PROVIDENCE — It is a story that involves economics, opportunity, education and public policy, and when they all play out, the result is a gaping disparity along the lines of race.

Last night at Brown University, a panel tried to shed light on that disparity, one that has manifested itself in much higher incarceration rates for Hispanics and especially for blacks.

Sponsored by the Rhode Island Young Professionals, an offshoot of the Urban League of Rhode Island, the event provoked lively discussion, but it was underpinned by presentations on some dramatic disparities between blacks and whites.

Glenn C. Loury, a Brown University professor of social sciences and economics, highlighted gaps in income, employment opportunities, college graduation rates and incarceration rates, making sure as he presented the data to add some perspective.

“We’re living in the richest and most powerful country on earth, the richest country in the history of the world,” he said.

“We have thousands of Americans incarcerated for things they did … before they were old enough to vote. You don’t see it practiced in any place but here, in the United States.”

“What kind of a nation are we?” he asked. “Are we a nation of jailers? Is that what we are about?”

The high incarceration rate for blacks was not always the case, he said. In 1950, about 100 black men per 100,000 were incarcerated. Today the number is nearly 500, he said.

A shorter presentation on data from Rhode Island told a similar tale.

Among other things, the state data showed that black people are 12 times more likely than whites to be imprisoned; that 38 percent of the people in the state prison are from Providence; that 47 percent of the people from Providence who are incarcerated come from five neighborhoods — West End, Elmwood, Silver Lake, Lower South Providence and Upper South Providence.

The data also showed that one in three adult black men in Providence is on parole or on probation.

Loury, in his presentation, said incarceration rates began to rise in the early 1970s and continued to rise in the ’80s and ’90s as it became popular to get tough on crime.

But he argued that the get-tough policy has been directed at men of color, particularly blacks, showing, for example, that while studies indicate blacks are no more likely to use drugs than whites are, they are more likely to be arrested on drug charges. Such findings show, he said, that racial problems, which some Americans might think were solved in the 1960s, still exist.

Warren Simmons, executive director of the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown, moderated the discussion, and got some long answers from other panelists when he asked what factors are contributing to the racial divide in Rhode Island.

Several panelists agreed that, for blacks, there are economic realities that go all the way back to slavery.

“We’re talking generations of problems that have occurred,” said District Court Judge William C. Clifton, who also emphasized the need to encourage children to succeed in school.

Others said focus on prison inmates and the challenges they face upon release — first and foremost, finding jobs.

“The doors have been shut in their faces,” said Sol Rodriguez, executive director of the Rhode Island Family Life Center.

A.T. Wall, director of the Rhode Island Department of Corrections, agreed.

“I think most of our offenders when they leave and they say ‘I won’t be back again,’ they mean it … but there’s also a deep anxiety, especially about employment,” he said.

Wall drew groans from the 60 or so people who attended the discussion, held in W. Duncan MacMillan Hall, when he noted a finding that white men with a criminal record and lack of education are more likely to be hired than black males with a lack of education and no record.

Rhode Island’s prison population reached 4,000 last fall — an all-time high. The annual cost incarcerating them is more than $32 million, according to figures presented by Rhode Island Young Professionals.

Other panelists included the Rev. Janice Thompson, pastor of River Church of Life in Providence; and Rep. Steven M. Costantino, D-Providence, chairman of the House Finance Committee.

redgar@projo.com