DC’s Amazon lawsuit reminds us that safety is a luxury for Black Americans
DC’s Amazon lawsuit reminds us that safety is a luxury for Black Americans
By Joshua Crawford
Originally published on January 11, 2025, in The Hill
The Washington, D.C. attorney general has sued Amazon, alleging the e-commerce giant intentionally slowed service to two low-income, majority-Black neighborhoods in the district. Beginning in 2022, residents of ZIP codes 20019 and 20020 would receive packages much more slowly than the typical two-day shipping to which Prime customers are accustomed.
Amazon does not deny the delays. Instead, Amazon argues the changes were not based on prejudice or race-based decision-making, but rather a result of increased carjackings, homicides and other violent crimes in those neighborhoods.
Tragically, in some ways, both parties are correct. Black Americans have long bore the brunt of America’s violent crime problem, and things have gotten worse in recent years, especially in cities run by progressives.
From 2010 to 2020, the total share of U.S. violent crime victims who were Black increased by 3.2 percent to 32.7 percent of all crime victims. Over this same period, the share of Black Americans in the total U.S. population decreased from 13 percent to 12 percent.
While America was becoming more violent, it was Black Americans who felt the increase most acutely. Unfortunately, this isn’t new.
Joshua Crawford is the Director of Criminal Justice Initiatives at the Georgia Center for Opportunity and the author of “Kids and Community Violence: Costs, Consequences, and Solutions” in the newly edited volume Doing Right by Kids.
