American Violet

American Violet is an American film that depicts the institutionalized racism African Americans face at the hands of the judicial system. Based on a true story, this movie was set during the election of 2000 and after the election. A young single mother of four, Dee Roberts, is wrongful accused of selling drugs in Melody, Texas. The powerful district attorney in Melody authorizes a police raid of Dee’s project apartments due to a single informant information. While drugs were never found in her apartment, she is taken into custody and charged with the crime of selling during in a school zone. Dee Roberts has no prior convictions and/or arrests. Also drugs were not found on her when she was arrested.
Once Dee Roberts is able see an attorney,

she was offered a plea deal and harshly warned that if she declines the plea deal, she will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Dee refuses to take the plea deal. She is later approached by an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) attorney and former police officer who would like to challenge the district attorney and change the criminal justice system. After much hesitation, Dee agrees to sue the district attorney and try and clear her name. There were many obstacles Dee faced in the process of her suing the district attorney. For example, she had a custody hearing between her and the father of her children which was overseen by the very same district attorney she is suing. Much investigation goes into making the case against the district attorney. The single informant that was used to begin the raid at Dee’s project apartments, was given a chance to testify. It was later discovered that the informant was coerced into saying that he bought drugs from Dee Roberts so the charges he was facing would

be dropped. It was also discovered that he had several mental illnesses, which the local police were aware about but still used him as an informant. At the end, Dee was clear of her charges and her case had a significant effect on the Texas criminal justice system. This film is very relevant to issues African Americans face on a day to day basis. After viewing this film, the important question now becomes “what social issues were seen in the film?” There were several social issues that were depicted in this film. This essay will focus on the social issue of the unfair imprisonment of African Americans in the United States due to institutionalized racism. This essay will also focus on the war on drugs.
Race disparity in the criminal justice system is not a new concept, it has been discussed for years. It is no secret that African Americans have been receiving harsher punishments than their white counterparts for committing the same crime and/or overall. Why is that? This can be dated all the way back to slavery. Ever since African slaves arrived in the United States, they were closely watch and policed by their slave owners and law enforcement. “Slaves moving beyond the boundaries of plantations were required to have passage papers authorized them to do so.” (Bass 2001) If any slaves were caught without papers, they would be physically punished. Once slavery was abolished, African Americas started to mix with the rest of the population.
African Americans faced racism from Caucasians and the system started to create ways to keep African Americans oppressed, this is what is known as institutionalized racism.
These Jim Crow laws were implemented by the government. These laws included strict loan qualifications for African Americans, strict voting qualifications, segregated schools, etc. These were all used as ways to keep African Americans from advancing. For example, up until 1965, African Americans were not able to vote in the United States. In order to keep African Americans from voting, officials made literacy tests and promised violence to those who tried to vote. (Bass 2001) This assured African Americans would not vote, which allowed Caucasians to continue to push their own agendas and make sure they are the only ones who would benefit from it. When it came to housing, African Americans were pushed to live in terrible conditions. “The rise of Jim crow and location and construction of urban ghettos and public to promote social control and isolation through racial containment.” (Bass 2001) These effects are still present in the United States and were depicted in American Violet. In the movie, Dee Roberts and her family lives in the projects with her family. This was a predominantly African American project, not one Caucasian was shown living at those project apartments. It was located in a terrible area and had drugs circulating around. “It is well established that during the colonial period, slavery, and the Jim Crow eras that the law systematically and deliberately denied such equality of treatment to African Americans.” (Bobo & Thompson 2006)
The war on drugs was a major theme that was centered around American Violet.

The phrase, “war on drugs” was first used by Former President Nixon. The polices created tried to control the supply and demand of drugs but “the war on drugs” turned into a war on minority communities, especially African Americas. At this time, cocaine was introduced to the scene, but was mainly used by Caucasians. The police did not pay much mind to it until this very same drug started to show up in African American communities. (Welch 2007) “Urban black Americans have borne the brunt of the War on Drugs. They have been arrested, prosecuted, convicted, and imprisoned at increasing rates since the early 1980s, and grossly out of proportion to their numbers in the general population or among drug users. (Welch 2007) The war on drugs helped create the stereotype that African Americans are the top users and distributors of drugs which is untrue. This made police single out minorities, especially African Americans when it came searches, arrests, and convictions. As stated earlier, police raid Dee’s project and arrested her and several other people. This was a pre-determined raid that in the eyes of many, was unlawful and unjust. Many people that were locked up with Dee and/or prior to Dee arriving at the prison, were there on drug charges. This is not the first time when drug raids have plagued the African American community. Police target these populations quite often. African Americans

make up roughly 13% of the United States population and represent about half of the people that are incarcerated. (Coker 2003) According to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), “5 times as many Whites are using drugs as African Americans, yet African Americans are sent to prison for drug offenses at 10 times the rate of Whites.” (NAACP N/A) African Americans account for nearly 75% of the drug related charges on a national level. (Welch 2007) The privatization of prisons has also contributed to increasing numbers of African Americans incarceration. The more people that are in prisons, the more money the state gets. This alone is motivator to arrest and charge as many people as possible. With African Americans already being sent to prison at higher rates then Caucasians, this only fuels these type of statistics even more.
Depicted in the film, Dee Roberts is offered a plea deal that would get her home to her children faster, but she would have admit to the crime of selling drugs in a school zone, which she did not commit. Her lawyer encouraged her to take the plea deal or she will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, which in her case would be 16-25 years. If she decided to take the plea deal, she would lose any type of government assistants such as food stamps or government housing, in the future. One of the people from Dee’s project ended up taking a similar plea deal out of fear. These are the type of tactics law enforcement uses to get a quick conviction. Law enforcement also tries to use past arrest and/or convictions as a means of justifying the sentencing of African Americans. In American Violet, a there was an example of this. Dee was questioned at the hearing against the district attorney. Her previous arrests were brought up. Before her initial drug arrest, Dee had one arrest for theft when she was in her teens. A prosecutor asked her about it and Dee admits to committing that crime. When she was trying to explain herself, the prosecutor cut her off and told her she was guilty. The prosecutor then brought up a recent arrest after she was released on bail. She had an incident with the father of her children. The prosecutor tried to use this to show the other officials in the room that because she was arrested for those crimes, even if the charges were dropped, that mean she is guilty of the drug charges brought against her.
In all, American Violet did a good job depicting the injustices African Americans face in the hands of the criminal justice system. While Jim Crow laws do not exist anymore, institutionalized racism is still very prominent in the United States. It will continue to be a problem if it is not recognized as a problem by the majority race in this country, Caucasians. Having more conversations about institutionalized racism can bring more awareness to others about the effects it has on minorities. The war on drugs is also still happening in the United States. African Americans are still receiving harsher convictions than others and are being pressured to take plea deals which are harmful to their future. Like institutionalize racism, the war on drugs and the effect it has on minorities needs to be discussed. While this country has progressed a significant amount, it still has a long way to go to make sure all people despite race, sex, religion, sex orientation, etc. are treated fairly in the criminal justice system.