I want to talk about incarceration in America. In the wake of the Ferguson unrest, I feel that it might be useful to shed some light on the issues that are driving the anger and protests there. To be clear, I am not making any comments directly about Ferguson, Michael Brown, or the on-going investigation.
I think it 'll be helpful to first state that we sadly need incarceration. In an excellent video on this subject, Hank Green states, "We send people to prison to be punished, to prevent them from doing bad things again, and to deter others from breaking the law" (2014). Remember that every citizen in America has rights and if those rights are violated that person has a right to some justice. Furthermore, if person-one violates person-two 's rights, person-one may lose some of his rights. This is the accepted form of justice our country, and many other countries, have worked under for years. But our incarceration system is terribly flawed.
While Hank Green 's video was on the incarceration as a whole, I 'd like to focus on the incarceration of African American 's. In a recent census, out of 767,434 inmates, the percentages broke down like this… (Census.gov, 2012) You might think, That 's great, Blacks and Whites are about even in that census, but you must remember the breakdown of the American population as a whole. African-Americans make up just 17% of the population. But they make up 39% of the prison population. (Census.gov, 2014) By the age of 23, 49% of Black males in America have been arrested (Binette, 2014). …show more content…
Essentially, being black in American gives you a 50/50 chance of spending time behind bars.
Additionally, once you have a record, life becomes much harder. "Convicts are ineligible for welfare, student loans, public housing, food stamps…In addition to having high recidivism rates, they have very high rates of homelessness and suicide" (Green, 2014). Being born black in America means the odds are against you. Yes, every individual makes choices that effect their lives. Those choices are their own, and they only must deal with them. But we are talking about percentages, statistics, and why there is such a huge disparity.
What is the cause of the incarceration problem for black males? Poverty is a great driver of crime. The Washington Post illustrates the wealth gap below. Here we can see that African-Americans, more than any other race, suffer from a disparity in earnings. (Plumer, 2013) We could list many reasons, like poverty, as the cause of the disparity in our incarceration system. But ultimately it comes down to privilege. I, as a white male, have been afforded opportunities that my African-American (and for that matter, female) peers have not. Yes, we can point to wonderful success stories of African-American children rising from poverty and crime-ridden streets to go to college and be successful. Those stories should be celebrated. But every child should have the same sized mountain to climb. My mountain was much smaller than others because of my gender and race. We can never make these metaphorical mountains completely equal, but the current state of inequality is shameful. It is, therefore, not surprising to see incarceration rates such as these. What can we do? In Michigan, Affirmative Action looks as if it has been banned. Let 's first understand how a college might use Affirmative Action. Many colleges use points systems to determine acceptance. For instance, good grades earns you a certain number of points. Sports, clubs, and other accomplishments do too. Those with the highest number of points get in. Being black earned you points. This was a good policy because it attempted to level the metaphorical mountains our children must climb to reach success. The policy stood for the idea that America owes a debt to Black Americans for what America did during times of slavery, segregation, and a lack of civil rights. I use this as an example, because my advice to those wondering, What can we do? is this…We need remember that, though slavery has been dead for 150 years, racism and a general lack of equality has not died. It may be suggested, based on the stagnate wealth-gap illustrated above, that racial inequality has
I think it 'll be helpful to first state that we sadly need incarceration. In an excellent video on this subject, Hank Green states, "We send people to prison to be punished, to prevent them from doing bad things again, and to deter others from breaking the law" (2014). Remember that every citizen in America has rights and if those rights are violated that person has a right to some justice. Furthermore, if person-one violates person-two 's rights, person-one may lose some of his rights. This is the accepted form of justice our country, and many other countries, have worked under for years. But our incarceration system is terribly flawed.
While Hank Green 's video was on the incarceration as a whole, I 'd like to focus on the incarceration of African American 's. In a recent census, out of 767,434 inmates, the percentages broke down like this… (Census.gov, 2012) You might think, That 's great, Blacks and Whites are about even in that census, but you must remember the breakdown of the American population as a whole. African-Americans make up just 17% of the population. But they make up 39% of the prison population. (Census.gov, 2014) By the age of 23, 49% of Black males in America have been arrested (Binette, 2014). …show more content…
Essentially, being black in American gives you a 50/50 chance of spending time behind bars.
Additionally, once you have a record, life becomes much harder. "Convicts are ineligible for welfare, student loans, public housing, food stamps…In addition to having high recidivism rates, they have very high rates of homelessness and suicide" (Green, 2014). Being born black in America means the odds are against you. Yes, every individual makes choices that effect their lives. Those choices are their own, and they only must deal with them. But we are talking about percentages, statistics, and why there is such a huge disparity.
What is the cause of the incarceration problem for black males? Poverty is a great driver of crime. The Washington Post illustrates the wealth gap below. Here we can see that African-Americans, more than any other race, suffer from a disparity in earnings. (Plumer, 2013) We could list many reasons, like poverty, as the cause of the disparity in our incarceration system. But ultimately it comes down to privilege. I, as a white male, have been afforded opportunities that my African-American (and for that matter, female) peers have not. Yes, we can point to wonderful success stories of African-American children rising from poverty and crime-ridden streets to go to college and be successful. Those stories should be celebrated. But every child should have the same sized mountain to climb. My mountain was much smaller than others because of my gender and race. We can never make these metaphorical mountains completely equal, but the current state of inequality is shameful. It is, therefore, not surprising to see incarceration rates such as these. What can we do? In Michigan, Affirmative Action looks as if it has been banned. Let 's first understand how a college might use Affirmative Action. Many colleges use points systems to determine acceptance. For instance, good grades earns you a certain number of points. Sports, clubs, and other accomplishments do too. Those with the highest number of points get in. Being black earned you points. This was a good policy because it attempted to level the metaphorical mountains our children must climb to reach success. The policy stood for the idea that America owes a debt to Black Americans for what America did during times of slavery, segregation, and a lack of civil rights. I use this as an example, because my advice to those wondering, What can we do? is this…We need remember that, though slavery has been dead for 150 years, racism and a general lack of equality has not died. It may be suggested, based on the stagnate wealth-gap illustrated above, that racial inequality has