotbeds.

Judges and state leaders have taken measures to halt intakes of low-level offenders and to send nonviolent and vulnerable detainees home. But the Casey report, based on a survey of juvenile justice agencies in 33 states, found that many Black children ages 10 to 17 had been left behind. In February, before the coronavirus was widespread in the United States, the white release rate was about 7 percent higher than the Black release rate, the report found; by May, that gap rose to 17 percent.

"It's clear that the juvenile justice system does not value Black life even during a worldwide public health pandemic," said Liz Ryan, the president and chief executive of Youth First Initiative, an advocacy group that campaigns against youth incarceration. "Juvenile detention agencies' inaction during Covid-19 has exacerbated racial disparities and is utterly irresponsible and disgraceful."

Nate Balis, the director of the Annie E. Casey Foundation's Juvenile Justice Strategy Group, said the push to release young people from confinement had lost momentum since showing initial results. The organization tracked a significant 27 percent decrease in the youth detention population since the pandemic began, and admission rates dropped proportionately by race among Black, white and Latino youth. But after a surge of releases in March, they tapered off in April and May, and Black youth remained overrepresented in detention, partly because their release rates had stalled.

"In the months since the pandemic emerged in March, the disparities in detention that disadvantage Black youth have gotten worse, solely because Black youth have been released at a slower rate than their white peers," the report said.

The survey did not include explanations for why young people remained detained. Judges and law enforcement officials who opposed calls for juvenile release argued that some low-level offense categories did not capture the dangerous nature of the crimes, and that many youth were better off in state custody because they risked returning to unstable home lives and unsafe neighborhoods.

Proponents of release countered with data showing that juvenile crime had declined 71 percent since 1997, and the number of incarcerated youths had dropped 59 percent.

"Based on what the data has been showing us for years, there's no reason to believe that the kids who are there today are there for major offenses," Mr. Balis said. "Especially during the pandemic, especially in this moment of heightened awareness of racial disparity in this country, every system needs to be looking at their data and figuring out what stands in their way."

In Maryland, which released at least 200 juvenile offenders during the pandemic after the state's chief judge signed an order encouraging courts to do so, population and admissions rates have plummeted so much that two juvenile facilities have closed. But advocates say that Black youth who remain in the system have misperceptions stacked against them.

"We've seen prosecutors and judges argue that Covid isn't killing young people in large numbers, thereby downplaying the other long-term consequences of this devastating disease," said Jennifer L. Egan, the chief attorney in the juvenile division for the Maryland Office of the Public Defender in Baltimore, which filed an emergency petition that prompted the high court's order this spring.

"We also know that racism leads people to underestimate the pain experienced by Black people," she added.

Juvenile justice groups say efforts to release more young people as the virus resurges must focus on the officials who are making decisions about youth releases.

The Coronavirus Outbreak ›

Frequently Asked Questions

Updated August 17, 2020

Why does standing six feet away from others help?

The coronavirus spreads primarily through droplets from your mouth and nose, especially when you cough or sneeze. The C.D.C., one of the organizations using that measure, bases its recommendation of six feet on the idea that most large droplets that people expel when they cough or sneeze will fall to the ground within six feet. But six feet has never been a magic number that guarantees complete protection. Sneezes, for instance, can launch droplets a lot farther than six feet, according to a recent study. It's a rule of thumb: You should be safest standing six feet apart outside, especially when it's windy. But keep a mask on at all times, even when you think you're far enough apart.

I have antibodies. Am I now immune?

As of right now, that seems likely, for at least several months. There have been frightening accounts of people suffering what seems to be a second bout of Covid-19. But experts say these patients may have a drawn-out course of infection, with the virus taking a slow toll weeks to months after initial exposure. People infected with the coronavirus typically produce immune molecules called antibodies, which are protective proteins made in response to an infection. These antibodies may last in the body only two to three months, which may seem worrisome, but that's perfectly normal after an acute infection subsides, said Dr. Michael Mina, an immunologist at Harvard University. It may be possible to get the coronavirus again, but it's highly unlikely that it would be possible in a short window of time from initial infection or make people sicker the second time.

I'm a small-business owner. Can I get relief?

The stimulus bills enacted in March offer help for the millions of American small businesses. Those eligible for aid are businesses and nonprofit organizations with fewer than 500 workers, including sole proprietorships, independent contractors and freelancers. Some larger companies in some industries are also eligible. The help being offered, which is being managed by the Small Business Administration, includes the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program. But lots of folks have not yet seen payouts. Even those who have received help are confused: The rules are draconian, and some are stuck sitting on money they don't know how to use. Many small-business owners are getting less than they expected or not hearing anything at all.

What are my rights if I am worried about going back to work?

What is school going to look like in September?

It is unlikely that many schools will return to a normal schedule this fall, requiring the grind of online learning, makeshift child care and stunted workdays to continue. California's two largest public school districts - Los Angeles and San Diego - said on July 13, that instruction will be remote-only in the fall, citing concerns that surging coronavirus infections in their areas pose too dire a risk for students and teachers. Together, the two districts enroll some 825,000 students. They are the largest in the country so far to abandon plans for even a partial physical return to classrooms when they reopen in August. For other districts, the solution won't be an all-or-nothing approach. Many systems, including the nation's largest, New York City, are devising hybrid plans that involve spending some days in classrooms and other days online. There's no national policy on this yet, so check with your municipal school system regularly to see what is happening in your community.

In May, a Michigan judge ordered a 15-year-old girl back to juvenile detention in May, saying she violated probation terms by skipping her school's remote-learning coursework. The case, first reported by ProPublica, caused a national outcry, and the judge's decision is being reviewed by the state's Supreme Court.

The virus continues to sweep through juvenile facilities. According to data collected by the Sentencing Project, which has tracked the number of reported cases in juvenile facilities each week since March, coronavirus case counts among detained youth has surged in recent weeks, following the national trend. The group has recorded a total of 1,310 coronavirus cases among youth and 1,550 among detention staff since March.

"You can't incarcerate a virus," said Joshua Rovner, a senior advocacy associate at the Sentencing Project.

"We should be happy that many youth are being released who should have never been there in the first place," he said. "I don't want to minimize the fact that white youth are benefiting from that, but the data speak for itself: All of our kids are not being treated equally."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Virus-Driven Push to Release Juvenile Detainees Leaves Black Youth Behind

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
After an initial decrease in the youth detention population since the pandemic began, the rate of release has slowed, and the gap between white youth and Black youth has grown.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Introducing: Nice White Parents (Published 2020)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A new five-part series about building a better school system, and what gets in the way. New episodes of “Nice White Parents” are available here, brought to you by Serial Productions and The New York Times.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor black tobacco farmer whose cells-taken without her knowledge in 1951-became one of the most important tools in medicine, vital for developing the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping, in vitro fertilization, and more.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
"How To" videos by a dad who has raised 2 adults (and we still talk). I will do my best to provide useful , practical content to many basic tasks that everyone should know how to do.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The podcast is a partnership between Nigel Poor, a Bay Area visual artist, and Earlonne Woods, formerly incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison, and was co-founded with former San Quentin resident Antwan Williams.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Ear Hustle brings you the daily realities of life inside prison, shared by those living it, and stories from the outside, post-incarceration.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Dr. DiAngelo is Affiliate Associate Professor of Education at the University of Washington. Her area of research is in Whiteness Studies and Critical Discourse Analysis. She is a two-time winner of the Student’s Choice Award for Educator of the Year at the University of Washington’s School of Social…

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
College Now Greater Cleveland guides students of all ages across Northeastern Ohio, helping them achieve their dreams of higher education & career success.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The danger of a single story | Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A gripping story of a child's journey through hell and back.

There may be as many as 300,000 child soldiers, hopped-up on drugs and wielding AK-47s, in more than fifty conflicts around the world. Ishmael Beah used to be one of them. He is one of the first to tell his story in his own words.

In A LONG WAY GONE, Beah, now twenty-six years old, tells a riveting story. At the age of twelve, he fled attacking rebels and wandered a land rendered unrecognizable by violence. By thirteen, he'd been picked up by the government army, and Beah, at heart a gentle boy, found that he was capable of truly terrible acts. Eventually released by the army and sent to a UNICEF rehabilitation center, he struggled to regain his humanity and to reenter the world of civilians, who viewed him with fear and suspicion. This is, at last, a story of redemption and hope.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
A Long Way Gone: memoirs of a boy soldier by Ishmael Beah Official Site

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In A LONG WAY GONE: MEMOIRS OF A BOY SOLDIER, Ishmael Beah tells his experience as a child soldier from Sierra Leone.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
'United Shades of America' follows comedian and political provocateur W. Kamau Bell as he explores communities across America to understand the unique challenges they face.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man, is a safe place to have the uncomfortable conversations about race that many people have never been able to hav...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
"My identity is inseparable from the food that I eat."

From an early age my dad instilled in me a love and respect of the land, plants, animals, and people. In the summer he'd take us pole fishing. We'd traverse the back roads of the Red Lake Reservation of Anishinaabeg in northern Minnesota where I grew up, scouting for blueberries, looking for deer trails. We'd go around checking on the wild rice that grows in lakes and streams.

When I was a kid, my mom told me that federal holidays like Thanksgiving were a vain attempt to celebrate something not worthy of celebration. I honestly can't remember one Thanksgiving meal at home. I assume we ate like any other day (though I do remember liking the time off from school).

Thanksgiving is a trying time for many in the Native community. Historically we've had our traditions and foods held in contempt by Americans-they have slaughtered our bison and drained the lakes we depend on for survival. It wasn't until 1978 that the American Indian Religious Freedom Act gave our way of life legal protections. This is why a lot of us, when asked to supply recipes for picture-taking and publicity around Thanksgiving-we're hesitant.

My identity is inseparable from the food that I eat. Chokecherry syrup and mashkiigobagwaaboo (swamp tea) feel like home. They are markers of place, space, and time. I study and forage indigenous plants for a living, and I'm working on a cookbook about manoomin (wild rice).

I'm doing my best to heal and trust. Food and healing go hand in hand. No matter what our walk in life, it's our food memories with our families and communities that bring us a deep and powerful sense of kinship, well-being, and togetherness. This Thanksgiving, my advice is to celebrate your dependence on the food you eat, and show your food respect. Don't be afraid to tell it: Thank you. I love you. I respect you. - Tashia Hart, Red Lake Anishinaabe, Duluth Culinary ethnobotanist and writer.

"To me it's about giving thanks for the chance to connect with my roots."

I had a pretty typical American understanding of Thanksgiving growing up in Wisconsin. My father didn't learn he was Native until his early teens, and my mom is German. We had large family gatherings where we'd play football out in the street. It wasn't until well into adulthood, working as a chef for the Intertribal Agriculture Council in Madison, that I discovered the true costs of colonialism.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
3 Indigenous Chefs Explain What Thanksgiving Means to Them

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
"My identity is inseparable from the food that I eat." From an early age my dad instilled in me a love and respect of the land, plants, animals, and people. In the summer he'd take us pole fishing.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Many parents are turning to educational literature to help kids understand inequality.

Books like "Hair Love" by Matthew A. Cherry, "I Am Enough" by Grace Byers, and "Not My Idea: A Book About Whiteness" by Anastasia Higginbotham can all help children learn about anti-racism.

You can see a list of Black-owned bookstores from which you can buy these works on LitHub here.

Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

"Something Happened in Our Town" by Marriane Celano, Marietta Collins, and Ann Hazzard

In "Something Happened in Our Town," two children - one white, one Black - try to understand the killing of a Black person at the hands of a white police officer.

The children ask their parents questions about the traumatic incident, working to understand how and why it happened. The book is designed to teach kids about why police brutality is so common in America and how they can handle racism in their daily lives.

Written by Marriane Celano, Marietta Collins, and Ann Hazzard and illustrated by Jennifer Zivoin, "Something Happened in Our Town" comes with a note to parents to help them discuss race and bigotry with kids.
Find out more about this book here.

"Hair Love" by Matthew A. Cherry

You might know Matthew A. Cherry's "Hair Love" from the visual short of the same name, but the book is just as sweet as the film.

The story follows Zuri, a young girl who wants her curly hair to look a certain way for a special occasion. She enlists her dad to help her, but learning to style his daughter's hair is a challenge. However, he's happy to go the extra mile for Zuri.

Cherry's short story, which was illustrated by Vashti Harrison, is empowering to anyone who's ever doubted their natural curls, and it shows the connection between a father and daughter is universal.
Find out more about this book here.

"Malcolm Little" by Ilyasah Shabazz

"Malcolm Little" tells the story of a young Malcolm X, a boy who is struggling to maintain his optimism as he faces discrimination and personal hardships.

With the help of his loving family, Malcolm learns to lead with independence, finding his sense of self despite his circumstances.

Written by Malcolm X's daughter, Ilyasah Shabazz, and illustrated by AG Ford, "Malcolm Little" gives readers young and old a rare glimpse at a leader in the early stages of becoming.
Find out more about this book here.

"Little Legends: Exceptional Men in Black History" by Vashti Harrison

Part of the legacy of a racist system is the erasure of historically significant Black people, which is why "Little Legends: Exceptional Black Men in History" by Vashti Harrison is so important for kids to read.

Harrison details the history of real Black men in her picture book, writing about people like civil rights leader John Lewis and pop legend Prince. The book offers an easily digestible way for kids to see how crucial Black people are in American culture.

You can also check out the companion book, "Little Legends: Exceptional Black Women in History," here.
Find out more about this book here.

Books Children Kids

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Picture books can educate children on how to be anti-racist, including "Hair Love" by Matthew A. Cherry and "Antiracist Baby" by Ibram X. Kendi.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Watch Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj | Netflix Official Site

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Every Sunday, Hasan Minhaj brings an incisive and nuanced perspective to global news, politics and culture in his unique comedy series. Watch trailers & learn more.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
(2020) 21 Day Racial Equity and Social Justice Challenge - YWCA Greater Cleveland

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Well done, you've reached the end of the 21 Day Racial Equity & Social Justice Challenge 2020! Myself, along with the dedicated staff of the YWCA Greater Cleveland, our affiliates across the state and our organizational partners thank you for your commitment and participation.