Patrick Sharkey's Stuck In Place: Video Analysis

Inner-city poverty as discussed in the video is the result of decades of racial segregation that has led to concentrated communities of African Americans. White families that once lived in the inner-city could move out into more dispersed housing where new job opportunities were being made. These openings however were never directed toward black families as moving out of the inner-city for them was much more unlikely and expensive namely because the government was refusing to help them economically as they were doing with white families. Along with white neighborhoods barring entry for blacks it was very difficult for them to become residentially mobile. Racial discrimination still exists today and is evident through differing rates of employment between whites and blacks. Whites have higher chances of …show more content…
In chapter 3 of Patrick Sharkey’s Stuck in Place, he brings up a statistic of just how much more likely black men are to be imprisoned. Black men who were born in 1960 were “20 percent more likely to serve time in prison by their early thirties” (Sharkey 75). Young black males, as discussed in the video, are more heavily monitored and criminalized for activities that are not illegal. Because of years of racism and segregation a black teenager who is just standing on a street corner is commonly viewed as a criminal while a white teenager is not. As a result, they are more frequently imprisoned for minor offenses. Following the concept of the labeling theory, these black males who are incarcerated for petty reasons are then released and can be even more inclined to break the law. This loop of criminalization, incarceration, and re-offense helps to carry subconscious stereotypes and keep black males from attaining a more respective status in the eyes of landowners or employers. (line 7 paragraph 2