Running head: STRUGGLES OF AFRICAN AMERICANS 1

Struggles of African Americans Post Slavery in Relations to the Criminal Justice System

Anna Wilson

Professor Dykes

Cultural Diversity in the Criminal Justice System

Monroe College

17th June 2019

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Abstract

In the paper the struggle of African Americans is going to be highlighted and discussed.

The relationship of the criminal justice system and African Americans is questioned and

analyzed due to past interactions. The action of judging someone due to their skin tone is

portrayed through the action racial profiling and racial discrimination at any point at time. Many

problems are rooted through the idea that a singular person mindset can affect a point of view of

a whole group in comparison. From education, to financial, to ones own moral compass the

basic human need is important for society to interact.

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Struggles of African Americans Post Slavery in Relations to the Criminal Justice System

Slavery is formally defined as the practice or system of owning slaves and slaves are

known as the legal property of their owner. They are typically forced to complete excessive

forms of labor under harsh conditions and supervision. During the 16th to the 18th century, prior

to the abolition of slavery, many African Americans were forced to perform hours of hard labor

during the day in order to harvest crops and many other forms of financial intake products for

their slave owners. Though slavery was legally abolished in the United States of America in

1865, some countries still enslave people today both physically and mentally. Post Slavery, a lot

of African Americans and immigrants of all races are still trying to situate their lifestyles in order

to be progressive in today’s society but unfortunately, they face a mass amount of hardships and

obstacles.

In the 1950s to the 1960s the Civil Rights Movement was going on to provide attention to

African Americans getting fair and equal treatment. At the time slavery became abolished but the

clear division between the two ethnicities were clear as day. African Americans had separate

everything from Caucasians; schools, water fountains, section on the bus, and essentially

everything public. The conditions were harsh the blacks school didn’t have textbooks necessary

for learning and everything and anything falls apart. The children education didn’t match up to

the education white children got so they were hindered to begin with. Throughout the whole time

period police would arrest and humiliate African American any chance they got rather whether it

was from rioting and or defying whites whenever they tell them to do anything. The sad truth

was that even though slavery was over to get a little bit of income African Americans still had to

work for whites because they couldn’t get jobs anywhere else. Segregation became the loop hole

to the other “s” word..slavery.

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In a nation that tends to display a huge disparity amongst the number of black men or

women incarcerated compared to our counterparts, many would believe that the African America

population is still facing various forms of enslavement. You can say that African American are

still in enslavement just in a different form due to prison being rooted from slavery. “Prison were

built in the south as part of the backlash to Black Reconstruction and as a mechanism to re-

enslave Black workers.” (Browne, J). This quote convey the minute slavery was banned an

alternate source become popular to keep the African Americans on a lower standard. As time

passed, prison became a place of punishment for everyone of all ethnicities not just African

Americans. Statistics shows “Black people make up nearly 40 percent of America’s incarcerated

population…” African Americans are the majority within the prison system and its shows

drastically.

Prison is viewed as a big company to those who wants to have quick and cheap manual

labor as well. According to CNN “..it as a way for prisoners to repay their debt to society and to

provide skills that will be useful at the end of prison sentences.” Many view prison labor as a

way to improve the inmates for their life on the outside. There are opposites that believe prison

labor is slavery just without the title. Inmates are to work for hours only to make $1 a day or

even just cents for helping create tons of product for different companies or keeping the prison

clean. The 13th amendment does protect the government saying that those punished for crime can

be forced to work. That means that if a person is not incarcerated they can not be forced to work

or be held somewhere against their will. The 13th amendment proves that slavery still exist but

exist to those that go against the law and can’t fit into society. Many people feel that even if they

broke the law they are still people and that labor should not be forced on anyone especially if

they are barely getting paid for the labor they are providing.
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In addition to African Americans being view as money profit not people they barely have

the opportunity to make profit themselves. Financially African Americans struggles to try and

maintain their lifestyle desperately trying to stay afloat unlike the Caucasian, which have a fairly

easy set up to thrive. Many reasons is due to racial profiling within the job environment and with

the workers as well. Racial discrimination provide a negative lifestyle for African Americans for

the simple opportunity that they may get passed over by a Caucasian applicant just because they

are Caucasian. In the relations to that the better paying jobs get snatched from their hands even if

they might have better skill set their skin tone works against them. Unfortunately it’s difficult to

get rid of racial discrimination at the work place is hard to get rid of. Even know there are

protocols in place to avoid it there are many loop holes available for them to use. For racial

discrimination there is a much more stronger appeal to someone’s moral compass to how to treat

someone wether you like the color of their skin or not.

Another reason would be the education for both races. In school networking is possible to

provide more doors for opportunities to happen. In the past African Americans were poor in the

education field due to the schools they had. Majority of African Americans did not know how to

read and write and without that knowledge the generation behind them suffered too. When it

came down to being able to vote people couldn’t vote if they couldn’t read and write. So that

made sure that as far as the government is concerned African Americans didn’t have a say in how

the White House and government going to be. Since most were uneducated they made it hard for

those who wanted to be educated to teach themselves. The voting act of 1965 allowed voting to

be open for everybody and racial discrimination was not allowed. Even with racial

discrimination be illegal when it comes to voting they still made it difficult for African

Americans to participate.
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In relations to how the police and minorities interact it’s clear that there is a huge struggle

for power. The interaction is where the C.J system and African Americans starts to clash. The

issue found is the generalization of each group due to past events and personal experiences starts

to play. In the UCR African Americans percentage is high when following different crime

reported. If police generalize African Americans as a whole due to statistic the interaction gets

thrown off and gets an immediate clash. In the media there are videos where you see those from

African American groups get handle with guns a excessive use of force. Compared to videos

where you see Caucasian getting talked to nicely or getting verbal warning for similar instances

of pullovers or reasonable suspicion. As a reaction to seeing the two drastic interaction police

and the whole C.J system is now generalize when one from one group do something the race as a

group is on the same level there are no difference between the group.

Huge names such as Eric Garner, Travon Martin, Tamir Rice, and so many others fuel the

powerful emotion that separate the two. The death cause by “unnecessary force” put a strain on

the tolerance the two groups have. When it comes down to the court part of the C.J system

sentencing seems to sway on whether your skin is lighter than a brown paper bag or darker. For

example as a familiar case Brock Turner sexually assaulted a women who was unconscious.

When arrested and put on trial he was only given 6 months jail sentence with probation. The

judge reasoning on the case for giving him such a low sentence instead of the 6 years the

prosecutor was gunning for was because he was an athlete. The known fact is that he was

Caucasian and didn’t want to negativity affect him. The judge felt that a long sentence would

affect him as an athlete being a swimmer and his future would be affected.

There is no communication between those within the criminal justice system and the

minority group. Many issue within minority communities never rely on the police to help for any
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crime or issues that they have. Majority of Africans Americans feel like every encounter with

police can lead to them losing their life. The emotional affect for those within the police going

out everyday putting their life on the line to protect the community is on edge. In their mind one

false move and their life can be taken as well. The generalization of those around can provide a

barricade to not look at those around as people. There’s an unstable and unhealthy sense of

distrust in society today. The emotion comes from the events that happens to ancestors and

generations before the ones now.

In a comparison a case of an African American 20 year old Albert Wilson Was giving 12

years in prison for sharing sexual activity with a 17 year old Caucasian girl at a bar which you

must be 21 to enter. It was pointed out that they did not have sexual intercourse just kissed and

did sexual related things. At the the end of the trial with an all white jury and white judge he was

given 12 years with lifetime probation after the prison time. Albert Wilson was a student at

University of Kansa. Albert had an education but couldn’t continue to get his degree. With the

two cases of sex based crimes it’s clear to see that one got the under hand just because the color

of his skin. With the two being compared why should a Caucasian males future be more

important than African American males future? How come when slavery, segregation is not

over African American must still be forced to stay so close to the floor?

In today society African Americans are taking what they want by force. Better jobs, better

living, and better lifestyle. There are still more challenges to overcome but African Americans

are not going to be held down no longer. Everyone within the society needs to create better

boundaries and trust so that living and life can be more comfortable for everyone.
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References

Black-white wage gaps expand with rising wage inequality. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://www.epi.org/publication/black-white-wage-gaps-expand-with-rising-wage-

inequality/

Browne, J., & Browne, J. (n.d.). Rooted in Slavery: Prison Labor Exploitation. Retrieved from

http://www.reimaginerpe.org/node/856

Day, E., Baptiste, N., Rosenberg, J., Agrelo, J., Schatz, B., Schatz, B., . . . Kaufman, A. C. (2018,

February 02). The race gap in US prisons is glaring, and poverty is making it worse.

Retrieved from https://www.motherjones.com/crime-justice/2018/02/the-race-gap-in-u-s-

prisons-is-glaring-and-poverty-is-making-it-worse/

Outrage over six-month sentence in Stanford rape case. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2016/06/06/us/sexual-assault-brock-

turner-stanford/index.html

Table 21. (2017, September 18). Retrieved from https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2016/crime-

in-the-u.s.-2016/topic-pages/tables/table-21

U.S. prisoners' strike is a reminder how common inmate labor is. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/u-s-prisoners-strike-is-

reminder-how-commonplace-inmate-labor-is/