Handcuffs. This is image is licensed under the Creative Commons
“Change will not come out of the sky. It’s a shame that after 310 years of chattel slavery and 150 years of injustice that we are worse in our treatment of each other. We are holding ourselves back. You can’t keep blaming the white man. The question is, what are we doing today to undo what he did?”
Minister Louis Farrakhan
I am in no way an expert in crime, the criminal justice system, etc. These are just my views. First of all, I want to acknowledge that yes the criminal justice is racist from the stop and frisk violations to the sentencing it hands down. I have to acknowledge that there are thousands innocent people in the criminal justice system but this post is about those who are guilty.
Don’t get mad the messenger. I did not commit the crime. Get mad at the people who terrorize our communities.
I always expect a little push back due to my stance on crime and punishment. I believe people commit crimes because they want to and because they do not expect to get caught. No one has to commit crime. No one tells you to take drugs or to sell drugs to your people.
Image from stratfordcharter.files.wordpress.com
Nobody tells you to kill your brother over red and blue rags made in China. No one tells you to steal from someone or something. No one tells you to abuse your partner and children. Committing a crime is a choice just like having a 9 to 5 is a choice. Just like being a great mom or dad is a choice. Just like going to school or dropping out is a choice. Just like deciding whether you want a career as a pharmacist or a career as a street pharmacist is a choice. We all have made choices. A small minority have made bad choices. Their actions have put them in the criminal justice system. By doing this they have willfully chosen to limit their social, economic and political opportunities.
The criminal justice system affects us all. In 1999,“nearly one in three (32%) black males in the age group 20-29 is under some form of criminal justice supervision on any given day — either in prison or jail, or on probation or parole.” The Crisis of the Young African American Male and the Criminal Justice System
I personally believe that many people are sensitive to this issue because in some way their lives have been touched by the racist criminal justice system. Either they know someone in the criminal justice system or they have been in it themselves. That is completely understandable. Quite honestly, who would want to admit that a family member, an acquaintance or they themselves have chosen to break the law? It’s easier to deflect responsibility than to take responsibility. Taking responsibility over one’s life is an act of power and revolution that many are afraid of.
The soft bigotry of low expectations.
“Never underestimate internalized racism. People can be oppressed, yet continue to express their oppression in their own choices.” - Susan Morris
Regarding Black Americans, there are some who believe that because society is racist, the system and not the individual who committed the crime is wrong. It is promoted by Black-White supremacists who have internally adopted the ideas of racial inferiority and mask it by only blaming the system. They do not believe in personal responsibility. They believe that our only remedy is to commit crimes, not get an education, not own our own business, and not participate in the political system. They want us to wallow in victimization because we are in a racist society. They are”blaming the man” without realizing they too are acting like the man. They are trying to holding us down. What are their solutions? Nothing. They don’t want us to have anything or be anything because they rather we do nothing. Folks, the truth is that we have choices.
Knowledge is power. Learn Black history.
Marcus Garvey, image from the Library of Congress
What many of these people forget is that with every systematic disadvantage against us in America we built many Black Wall Streets, we created our own schools, communities and opportunities.
Folks, we are the off spring of the original man. We are inventors, entrepreneurs, politicians, artists, tradesmen, mathematicians, queens, and kings, mothers of the earth and builders of civilizations. Wherever we go we thrive. It is embedded in us. What these Black -White Supremacists are saying goes against thousands and thousands of years of Black history.
Unlike others, I have high standards for my people. I know who we are and what we are capable of. I just wish others would take off the metal shackles and marvel at the beauty I see.
I totally agree with you on this. So many people in the black community want to blame the system and not the individual. YES the jail system is racist, but nobody is making you do these things!
While we are on the subject of high standards. Florida is doing something that is limiting black children in school. Giving out grades based on their race!
http://tampa.cbslocal.com/2012/10/12/florida-passes-plan-for-racially-based-academic-goals/
I saw that and I am incensed. It is the soft bigotry of low expectations.
so here’s my problem. Committing a crime is a choice, but everyone doesn’t go to jail. I’ve learned that about 90% of serious offenders don’t serve time because of plea bargaining or under-the-table practices. Then there’s the issue of false imprisonment. People that go to prison are usually those with the least money for a good lawyer or least education about their rights as we rarely hear about white collar crimes (which usually affect vast amounts of people). About 60% of those in jail have an 8th grade reading level. So while I understand the defeatist attitude in the Black community among some is very real, I also feel that a lot of efforts have been made in the right directions and that prison stats blind people from that.
Your point is extremely fair.
I agree with indirahanan. I am of two minds with this. I do not agree with the poor choices people make. That said, all people who make those same choices should face the same consequences. Unfortunately, it’s not like that. I think most prison movements are centered around this notion. And there is a high probability that many young men (and increasing numbers of African American women) are being targeted in certain communities because of race and may actually be innocent of any wrongdoing. Sometimes it’s wrong place, wrong time (you were walking down the street when the police were looking for someone and a witness falsely ID’s you even if you have a solid alibi). I once read about a woman who was imprisoned for nine years before being released in spite of incredible evidence including VIDEO of her being at work at the time of a crime.
She was eventually released but it was due to the work of a non-profit organization. Black men, are targeted too, and I have known of a personal friend of mine who this happened to. He was accused of theft from an employer, with no evidence. He had been gainfully employed for years and was responsible, but because he committed a stupid, petty crime when he was SIXTEEN (more than ten years prior), his employer concluded he must have done it. He tried fighting it, but felt like he had no choice but to just accept punishment. While he was in jail, a White guy who had just gotten hired there confessed to the crime and was caught red-handed committing the same crime while on duty, and had even hidden evidence that would have exonerated my friend. But once my friend got out, his only response was, “What can you do? You can’t stop people from thinking the worst of you.”
That’s the real issue here. A White friend of mine once admitted this privilege after telling me his cousin had gotten caught stealing from his employer to buy drugs. Instead of sending said cousin to jail, he went to rehab, because the judge felt it was his first offense and should be rehabilitated. My friend was happy his cousin didn’t go to jail, but told me, “If he was black though, he would have had the book thrown at him.”
Link exchange is nothing else except it is simply placing the other person’s website link on your page at appropriate place and other person will also do same in favor of you.
Just want to say your article is as amazing.
The clarity to your put up is simply nice and i could assume you are an expert in this subject.
Well with your permission allow me to take hold of your feed to stay up to date with imminent post.
Thank you a million and please continue the rewarding work.