Although the United States is stated as the land of opportunity and freedom, it is also the country that is notorious for racial discrimination. With America having just 5% of the world’s population, it also houses 25% of the world’s prison population, and out of that 25%, a significant portion of that population are African Americans. The United States judicial system has been able to maintain America’s economic and social hierarchy by targeting African Americans. Structural racism and mass incarceration have deemed African Americans as second-class citizens by robbing them of fundamental citizen rights and opportunities that would lead them to live a successful life.
The events of the past such as; lynching, acts of the Ku Klux Klan and white supremacy have set the stage …show more content…
Due to previous laws and actions that have been taken against African Americans, their way of life has been profoundly affected in every aspect of living such as employment, education, and housing. Being robbed of their basic life opportunities, Blacks have been set up to remain second class citizens who will never be able to succeed and move up in a society dominated by Whites. One of the main reasons why African Americans are deemed to a second-class citizenship is because of how racism floods almost every aspect of the criminal justice system. In Alexander’s book, The New Jim Crow, she does a great job showing how dangerous police can be because they have the discretion to stop whomever they want. Low-income neighborhoods and areas that are labeled as the ghetto are the most frequent policed areas because of the police claim that that’s where the criminals and dealers are when in reality these are places where African
The events of the past such as; lynching, acts of the Ku Klux Klan and white supremacy have set the stage …show more content…
Due to previous laws and actions that have been taken against African Americans, their way of life has been profoundly affected in every aspect of living such as employment, education, and housing. Being robbed of their basic life opportunities, Blacks have been set up to remain second class citizens who will never be able to succeed and move up in a society dominated by Whites. One of the main reasons why African Americans are deemed to a second-class citizenship is because of how racism floods almost every aspect of the criminal justice system. In Alexander’s book, The New Jim Crow, she does a great job showing how dangerous police can be because they have the discretion to stop whomever they want. Low-income neighborhoods and areas that are labeled as the ghetto are the most frequent policed areas because of the police claim that that’s where the criminals and dealers are when in reality these are places where African