In their lifetime, one in three African American men can expect to go to jail because of their skin color. Racial Justice and profiling is a huge issue in America because innocent men and women are being targeted because of their skin color. On February 26, 2012 a young African American teenager was shot and killed because of his skin color (“Crime and Race Follow-up: Shooting of unarmed Black Teenager in Florida creates Civil Uproar.” Issues and Controversy Facts on File News Services, 16 April 2012. Web. 11 Feb 2014). Racial inequality is as real as it was fifty plus years ago during the Civil Rights Movement, and we need to work together and stop the hate. The National Urban League, published statistics on African Americans and the overall group equity index in 2012. African Americans and Hispanics to whites was 71.5% and economic at 56.3%. In 2012, the median income for African Americans was $33,578 and for whites was $54,168. They also published the overall unemployment rate for African Americans to whites. For African Americans the rate was 15.8% to whites 7.9% (Cooper Ownes, Deirdre Benia, “Racial Justice: Overview.” Issues Understanding Controversy and Society. ABC-CLIO, 2014. Web. 11 Feb. 2014). In America, African Americans are being discriminated against for and paid less at their jobs for their skin color. More people could go into poverty more being African American than white because they are getting paid unfair wages. Not improving the problem that stands could just make the society worse than it already is. Bottom line is everyone deserves equality no matter the skin color. Paying African Americans equal wages and giving them fair job opportunities and giving their children equal chances for their educations a... ... middle of paper ... ...y innocent people if the society we live in now does not get any better. Changing the Society we live in now is not going to be impossible. Nothing is impossible, and if we work together we can get to that better place we all want to be in. Martin Luther King Jr. preached about the problem to over 250,000 people and observing our society now, not much has changed. But that was then and we need to change it now for the better. Works Cited “Crime and Race Follow-up: Shooting of unarmed Black Teenager in Florida creates Civil Uproar.” Issues and Controversy Facts on File News Services, 16 April 2012. Web. 11 Feb 2014. Cooper Ownes, Deirdre Benia, “Racial Justice: Overview.” Issues Understanding Controversy and Society. ABC-CLIO, 2014. Web. 11 Feb. 2014 “Affirmative Action” Issues and Controversies. Facts on File news services, 29, July 2013 web. 12 Feb. 2014
The justice system is in place in America to protect its citizens, however in the case of blacks and some other minorities there are some practices that promote unfairness or wrongful doing towards these groups. Racial profiling is amongst these practices. In cases such as drug trafficking and other criminal acts, minorities have been picked out as the main culprits based off of skin color. In the article “Counterpoint: The Case Against Profiling” it recognizes racial profiling as a problem in America and states, “[In order to maintain national security] law-enforcement officers have detained members of minority groups in vehicles more than whites”…. “these officers assume that minorities commit more drug offenses, which is not the case” (Fauchon). In relationship to law enforcement there has also been many cases of police brutality leaving young blacks brutally injured, and even dead in recent years, cases such as Michael Brown, Dontre Hamilton, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, and Freddy Gray just to name a few. Many of these young men were unarmed, and the police involved had no good justification for such excess force. They were seen as threats primarily because of their skin color. Despite the fact this nation is trying to attain security, inversely they are weakening bonds between many of its
Many Americans pretend that the days of racism are far behind; however it is clear that institutional racism still exists in this country. One way of viewing this institutional racism is looking at our nation’s prison system and how the incarceration rates are skewed towards African American men. The reasons for the incarceration rate disparity are argued and different between races, but history points out and starts to show the reason of why the disparity began. Families and children of the incarcerated are adversely affected due to the discrimination as well as the discrimination against African American students and their likelihood of going to prison compared to the white student. African American women are also affected by the discrimination in the incarceration rate. Many white Americans don’t see how racism affects incarceration rates, and that African Americans are more likely to face discrimination from the police as well as being falsely arrested.
The prospect of a racially discriminatory process violates the ideals of equal treatment under the law under which the system is premised (Kansal, 2005). Law enforcement, as the frontline of the criminal justice system, has a great deal to do with who ends up being incarcerated. Law enforcement personnel are the initiating beings who start the path to incarceration for individuals they come in contact with. Their decision in terms of making a stop, making a report, making an arrest and so on determines if and how that individual will enter the criminal justice system. One discriminating practice used by police officers is racial profiling.
For the past few years there has been an ongoing debate surrounding the issue of racial profiling. The act of racial profiling may rest on the assumption that African Americans and Hispanics are more likely to commit crimes than any individual of other races or ethnicities. Both David Cole in the article "The Color of Justice" and William in the article "Road Rage" take stance on this issue and argue against it in order to make humanity aware of how erroneous it is to judge people without evidence. Although Cole and William were very successful in matters of showing situations and qualitative information about racial profiling in their articles, both of them fail at some points.
Although our present day society still questions whether the rights of the Individual should outweigh the public order or the social order of our country should outweigh the individual rights has enlightened me to a distorted vision and a compromised system and questionable Leadership. “African- American men comprise less than 6% of the U.S. population and almost one-half of its criminal prisons.” Quoted by the Bureau of justice statistics. When research is conducted by another other than oneself yield such great crippling results, it does hold truths to be true to that which began before our awakening
Racial profiling in America, as evidenced by recent events, has reached a critical breaking point. No longer can an African American, male or female, walk into a store, school, or any public place without fear of being stereotyped as a person of suspicion. Society constantly portrays the African American
These authors’ arguments are both well-articulated and comprehensive, addressing virtually every pertinent concept in the issue of explaining racially disparate arrest rates. In The Myth of a Racist Criminal Justice System, Wilbanks insists that racial discrimination in the criminal justice system is a fabrication, explaining the over-representation of African Americans in arrest numbers simply through higher incidence of crime. Walker, Spohn and DeLone’s The Color of Justice dissents that not only are African Americans not anywhere near the disproportionate level of crime that police statistics would indicate, they are also arrested more because they are policed discriminately. Walker, Spohn and DeLone addi...
Many inequalities exist within the justice system that need to be brought to light and addressed. Statistics show that African American men are arrested more often than females and people of other races. There are some measures that can and need to be taken to reduce the racial disparity in the justice system.
The University of Michigan has made the issues of race and affirmative action policies into very important and controversial discussions. One article, titled "Unite Against Affirmative Action", states: "Unfortunately, between the ill-considered rantings of State Representative David Jaye and the hysterical tirades of the aptly named Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action By Any Means Necessary (BAMN), it has been difficult to have a serious, reasoned discussion of these issues."... ... middle of paper ... ...
Payne, Angela R., and Bharat S. Thakkar. "The Hypocrisy Of Affirmative Action: Race And The Labor Market." International Journal Of Innovations In Business 1.4 (2012): 274-292. Business Source Premier. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.
Racial inequality amongst African American and whites once started by slavery. Slavery separated blacks and whites as in blacks on this side and whites on the other side. There was no intervening between the two. With the mentality that African Americans have, now in days they feel as though slavery still exists. Our ancestors fought for us to have better days for us to still be locked down with industries, businesses, jobs and so on. Everyone should be on equal terms of rights, dignity, and the potential to achieve great things but unfortunately we see inequality based on race, gender, and other social characteristics that are unjust.
THE CRIES AGAINST RACIAL INJUSTICE “Racism is a bad thing, you find it everywhere in the schools, the clubs and also in the streets.” & The belief that one race by nature stands superior to another defines racism. Racism can be traced back to the beginning of civilization and has always existed as a horrible issue in our society. Many attempts and reforms have occurred in hopes of eliminating racism, and much progress has been achieved. Yet, even after the emancipation proclamation, equality laws placed within the constitution, small revolutions and acts taken by people such as Rosa Parks -who refuse to sit in the back of the bus during an era of segregation- racism remains an ominous, undefeatable problem in our society.
Even though the examples I’ve shared in this research are not physically violent acts from U.S. law enforcement, they are discriminatory in nature. From the law enforcement’s racial profiling I experienced to the abuse of justice towards the DSU grad student, it all builds towards a case of injustice and discrimination. One of America’s biggest virtues is freedom, but sometimes I question the belief of freedom. It seems that is doesn’t exist at all for some people, or maybe that the freedom they talk about doesn’t include every human, especially those with skin that isn’t white and born in the United
A social inequality that I would say I’m concerned with would be, racial and ethnic inequality. Racial or ethnic inequality is often established based on characteristics such as skin color and other physical characteristics, or a person’s place of origin or culture. Another meaning of racial inequality would be the advantages and disadvantages that affect different races within the Unites States. Race has become a socially constructed category capable of restricting or enabling social status. Racial inequality can lead to diminished opportunities, which can also lead to cycles of poverty and political problems. With this minority members in a society can result in discriminating actions such as; exclusion, oppression, expulsion, and extermination.
For one, colored people suffer more financially. In the year of 2001, twenty-two point seven percent of colored people lived in poverty as for whites it was only seven point eight percent. For three years, colored people suffered a wealth reduction of thirty-one percent and white people only suffered a percentage of eleven. Financially, colored people suffer way more than whites do. Another thing someone needs to achieve their dream would be to have money and/or have good finances. African Americans cannot achieve their dreams if they are not good financially. in 2001, the per capita income for whites was over twenty-four thousand dollars, while for colored people it was barely over fifteen thousand. These income gaps show how much of difference there is between coloreds and whites financially. The average middle class net worth for whites and colored people also have a huge gap. The net worth for a colored family is eleven thousand dollars while for a white family it is one-hundred and thirty-four thousand dollars. That gap is ridiculous and is just not fair one bit. Also for African Americans it is harder for them to get jobs than white people. Unemployment rates are much higher for colored people than for whites. The unemployment rate for colored people was nine and a half percent and for whites it was four and a half percent(White). If a person cannot get a job, then they cannot achieve their