My mother always stressed to me that there were two types of people in the world; those who sit back and deal with what life throws their way, and those who go out and get what they want at all cost. I am the latter. As the daughter of a single teen mom, I have endured my share of triumphs and misfortunes. Growing up in a dead-end and poverty-stricken community known, ironically, as Rich Square, North Carolina, with a population of about 900, I am no stranger to disparities. I can vividly remember sleeping without heat in the coldest of winters and going to school on the first day without any of the name brand clothing that my friends would own, but in the midst of all that encompassed my home life, I persevered. With very few positive figures
…show more content…
In the summer of 2014, I was sitting behind my desk at the North Carolina Advocates for Justice Headquarters, a non-profit and nonpartisan association of legal professionals dedicated to protecting people’s rights through community, education, and advocacy. After a tedious application and interview process, I was elated to be chosen as the Commission on Racial and Ethnic Disparities’ only intern. As the only intern in the department, I was assigned a wide range of tasks, however, there is one specific task that I vividly remember and will never forget. One early morning my supervisor assigned me the task of creating an Excel spreadsheet containing the names of inmates, their infractions, sentence and race in Guilford, Wake, and Mecklenburg County jails. I began compiling the list and I could not ignore the overrepresentation of minorities incarcerated in what I would consider my “backyard” of Charlotte, Raleigh, and Greensboro, North Carolina. As the spreadsheet grew longer, what stood out most inescapably was the obvious disproportion in sentencing as it relates to minority offenders. While some inmates had been sentenced years for infractions, others received sentences of only months, or deferred to alternative rehabilitation and programs of that sort, for identical, if not very similar convictions. In actuality, there may have been other factors that contributed to the bulk of some inmate’s sentencing, I could blatantly conclude that there were more minority inmates between the ages of 18 and 25 than any other race and age group incarcerated in the jails of my neighboring communities. As I grew closer to completing the list, with each name entered into the spreadsheet I envisioned the names of my loved ones being added onto the lengthy list and so many others from a low-income and at-risk communities in our country today. What I saw in a seemingly boring Excel spreadsheet
In the summer of 2014, I was sitting behind my desk at the North Carolina Advocates for Justice Headquarters, a non-profit and nonpartisan association of legal professionals dedicated to protecting people’s rights through community, education, and advocacy. After a tedious application and interview process, I was elated to be chosen as the Commission on Racial and Ethnic Disparities’ only intern. As the only intern in the department, I was assigned a wide range of tasks, however, there is one specific task that I vividly remember and will never forget. One early morning my supervisor assigned me the task of creating an Excel spreadsheet containing the names of inmates, their infractions, sentence and race in Guilford, Wake, and Mecklenburg County jails. I began compiling the list and I could not ignore the overrepresentation of minorities incarcerated in what I would consider my “backyard” of Charlotte, Raleigh, and Greensboro, North Carolina. As the spreadsheet grew longer, what stood out most inescapably was the obvious disproportion in sentencing as it relates to minority offenders. While some inmates had been sentenced years for infractions, others received sentences of only months, or deferred to alternative rehabilitation and programs of that sort, for identical, if not very similar convictions. In actuality, there may have been other factors that contributed to the bulk of some inmate’s sentencing, I could blatantly conclude that there were more minority inmates between the ages of 18 and 25 than any other race and age group incarcerated in the jails of my neighboring communities. As I grew closer to completing the list, with each name entered into the spreadsheet I envisioned the names of my loved ones being added onto the lengthy list and so many others from a low-income and at-risk communities in our country today. What I saw in a seemingly boring Excel spreadsheet