One simple way to see this is to examine the makeup of the current death row population. According to the NAACP's [National Association for the Advancement of Colored People] Legal Defense and Education Fund publication, "Death Row, U.S.A.," as of August 31, 1995, 1,224 (40%) of prisoners under sentence of death in the U.S. were black, despite the fact that blacks compose only about 12% of the national population. In some states, blacks condemned to death outnumber whites condemned to death. Finally, if you consider all minorities as a group, 1,561 (52%) of the 3,028 men and women on death row today are non-white.

Consider a few figures from the August 31, 1995, issue of "Death Row, U.S.A.":

Mississippi—35 (63%) of their 56 death row inmates are black; blacks make up 36% of the state's population.

North Carolina—71 (47%) of their 151 death row inmates are...