The total number of Black men in college (1,444,979) is more than the total number of Black men in prison or jail is (824,340). While the release of this statistic by by WhatBlackMenThink.com was meant to debunk the stereotype that there are more Black men in jail or prison than in college, it leaves out some very important numbers. Under the post, one commenter, Hassan Hartley stated “How about the number of black men on probation, parole, or correctional supervision?”
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, a total of 497,031 Black men are also on parole or probation. This would make a total of 1,321,371 of Black men in jail, prison, parole, or probation. Additionally, the Bureau of Justice Statistics released that one in three black men can expect to go to prison in their lifetime, and, in 2012, the Bureau of Justice Statistics concluded that 1 in every 15 Black men are incarcerated.
According to the WhatBlackMenThink.com, they work to “refute the plethora of misinformation that exists about Black Identity, but also as a conversation starter around many positive data points, too often missed by the media and seldom discussed at the Barbershop.” To do so they have released several projects including a book, Black People Don’t Read, which summarizes data and statistics from US Census Bureau, Department of Justice, Department of Education and other agencies.