Racial Prejudice In The US Criminal Justice System

[orapaic-blog]

Slavery is a stain in the history of the United States, and it left a lasting effect on society that is still visible today. The end of slavery didn't bring an end to racism or racial prejudice as some people wish to believe. Racial prejudice and discrimination are still prominent problems in today's society. People of color are more likely to be incarcerated than white people. Along with the chances of getting arrested, people of color are also more likely to have longer prison sentences. White people live with societal benefits that people with other nationalities don't experience. In effect, cases like the Central Park Jogger case, Trayvon Martin case, and Ferguson case occur. In the most recent one (Ferguson), once again, a white male officer gets away with the murder of an 18 year old black male. These issues are reoccurring and need to be addressed. The end of slavery and the end of Jim Crow laws were steps towards equality, however, we are still far from living in a society with equal rights for all.

[orapaic-blog]

This is the trailer of "The Central Park Five" which I mentioned in my last post. It's a documentary about the five boys who were wrongly convicted of a crime in 1989. They were forced into confessing to this crime because the police were under pressure to solve the crime. It's an incredible documentary and it's such a recent event that really gets you thinking about the society we live in.

[orapaic-blog]

"This case is an interesting case because one of the things that happens with the Central Park Five, the Central Park Jogger case itself, is that you immediately realize that these false confessions that came about didn't come out of thin air. The police officers gave them the information, and everything that they told them was wrong." - Yusef Salaam

Yusef Salaam is one of the five males that was wrongly convicted of rape and assault of a young woman in 1989 in New York City. He, along with three other black males and one Hispanic male, was taken in by the police and was told what to say by the police. The police had fed them confessions and videotaped these boys in order to have someone to blame for the crime. These five boys were between the ages of 14 and 16. They were scared and listened to what the police were telling them to do, and throughout all their interviews, they had blamed each other for the crime even though none of them had ever met each other in their lives before. The police used fear to scare them and they forced words into the mouths of these five boys. The police targeted five innocent boys and four of them had spent years in jail until they were set free. An enormous injustice had been committed by the NYPD during this case.

I highly recommend watching the documentary "The Central Park Five".

[orapaic-blog]

Michelle Alexander is a civil rights advocate who wrote the book "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness". She writes about the War on Drugs and how it targets black men and communities of people of color. She leads campaigns against racial profiling by law enforcement, her major one being the “DWB Campaign” or “Driving While Black or Brown Campaign.” She writes about the racial issues in the United States and she hold speeches about discrimination when she travels.

[orapaic-blog]

Interview with my brother:

1. Do you think that skin color affects arrest rates and the length of prison sentences?

Yes, I think that arrest rates are lower among white people, and that black people are more likely to get longer sentences. I have no doubt in my mind that this is true.

2. Have you ever been discriminated against because of your skin color or ethnicity?

Since I have tan skin, sometimes the airport security thinks I'm Middle-eastern. So one time when I was at the London airport, I was pulled aside for "random" bag check, and around me, there were all people that looked like they were from the Middle east. No white people were pulled aside for this "random" bag check.  

3. What are your feelings about Ferguson?

Unfortunately, I was pretty certain that the jury wouldn't charge a white, male police officer guilty. The same happened with the Trayvon Martin case. It's insane how many times that has happened throughout the course of history, and how some people keep denying that race has anything to do with it. I'm disappointed with this tragedy and I'm hoping that things change in society for the better.

[orapaic-blog]

This comic shows the ignorance of the people who don't believe that white privilege exists and don't think that racial bias has an effect on a lot of issues in society. This reminds me of the people who don't think race had any contribution to the murder in Ferguson.

[orapaic-blog]

I was born in Belgrade, Serbia, but I've lived in Massachusetts my entire life. Every summer I visit my family in Serbia and spend about two months there. Over there, the majority of gypsies live in poverty. It is evident that they are discriminated against, however, there haven't been cases of a police officer murdering a gypsy without clear reason, or any cases that resemble the Ferguson case. I found this interesting because even though it is clear that gypsies don't have equal opportunities as the Serbians, there haven't been instances as bad as the racism in the US. It's insane how repeatedly we have seen white people/police officers walk free after murdering a black child or adult. It's also ridiculous when people claim that race isn't involved in the situation. It's impossible to argue that racial bias isn't involved in a case like Ferguson when essentially the entire police force is white.

[orapaic-blog]

Why did you choose this topic? Have you ever been treated different because of your race?

I chose the topic of racial prejudice in the criminal justice system because it has been in the headlines recently, including the Trayvon Martin case and Ferguson. It is also something that has haunted, and continues to haunt the US throughout all of its history (slavery, Jim Crow Laws, etc.). I personally have never been treated differently because of my race, but I have seen my black friends treated differently. Once when my friends and I were walking around my neighborhood around 10 pm, a white police officer stopped us and told us to go home. He was on a power trip and started threatening to tell our parents what we were doing (which was nothing because all we were doing was walking…). Then all of a sudden, he looked at my friend (the only black person in our group of six) and started to raise his voice at her. He was asking her why she was laughing and why she thought this was funny. This was absolutely ridiculous because she was not laughing at all during this entire situation. All of us were dead silent, so we had no idea what he was talking about. This was really frustrating to watch because it isn't a police officers job to be intimidating, especially since my friend had done nothing wrong.

[orapaic-blog]

GW #6

The immediate view from my balcony in my house in Belgrade, Serbia isn't spectacular. It's just an old, ugly, grey building with a parking lot in front of it. However, looking to the left or right of the building, the view is beautiful. Every summer when I arrive to Serbia, I end up staying awake all night due to the 6 hour time change. At night, when the rest of my family is asleep, I go out to the balcony to listen to music. When the moons out, I look to the right side of the building, where the bright cityscape shines and blends into the night sky with the stars. At 5 am, I turn my iPod off and grab a book to read. Around this time the summer sun rises to the left of the dull building and shines beautifully over the streets and buildings. At this same time, people are waking up to go to work and the bustling city life emerges. The sun shines over the moving vehicles and the glare from the windows flash into my vision. The noise of people, cars, and airplanes progressively gets louder throughout the morning. 

[orapaic-blog]

This picture is from the film adaptation of Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird". This is when Atticus defends Tom Robinson for a crime he did not commit. Bob Ewell claims that Tom Robinson raped his daughter Mayella, and Tom is pronounced guilty even though there isn't enough evidence to prove it. He is viewed as guilty because of his skin color, not the evidence provided in the trials. This novel showed the racial prejudice in the court system in the 1930s in the South. Although the system differs a lot since the 30s, racial prejudice is still prominent in the US criminal justice system.

[queerindian]

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

For folks that know little about why the prison industrial complex is horrible, this is a pretty good intro take on it.

[therealnotasecretagent]

Dropping the soap references in spongebob, Puss N’ Boots, omg. A lot of good information here. Sesame Street explains prison to children. Talks about how white people don’t really go to jail for drug arrests while blacks/other minorities do. Also some good information about how we’re not taking care of our prisoners (bad food, bad healthcare), which doesn’t really make sense given the amount of money we spend on them…

[orapaic-blog]

This video mentions a lot about the prejudice in the prison system. Black people are 10 times more likely to go to jail for drug related crimes than white people. John Oliver uses clever references to give information about the prison system in the US.

[orapaic-blog]

Michelle Alexander, a civil rights advocate, explains how the "War on Drugs" has affected the arrest rates for people of color. Drug use and the selling of drugs is just as prominent in white communities as it is black or Hispanic communities, yet people of color are a lot more likely to get targeted for these crimes. She also tells the audience that it's hard to prove racial discrimination in court cases because that requires evidence of conscious racial bias.

[comedycentral]

Jon Stewart and Bill O’Reilly faced off over white privilege on last night’s Daily Show. Click here to watch the extended interview.

[orapaic-blog]

Worth watching the entire interview. Stewart argues that white privilege exists, and Bill O'Reilly continues to say that it doesn't. His main points are that slavery doesn't exist anymore and that the US president is black. This is completely outrageous because he denies that there are any benefits to being white and living under a system designed by white males. He says that in America any honest, hardworking man can succeed, but he refuses to believe that being a certain skin color can affect that.

[orapaic-blog]

This article goes straight to the statistics of the ratios of ethnicities in prison. It discusses how even though there are crimes committed by white people more than black people, the percentage of black people in prison for that specific crime is higher than the percentage of white people.

[orapaic-blog]

Does Race Influence the Criminal Justice System?

This is a very interesting prezi that discusses how race affects the criminal justice system. Black people generally have longer sentences than white people, and are more likely to be targeted by the police in the first place. A video is included that discusses why it is so hard to prove racial prejudice in many situations, making it hard to address the fact that justice isn't blind. It's a short presentation and video, so please take a look!

[orapaic-blog]

http://notothepic.tumblr.com/

This blog is very interesting and raises good points about the prison complex, not only economic situations but also racial issues.

http://fergusonresponse.tumblr.com/

This blog is about the Ferguson case which has stirred a lot of political turmoil across the nation.

http://immortalityandbruises.tumblr.com/

This blog is about police brutality, but many of its recent posts have been specifically about the Ferguson case.

[orapaic-blog]