No, he is not "literally" saying what you claim he is
He is literally saying that blacks are more likely than average people to become criminals. A glance at jail statistics underscores his point.
He is not saying that blacks are more likely than average people when you factor in incomes or social status to become criminals. In fact the point that he was trying to make was that one should not say that doing something is OK just because it would reduce crime. In this context the reason to use a shocking example is to underscore the point that the described course of action is not OK.
If this makes no sense to you, think about [link|http://art-bin.com/art/omodest.html|A Modest Proposal] and read it again.
Cheers,
Ben
