Comparing The Trial And Death Of Socrates

“The law did not protect us” writes Coates in “Between the World and Me” pg. 12. Yet Socrates in discussion with Crito States that he is “victim of men, not of law” in pg. 54 of Plato’s “The Trial and Death of Socrates.” The contrast in these two quotes is indeed unfair. We are speaking of two very different historical periods and two very different circumstances but however, I believe it highlights the reality in which people of color live in today. Racism is alive, to deny its existence is to turn a blind eye on the trails and sufferings that people of color endure while their white counter parts benefit from those very things that people of color experience. The effects of Colonialism and its aftermath impact our daily lives. Race in the …show more content…
When I say that race in America impacts everything, I mean every aspect of our lives but it purposely begins with the Justice department. The criminalization of people of color as political slang began in the late 1960’s. “Tough on crime” was the slogan that presidential candidates began to coin. What it really meant was that they were going to crack down on these brown and black men and incarcerate them, put legislation in place to make impossible to escape the system once they are in it, and finally help privatize prisons in order to make a profit out of it. That did occur and now the U.S is the country with the most prisoners and of those prisoners black and brown men disproportionally make up a large part of that prison population. Coates gives the following definition for Racism “The need to ascribe bone-deep features to the people and then humiliate, reduce and destroy them” … “destroy them” it seems like that last part takes on a new form every so decade… for black people in this country it began with slavery, then it became segregation, Jim Crow, and now mass incarceration alongside with the constant police shootings of black unarmed men and …show more content…
Coates stated “the law did not protect us and now in your time the law is used as an excuse to stop and frisk you.” It will be long before the roots of this country can change, but they can change. As long as people of color continue to be exceptional, navigating in between the lines and then rise to position of powers to erase those lines and barriers, change will occur. We are nearing the end of white supremacy, and although the last stretch will be long, the people are