Close to 85 percent of teens charged with adult crimes in the region are black, according to an snapshot of recent data from local jails in Baltimore and its surrounding counties. Every one of the 45 juveniles housed at the Baltimore City Detention Center on a recent day was an African-American. But blacks only account for 63.7 percent of the city’s population, according to the 2010 U.S. Census. Camilla Roberson, an attorney with the Public Justice Center, said overrepresentation of minorities in the criminal justice system is a long-standing issue. But finding a starting point to address the matter faces one major barrier: The state doesn’t track such data.

Not being racist is not some default starting position. You don’t simply get to say you’re not a racist; not being racist — or a sexist or a homophobe — is a constant, arduous process of unlearning, of being uncomfortable, of eating crow and being humbled and re-evaluating. It’s probably hard to start that process if you’ve been told that every thought you have is golden and should be given voice, and that people who are offended by what you say are hypersensitive simpletons.