The Delaware Historical Society began its conversation about race last night.
Panelist and longtime Wilmington activist Bebe Coker told the audience that there has to be admission that institutional racism exists.
Charles Madden, executive director of the Hope Commission, noted that 62 percent of African-American men in Wilmington are either in prison or on probation.
The Wilmington News Journal reports that the poverty rate for African Americans is twice that of whites and that the median income for white is $20-thousand more than for black residents.
In addition, while African Americans make up only 22 percent of the state population 56 percent of those in pretrial detention are black.
