Counter Narrative Analysis

Though society consistently believes that African Americans possess and utilize drugs at a higher rate than white individuals, and are therefore more involved in petty crimes, this master narrative is incorrect. In a study published by the National Institute on Drug Abuse in 2000, results displayed that, “white students use cocaine at seven times the rate of black students, use crack cocaine at eight times the rate of black students, and use heroin at seven times the rate of black students” (Alexander 78). Despite the fact that white students use more drugs when compared to black students, “1 in every 14 black men was behind bars in 2006,” which represents “a rate...more than thirteen times higher than white men” (Alexander 79). Since African Americans are jailed more for drug abuse than white individuals, even though white individuals use and sell drugs more frequently, this suggests that African Americans have essentially become criminalized, or a primary target for police officials. Although the Fourth Amendment protects people from unreasonable searches and seizures, police officials still possess the right to search anyone that they believe appears suspicious as long as it is done with “probable cause,” or on reasonable grounds. This right is granted to officials so that they can use their judgement to protect society efficiently; however, policemen often abuse this

With so many news stories and incidents surrounding the topic of race and the police these days, it is not surprising for people to come to the conclusion that racism may exist within the criminal justice system. We will be taking a deeper look into the problem to find out what other possible determinants may play a role in deciding how an officer makes an arrest or stop and continue to analyze what is happening in those contexts. The issues surrounding the topic of race is like the two faces of the same coin as there are usually two sides that we have to consider: reality and media portrayals. The reality side of situations is always there at the time, but it is so subtly hidden from society that nobody understands it unless they witness it firsthand and with the media spreading filtered information, it becomes even harder for us to identify the key issue; this is especially the case when dealing with the police and racial profiling. If you turn on the news and flip to a channel where it is reporting on the police and their arrests, you will most likely see more arrests pertaining to minorities than other ethnicities. In the news, we can often see a misrepresentation of ethnic minorities, usually African-Americans, being arrested when compared to others and this has caused problems around societies countless times. For this essay topic, I will be discussing the different issues surrounding race within the parameters of criminal justice and inequality; furthermore I will be

Since the time of slavery, racism has become a systematically integrated into the subconscious of nearly all Americans, and this subconscious bias can often go undetected by even the people who reside in it. In “The Good, Racist People,” Ta-Nehisi Coates shines a light on American on these social norms and lifestyles which many “good Americans” might not necessarily consider racism. Going beyond what most readers consider obvious, such as lynching and segregation policies, Coates brings up the real example of a deli employee falsely accusing an African-American man of shoplifting. On the basis of a mere assumption. When that African-American man was identified as Oscar winning actor Forest Whitaker, the incident caught national attention. The

This historical fact influences the ways in which police officers view African Americans and the response that African American individuals give police officers. A prime example of this influence is Wes, the author, describing the likelihood of his friend Shea being stopped by the cops. Wes first started his description of Shea by his physical appearance. He stated that Shea was his age, “but with shorter, reddish hair and light skin, light enough for a spray of freckles to shine through” (p.79). Then, Wes continues his narrative of Shea by

Wright would examine racial profiling if he was to write Black Boy today. Racial profiling is a very serious issue in the society today. Many African American were being target, and in some case murdered by law enforcement official because of their race. On August 9, 2014, a white police officer named Darren Wilson shoot an unarmed black teenager named Michael Brown multiple time in Ferguson, Mo. According to news article “From Ferguson to Charleston and Beyond, Anguish about Race Keep Building”, Even though there was a video tape showing that the black teenager was unarmed, the county grand jury still decided not to indict the police office because they believed the old assumption that African Americans are more likely to be criminals. “Grand juries have tended to give the benefit of the doubt to police officers. National polls revealed deep divisions in how whites and blacks viewed the facts in each case. Whites were more likely to believe officers’ accounts justifying the use of force. Blacks tended to see deeper forces at work: longstanding police bias against black men and a presumption that they are criminals”.

The criminal justice system, in regards to the film “Crash,” was reflected in such a way that is understood in today’s system. For example, police officers were quick to perceive African Americans as wrongful doing. The process of interrogation came down to force and inappropriate handling of an African American woman. Such stop and frisk resulted in degrading the dignity of both African American persons stopped by the White officers and the bad conduct performed by the older White officer was not reported by any of the individuals leading to discretion from all especially discretion from the White officer’s partner. Discretion has been evident in many situations and particularly dependent upon the

The OJ Simpson murder case was an event that transfixed the nation over 20 years ago, with everyone who was around back then having some recollection of the whole ordeal. Today, that same case in entering back into the public consciousness, as a new television series dramatizing the events, entitled “The People vs. OJ Simpson”, just premiered. In an op-ed for the New York Times, John McWhorter pens an argument that the case was symbolic of race relations between the police and the African-American community. McWhorter, an African-American, goes into detail about how he did not understand why his community was cheering back in 1995 about Simpson being acquitted. McWhorter even believed that Simpson was guilty. However, he does now

To prove his case, the author cites various statistics and incidents that demonstrate that these incidents are not accidents but manifestations of a larger problem. Granderson quotes CNN poll statistics that state that almost half of the white respondent in the poll affirmatively stated that none or almost none of the police in their neighborhoods are not prejudiced against African Americans. Contrastingly, only thirty-five percent of non-whites are of this opinion. Additionally, Granderson relates his own experiences with racial profiling (Granderson,

The film examines systemic and institutional racism in the police station when Hansen talks to his superior officer about switching partners; his superior, Lieutenant Dixon, is a black officer and says that reporting Officer Tom Hansen as a racist could cost all of them their jobs, especially in the LAPD. Dixon suggests transferring to a one-man car and mockingly suggests Hansen explain his request by claiming to have “uncontrollable flatulence” rather than say his partner is racist. We also see instances of where racism is not race against race, it also portrays race against gender and race against class as two major forms of racism conflict in the movie.

In “The Color of Justice” section in The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander, Alexander starts off the chapter with two different stories of two African-American parents who were wrongly arrested during a drug bust. She then goes by saying the arrests ruined their “families, lifestyle, and careers” (p. 97). Alexander points out how society would react if these were white individuals, in a middle class neighborhood, being charged and losing their families and emphasising how outraged society would be because of how unjust the law enforcement system is (p. 98). She then goes on regarding the war on drugs and how African and Latino Americans are 80-90 percent more likely to be in jail for drug-related crimes while white Americans are not, although

The professors use hard hitting facts that demonstrates the truth behind African Americans and the way the law enforcement perceives them, giving the reader some distinctive insight. The history of the law enforcement along with the criminal justice system has portrayed that they are disproportionality race-based. Blacks are more likely than whites to be racially profiled (Staples 2011), to be stopped by law enforcement, and receive harsher sentences. Unfortunately, it has been shown time and time again that judges, jurors, and the law enforcement finds it challenging for them to sympathize with African Americans. All in all this body of academic work has highlighted external factors that have shaped the lives of Blacks in America without giving due attention to the words of Rodney King, the man who became the face of racial injustice (Chaney and Robertson 2014). Four themes were unveiled in the analysis King’s quotes: appreciation for the struggles of former Civil Rights Activists, appreciation for the legal system, personal feelings related to police brutality, and the desire for non-violence as a catalyst for positive

How would you feel if the outcome of your interaction with authority depended on whether you were black, Latino, or white? Unfortunately, police brutality is the sad reality that many black and Latino boys experience in their childhood. The disadvantages of their upbringing results to the reinforcement of societal restrictions on their success. On a positive note, education becomes salvation to marginalized group because it provides them means to escape the system that prevents them from becoming successful. However, Charles M. Blows and Victor M. Rios reveal that black and Latino boys are at a disadvantage in the school to prison pattern. Therefore, the recent death of Michael Brown only heightens public awareness of police brutality on colored males. According to Charles M. Blow, bias educational system is a major factor in criminalization of black and Latino boys. But we cannot disregard that a significant perpetrator of racism is ignorance and false media representation. Therefore an increase of awareness of the existence of discrimination and improvement on media depiction of black and Latino characters would render racism defenseless.

In this rhetorical narrative I explain a time when I successfully communicated, and had a rhetorical success. My story starts off at the beginning with an exciting start to get the reader interested, and then goes into detail about one of the characters after the beginning of the story. Although the story is structured in almost chronological order it goes off on some tangents to explain the background of some characters. The story takes a deeper look into people’s reactions and the consequences associated with those reactions. As the story gets deeper and deeper it starts to get away from the action that takes place in the beginning, and starts to become more about the thoughts of the narrator as he prepares for his consequences. The story

Although the media mainly focuses on prejudices shown by cops, other parts of the justice system, such as the courts, also show signs of racism. An investigation took place in Florida and the results were astounding. The investigation presented many conclusions concerning longer jail time for African-Americans compared to whites. It showed that in more than one case two defendants with identical criminal backgrounds, but one of African descent and one caucasian, received differing sentences; the black defendants’ sometimes doubling that of the whites (Editorial Board). The separate prosecutions of two men in cases only separated by three months, Richard Thomas and Tim Carter, are a gleaming example of this. Carter, a white male, was arrested with a rock of cocaine on his possession and Thomas, an African-American male, was arrested for having a pipe with traces of cocaine on it. Besides this, both men were arrested in the same region, admitted to being drug addicts, and neither had any priors. Five years was the minimum sentence for both Carter and Thomas if convicted, but whereas Thomas was sentenced and served jail time, Carter served no jail time and was put into a rehabilitation center (Higginbotham). In Florida's system today, the minimum jail time for a crime is determined through a point system, but defendants receiving the same number,

Almost every member of the black community in Maycomb County is admirable in their personalities and innocent in their nature, and this generalisation makes the crimes against the black community all the worse. Tom Robinson, a man discriminated and accused of a crime that he didn’t commit has come forth to the justice system. The color of his skin determines everything from his background too if he’s guilty or not. A black man’s life is unable to prove innocence because of his race. Poverty has affected many people back in the 1960’s but, if a black man or women were to experience this they would be put on the white