Watch This Y.A. Author Break Down Racism in America by the Numbers

The Fault in Our Stars author John Green has a not-so-secret alter ego in YouTube-land. Along with younger brother Hank Green, the acclaimed writer runs the wildly successful channel vlogbrothers, where the two spout thoughts, opinions, and general correspondence about everything from the mating patterns of giraffes to explainer videos about the American health care system.

The latest installment, “Racism in the United States: By the Numbers,” comes from John and tries its hand at breaking down the undeniable reality of racism in 2014. “To deny the existence of systemic racism is to deny a huge body of evidence indicating that racial bias affects almost every facet of American life,” he says.

Some things we learned from Green (which are backed up with links to studies and articles here):

• 75% of white Americans do not think that there is racial bias in the criminal justice system.
• Black people and white people use illegal drugs at practically identical rates, but black people are three times more likely to be arrested for drug possession.
• Black people are far more likely to be stopped and searched by police, despite the fact that the likelihood of contraband actually being found is higher among white people.
• People convicted of crimes and later exonerated by DNA evidence are “disproportionately black.”
• Black children are more likely to be tried in court as adults and sentenced to life in prison than white children.
• The majority of white Americans don’t think that racism is a significant problem in America.

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