ratbastid

That's what their raw data claims to point to. That link doesn't suggest why that might be, though. Seems very counter-intuitive to me, but you evidently post it because it illustrates a point, but I don't really know what point that is. Care to elucidate?

PRETTY sure nobody said it was (on this thread, at least, and, at least, not yet)--though the fact that you'd go there preemptively is interesting. Was Obama talking about you when he talked about white people angry about being blamed for things they never did? He was sure talking about me! And it's a huge relief to be able to admit it.

I concur entirely with the OP that socioeconomic factors drive crime. The fact is that blacks are disproportionately on the short end of the socioeconomic stick (and anecdotal exceptions prove the rule). I was a little taken aback to see the OP imply that Civil Rights ended... as far as I'm concerned, the mission of civil rights is ongoingly unfulfilled, though we come ever closer and closer, and there are still people actively working for it.

If all people really had equal opportunity and had for 60 years, would we still see lingering racism? Probably. But that's not the case--there's still institutionalized racism built into how our laws are enforced and carried out. Not so much in the laws themselves, the way it used to be, but certainly in how the law hits the pavement.

The STAGGERING over-representation of blacks in prisons is clearly because of racism and socioeconomic bias built into the legal system. Just look at the quality of legal representation you get if you can pay for it yourself versus if you can't, as one example. So it's not just over-representation of blacks committing crimes; the conviction rate of black defendants is also disproportionate. As is the number of black people arrested. In this case I suspect BOTH socioeconomic and racial biases.