Black motorists in Missouri are 75 percent more likely to be pulled over

(Image credit: Michael Thomas/Getty Images)

published 14 September 2015

A 198-page report commissioned by Missouri's governor in the wake of the shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, underscored just how deep racial inequality runs in the state. The report, titled "Forward Through Ferguson: A Path Toward Racial Equality" reveals some shocking statistics, like these:

Black motorists were 75 percent more likely to be pulled over for traffic stops in Missouri than whites last year, the report notes. The average life expectancy in one mostly black suburb, Kinloch, is more than three decades less than in the mostly white suburbs of Wildwood, the report finds. And 14.3 percent of black elementary students in Missouri were suspended at least once during a recent school year, compared with 1.8 percent of white students. [The New York Times]