Greg Reinke, a prisoner of Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, brutally attacked 4 black inmates who were chained to a table. He stabbed them all with a 7-inch stank. After the stabbing, it took prison guards over 1 minute to respond to the incident and did not seem in a rush to help the victims. Reinke was not chained to the table like the black inmates were and authorities declined to charge him because he is already serving a life sentence, even though he managed to injure 4 inmates when they were supposedly safe. Why wasn’t Reinke chained up like the black inmates were? Was this incident an example of white privilege in the prison system or an example of rascist motives from prison authorities?
Emantic Fitzgerald Bradford Jr., a 21-year old black man who had no criminal record and was honorably discharged from the army. He carried a gun, which is legal in Alabama, walking through a mall when there was some sort of commotion near him and he was shot 3 times in the back and killed. During the investigation, the officers changed their story at least 3 times and the states attorney general has decided not to take the case to trial. Bradford was an innocent man who is dead because of the police and there is nothing being done about it. The officers are obviously guilty, why aren’t they being charged for murder?
Black people are 8 times more likely to be incarcerated than white people, and hispanics are 5 times more likely. White people make up 45% of New York residents and have only made up 15% of marijuana arrests over the past 2 decades despite data showing a similar rate of drug possession between white and black neighborhoods. This statistic proves that minorities are being profiled by police, being discriminated against in courts and treated unfairly in prisons. It proves there’s an overwhealming racial bias in our Criminal Justice System.
Racial profiling by policemen, on the road and off the road, is the first part of a unjust justice system. Black people who drive high end cars are tailed by police regularly. In the town of Florissant, 71% of motorists pulled over by police in 2013 were black but black people only made up 27% of the town at the time. Black people are twice as likely to be pulled over while driving, even though white people drive more than black people. Black people are also about four times as likely to be searched following a stop, despite the fact that they are statistically proven less likely to have contraband in their car; white people are 32% likely to have contraband in their car, black people are 29% as likely, and hispanics are 19% as likely. Racial profiling by even more common in the day to day life of a minority. Shopping while black is becoming a bigger and bigger issue. Employees following black people around stores and staring at them as they shop, almost to be sure they don’t steal. Which is just another play into stereotypes.
White people calling the police on black people for doing common things is giving the police too much power for the wrong reasons. The fact that these people think calling the police will just make the “problem” go away is already a bad representation of what the criminal justice system does. In 2016, Ving Rhames was almost shot in his own home because his neighbor reported a large black man had broken into the house next to her. He opened the door to officers with guns drawn and lasers pointed at his chest. Black people shouldn’t have to prove they can afford to live in a certain area or drive a certain car. When white people call the police on black people for minor incidents, they are putting our lives in danger. I’m sure the name Permit Patty rings a bell, or maybe BBQ Becky or Pool Patrol Paula. Incidents of white people calling the police on black people living their lives, and police coming to the incidident. Permit Patty, aka Alison Ettel, called the police on an 8-year old girl selling bottled water, claiming she did not have a permit. BBQ Becky, or Jennifer Schulte, who called the police on a black family for having a barbaque near a riverfront. Pool Patrol Paula, assualted a black teen, saying he didn’t belong to a community swimming pool, and then proceeded to call the police.
Even in the regular lives of black people, we are harrassed by not only other people but policemen. Things like being watched closely while being in a store or receiving bad service because of the color of your skin. It’s small things like people being surprised by the success of people with colored skin or surprised by seeing a minority drive nice cars or sit in first class.
As hard as it is to accept and believe, the racial drug war in America is real and a 2013 ACLU study found that the racial disparities are only getting larger. All races use drugs, but who gets caught and incarcerated? Well that decision up to the police and courts. It’s statistically proven that black people are charged for drug crimes way more than white people are. In New York City, as of May 2018, statistics show that black people are arrested for marijuana at eight times the rate of white people, despite showing a similar rate of use between white neighborhoods and black neighborhoods. White people make up 45% of New York yet have only made up 15% of marijuana arrests over the past 2 decades. According to the National Registery of Exonerations, black people are 5 times more likely to go to prison for drug possession than white people.
Another report found that innocent black people are about 12 times more likely to be convicted of drug crimes than innocent white people. Black people’s sentances are usually more harsh than white peoples. For example, a black prisoner serving time for sexual assault is three and a half times more likely to be innocent than a white person convicted of sexual assault. On average, innocent African-Americans convicted of sexual assault spent almost four-and-a-half years longer in prison before exoneration than innocent whites. Many sexual assualt allegations have been coming to surface in recent years with the #MeToo movement yet many of the alleged sexual assaulters are still not imprisoned.
Many people recognize the racial injustice in this country are standing against it. Colin Kapernick is an example of someone who is standing up for what he belives in; racial equality. He stated that it was not out of disrespect for the veterans of America but to protest the violence and injustice that black people receive daily from police. Around the time when he began non-violently protesting, was when there were many cases of innocent black people being murdered by the police. It was when the cases of Antwon Rose, Keith Scott, Clark, and so many more lives were lost due to police brutality. This large statement has caused him out of a job despite him being a leading quarterback in the NFL. This shows how sensitive of a topic police brutality and racial injustice are in America.
These are just a few facts and examples of the American criminal justice system failing our minorities and protecting white people. There’s still thousands of stories of regular people being harrassed by policemen and innocent black people being imprisoned. White priviledge is real and helpful when it comes to being in prison, dealing with police, being in court, and even living your regular life. This proves that minorities are being profiled by police, being discriminated against in courts and treated unfairly in prisons. It proves there’s an overwhealming racial bias in our Criminal Justice System.
