` People deny racism even exists in the United States, but one does not have to look far to see blatant signs of racism, you just have to look to our prison system. The high rate of incarceration in the African American community is due to the institutional racism that still exists to this day, through the use of drugs, gangs and police discrimination the United States has created an environment for constant racial discrimination. The drug business in the United States is the biggest contributor to incarcerations among black males. According to the NAACP “about 14 million whites and 2.6 million blacks report to using illicit drugs” that’s about six times as many whites using drugs than whites, yet when looking at the prison population,
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Gangs in the United States started to pop up in vast numbers during the civil rights movement in the 50’s and 60’s. In those days’ gangs were meant as more of a support system for the African American community than the disturbing drug dealing violence evoking entities that they are now. The question now becomes what led to such a change in philosophy in the African American gang community, the answer is simple it is institutional racism. Take Chicago, for example ever since the civil rights act of 1965 homicides are up to an all time high, this is caused by the high concentration of African Americans in what people call the ghetto’s and section eight housing developments, in those environments options for good clean work are slim due to the low amount of funding for schools and the according to the novelist Hakeem Muhammad “Chicago is divided between affluent whites on the north-side and impoverished blacks on the South-side “. This shows us that there is still segregation in the United States, although it is not blatant like during the Jim Crow era, this segregation has led to greater poverty and thus causing youth to run to gangs in order to make money, gain respect and stop the cycle of poverty. Little does the youth know that the cycle is only continued when they invest into gangs. Gangs are supposed to be support groups, but with the addition of drugs and money they got out of control, money became their number one motive and this is all caused by the low resources that is afforded to the African Americans in low income neighborhoods. And instead of helping the government spends billions, which they could spend on helping youth in ghettos, but instead they put the money into gang convictions and sending members straight to jail. The US government would rather pay
Gangs in the United States started to pop up in vast numbers during the civil rights movement in the 50’s and 60’s. In those days’ gangs were meant as more of a support system for the African American community than the disturbing drug dealing violence evoking entities that they are now. The question now becomes what led to such a change in philosophy in the African American gang community, the answer is simple it is institutional racism. Take Chicago, for example ever since the civil rights act of 1965 homicides are up to an all time high, this is caused by the high concentration of African Americans in what people call the ghetto’s and section eight housing developments, in those environments options for good clean work are slim due to the low amount of funding for schools and the according to the novelist Hakeem Muhammad “Chicago is divided between affluent whites on the north-side and impoverished blacks on the South-side “. This shows us that there is still segregation in the United States, although it is not blatant like during the Jim Crow era, this segregation has led to greater poverty and thus causing youth to run to gangs in order to make money, gain respect and stop the cycle of poverty. Little does the youth know that the cycle is only continued when they invest into gangs. Gangs are supposed to be support groups, but with the addition of drugs and money they got out of control, money became their number one motive and this is all caused by the low resources that is afforded to the African Americans in low income neighborhoods. And instead of helping the government spends billions, which they could spend on helping youth in ghettos, but instead they put the money into gang convictions and sending members straight to jail. The US government would rather pay