Blacks, Prison, Prejudice, and Institutional Racism :: Sociology Racism Prejudice Essays

Blacks, Prison, and Institutional RacismIntroduction Criminal justice and security is one of the largest industries inthe United States. Such a statistic is (and rightly so) of great concern toAfro-Americans because a disproportionate percent ripen of individuals under thecontrol of the US Criminal Justice dodge be from the Black community. Thispaper will look at the alarming statistics and attempt to trace the roots of thedisparity. It will then consider the affects and explore doable solutions tothe expanding problem.The Imprisoned Black Youth Black communities throughout the U.S. are witnessingthe institutionalization of their youth. Of course institutionalization isnothing new to Afro-Americans, it is something Blacks have faced since theirexistence in this country. In the ascendant Blacks were forced into theinstitution of slavery. After the abolition of slavery Blacks facedinstitutional racism, that is, racism legitimated by the whole of societydirected against the few of society. As a facet of that institutional racismBlacks are now forced to persevere the increasing trend of control by the USCriminal Justice System. direct by the USCJS includes the probation, parole,imprisonment, and death of Blacks. A study conducted by the Sentencing Projectin 1989 found tat more than one-fourth of all Blacks between the age of 20 and29 are under the control of the USCJS . This alarming figure becomes more sowhen you consider their are more Blacks in prison in this age group than theirare all Blacks in college . This clearly reveals what is meant by theinstitutionalization of our Black youth. Black communities are being legallyrobbed of their youth by a arranging that locks up those who pose a threat to thestatus quo of institutional racism. The consequences of this are detrimentalindeed. The children are the future, but what future does a community have whosechildren are all locked up. By virtue of robbing the Black community of theiryouth, the USCJS robs Blac k communities of their future leaders and role models .With such a condition at hand spotless communities are lost and the ills of theurban ghettos are augmented. To help explain why Blacks are being locked up, andwhat part of imprisonment plays in institutional racism it would be helpful tofirst look at the roots of institutional racism.Institutional Racism And Its Roots Institutional racism was a term first coinedby Stokley Carmichael in his book Black Power. Concerning racism, Carmichael andco-author Charles V. Hamilton made the following observationRacism is both overt and covert. It takes two, closely related forms individual