Racial Boundaries

Owning a home is something many people yearn for. According to the racial wealth gap by Janelle Jones “Overall housing equity makes up about two-thirds of all wealth for a typical household”. Many blacks would like to own a home but either are discriminated against in the housing market or cannot afford it. According to the Chicago Tribune, in 2016 only 42.2 percent of blacks owned a home while 71.9 percent of whites owned a home. Less than half of black people own a home. This then leads to education, African Americans not being able to own a home and live in metropolitan areas leads to a low education rate. According to the HuffPost “Children that grow up in poor neighborhoods have a significantly reduced chance of graduating high school. This is a significant quote, I have seen from personal experience coming from a public school, in a metropolitan area that many minorities drop out. This is still an ongoing problem today in Milwaukee. A significant part of blacks going to public schools, with low education rates is because of racial segregation.

The following piece of work will discuss racism within the criminal justice system by viewing the Black Lives Matter movement, the roles of law enforcement and how that effects citizens, and potential solutions to the problems in the system. Within our criminal justice system, it is evident that there is a problem by the ratio of blacks in prison, and the number of police brutality cases in the country.

With the many conversations about the African-American communities and their issues with gang violence, government assistance, and the lack of jobs in their communities it is clear to say that the American Dream or even a moderate lifestyle was not created for all African Americans and Minorities and since we found a way to be noticed, heard, and felt like they’re rightfully a part of something America wants to now label it “war or Drugs” and “gang Violence” thus creating Gang Injunctions in those predominantly of color communities. Now I am not stating that the violence is not present, innocent lives are not being taken, nor are drugs consuming our communities, but what I am saying is that they act as if there is no other approach that could help clean up the streets, provide piece and harmony among all communities, and solve issues for the betterment of the community. Instead they are removing them from their communities, threatening them from going to their neighborhood, and as a consequence they get jail time, an institution that already houses half if not more than half of our black men. The gang injunction initiative is set up to tear apart the minority communities through driving up the prices and making them move, especially if they have a family member who is under the injunction’s rules. Its ironic how they put them in such enclosed space, while they make suburban home for the economically fit causing them to commute and now they are systematically removing them

Michelle Alexander’s book comes from an extensive background in different fields that prepared her analyze the ‘New Jim Crow’. Alexander is a highly acclaimed civil rights lawyer, legal scholar and advocate. Recently she has taught at Stanford University Law School, one of the most prestigious university programs in the nation. In 2005 she won the Soros Justice fellowship, which supported the writing of The New Jim Crow. Since the first publication of her book, it has gone on to critical acclaim, and been well received by many different outlets. Prior to her academic career, Alexander was the director of the Racial Justice Project for the ACLU of Northern California. Much of her scholarly work is built upon her realization through her directorship, that this country in her opinion has a unjust and racially unequal criminal justice system. Before becoming a lawyer, she graduated Stanford Law School and Vanderbilt University. Following her Law School education, she clerked for Justice Harry A. Blackmun on the U.S. Supreme Court and for Chief Judge Abner Mikva on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Much of her time now is devoted to freelance writing, public speaking, committed to ending mass incarceration and also raising her three children.

Minority communities across the country are facing extreme adversity. They not only have to contend with assimilation to the western culture, but has become targets of hate crimes. The current political climate has exacerbated the hatred for Asian communities and communities of color. Rising crimes against Asians in Metropolitan cities such as Queens, New York has shocked the Asian communities, enraged activists, and prompted political actions. Members of New York congressional delegation has urged New York police department to examine and propose tangible solutions to the rise of crimes against Asian-Americans. There is an urgent need to for local law enforcement to establish open dialogue and build trusts with the impacted communities. Public engagement is extremely

In this paper you will find out about where law enforcement started and where is it now. Whether it’s a big difference or not that’s for you to decide. The beginning of this paper is all about how it started, when, where, and how. The basic knowledge of creating the judicial system and law enforcement that we live by in this country. However, you will also read about the recent tragedies that have taken place all around the nation and what the justice system has done about them. Also the people that was and was not affected by police officers, trials, and verdicts, the families that will always be “that family”, and the city that will always be Ferguson. You will also learn a little about the people who did not want to be the name you will never forget, the phrase you see on t-shirts, and the reason everyone was saying “hands up , don’t shoot!” The names Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, and Michael Brown. I also give my thoughts on these topics from what I feel, the things I see, and hear from the community, classmates, and parents. All in all this paper will draw you into the “new” events of racism even though, racism in itself, it is so very old. The only difference is it is being shown on television, social media, and it’s being talked about. People are not standing for it. But how can you stop it? Can racism even be stopped? Or is it something that has been embedded in us, in our country, and in our world. You will also take a look at the facts of gun control and why the

All in all, even after the fall of our first caste system, we have created another. The US has declared a “war on people” especially against those in racially segregated ghettos. (Alexander, 2011) Alexander makes great arguments in her book to try to engrain into the readers mind the issues surrounding our criminal justice system today, from mass incarceration, to the War on Drugs and how these issues are ultimately affecting, discriminating against, and destroying communities and families. (Alexander, 2011)

1. Given that there's no objective way to classify people, according to the “Race – The Power of an Illusion” website, discuss if you think the government should define racial categories. If not, why not? If so, how and what definitions would best help us remedy inequality?

I enjoyed the book Police, Power, and the Production of Racial Boundaries (Critical Issues in Crime and Society) by Ana Muñiz. Out of all the books we have read in class if found this one the most informative. It read more like a history, or law book than the last books we have read. The facts and figure and the transition of neighborhoods from white to minority neighborhoods was really informative. To know how to fix troubled neighborhoods know, we have to learn how they came to be that way.

Many believe that the United States doesn’t have a racial divide, but there are facts and statistics that prove otherwise. For instance, there is the divide within education that states that African Americans are twice as likely as whites not to finish high school. Not only in academics are they divided but also in disciplinary within the school in where it shows that black students are suspended or expelled roughly three times more than their white companions. Statistics show that 21% of white students end up completing a college degree, while only 13% of blacks complete the same goal, leading to the next issue being wealth. Whereas even if they both obtain the same college degree the payoff is nowhere near the same. For example a white family

Unfortunately the signs of the racial segregation can be tracked even in the most developed and most democratic societies. US is known as one of the biggest democratic countries of the world in terms of social equality of its individuals and fadedness of the social stereotyping. but it is very sad to see that discrimination raises head in one of the most advanced states of our world.

Social justice issues take place at various levels: global, national, regional, and local. The article, “The racist NYPD captain who ruined my career for not targeting enough blacks and Hispanics got promoted,” surfaces a prevalent social justice issue of racism. Racism is holding prejudices on the basis of the race. The issue of racism is complex one because of its far-reaching effects and implications. It makes people feel inferior, creates a gap between the people of the society. The members of racial groups that are discriminated against face unequal access and opportunities. It is harder for them to find well-paying jobs or live in good neighborhoods. Racism exists not only in employment but also in law enforcement. It “concerns the invidious use of race or ethnicity as a criterion in conducting stops, searches and other law enforcement investigative procedures” (The Reality of Racial Profiling). This news article buttress this statement as it states that the white men were not arrested for the same crimes that the black men were arrested for. Despite the passage of numerous laws to prohibit racism, it till persists. For instance, the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII), prohibits employment discrimination based on race. Yet, the close scrutiny shows that the black Americans are less likely to get that job.

Throughout history, Racial segregation has been used as a means to power and control, often for a minority, and South Africa was no different in any manner, almost a perfect, textbook case of oppression. Source 1 explains how the Apartheid first began in the 1940’s, developed and used due to economic and political instability. The English and the Dutch controlled South Africa, vying for its fertile lands, people, and its profusion of precious and strategic minerals, leading to Boer War. When South Africa gained its independence from England, there was an internal power struggle for decades until the Afrikaner National Party devised the apartheid, enacting it in 1948 as a means to control the economic and social landscapes that they had lost their grasp on. The Apartheid, however, did not instantly create the

Drug has been a serious issue in our society and criminal justice institutes due to many problems associated, including the violence, negative health benefits, social disorganization, and other negative consequences. The police agencies have adopted a policy called “The War on Drugs”, as a response to the rising drug problems. The War on Drugs has popularized variety policies and practices that significantly increased the overall number of drug arrests, and other drug related offenses(The war on drug). In addition, The War on Drugs approach particularly targets the low-level drug offenses where many drug users have affected. Although, the basic intention behind the War on Drugs approach was to establish the fundamental goals, including to increase the safety of public by reducing drug-related crime and violence, to reduce health and social costs to the public of illegal drug use, and other public benefits(DGJS,2016). However, despite the good intention of the approach, the War on Drug tactics have consequently affected specifically to the minorities in our society. Therefore, many critics argue that law enforcement agencies routinely engage in racial profiling, arresting and charging a disproportionate number of individuals who are from visible minorities. Unfortunately, police agencies simply explain that they have not targeted the race, but they target the crime. As a result, this paper will examine the relationship between the racial profiling by police

Now that the United States has created the image that black people are only known to be criminals, this image has also infected the minds of the police department. Black and Latinos are often the targets of police brutality, constantly being stopped, searched, and arrested with no suspicious activity. Then once they are in the system, it seems impossible to get out. The police has now been militarized because they believe these people are so dangerous that departments need to equip their officers with helmets, masks, assault rifles, and in most extreme cases mine resistant vehicles, as if they are truly going off to war. Discrimination created this horrible tension between communities and their police officers, in which minority communities are unable to trust their police officers because all they see are war machines patrolling their streets, and police officers are unable to trust their communities because all they see are criminals trying to harm them.