Black women in the United States of America face a femicide crisis that is structural, persistent, and measurable.
Violence Against Black Women
The risk of femicide increases for Black women in America based on the concentration of structural racism where they reside.
Firearms kill Black women at rates no other weapon approaches. Nearly three out of four Black female femicide victims die by gunshot. That proportion has climbed 47% since 2011. Guns do not cause femicide. But they determine who survives it.
Black women are most often killed by someone they love, trust, or share a home with. Nine out of ten victims knew their killer.
Two decades of data reveal that Black women face persistently elevated risk of femicide–up to 20 times higher than white women in some states.