It appears as long as there has been an America there has been a gap in treatment of the races in regards to the criminal justice system. The gap extends outside of the criminal justice system as well going as far as to segregate the races during the Jim Crow era. The question is why: Why is there a gap in the criminal justice system? There are many ideas as to why one of them point to systematic racism. According to Racismnoway, Systematic racism is racism which is structured into political and social institutions. It occurs when organizations, institutions or governments discriminate, either deliberately or indirectly, against certain groups of people to limit their rights.
Racism is built right into the fabric of our society. Racism is not only active in our criminal justice system, but our school, politics, and the workplace. There are more Caucasian people making the laws than any other group. This obviously does not mean that every white person is a racist and out to keep the Black man down. However, a lot of the laws in place in states around the country are set up so that people of color will have a hard time getting ahead.
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The black unemployment rate has been twice that of the white unemployment rate for 60 years. This is regardless of whether the economy is up or down. With laws making acceptable to fire or not hire an individual because wearing the style of dreadlocks makes it hard and discouraging for African-Americans to obtain a job. These rules make it acceptable to discriminate against blacks in the workplace do to the texture of their hair.
The discrimination goes even farther than the style or texture of one’s hair, studies show that job applicants with more white-sounding names get called back bout fifty percent more of the time the time than applicants with names that sound black. Even if they have the same resume.
Guests with black names even get less positive reviews from property owners on Airbnb.
The discrimination does not stop there, as mentioned earlier it extends into schools around the country starting as early as preschool. Black children make up eighteen percent of preschoolers nationwide, yet they account for a staggering fifty percent of suspensions. Across all age groups, Black students are three times more likely to get suspended than their white counterparts, even when faced with similar infractions. African American students are criminalized as soon as they step foot into a learning facility at early ages.
Financially white families hold ninety percent of the national wealth, while black families only hold 2.6% of the wealth. These figures are even more shocking when the fact that whites are 77% of the population. To really grasp just how big that wealth gap is, consider this: the average wealth of an American Caucasian woman is $41,000 while the average wealth of a black women is only $100. Some may make the argument that it’s not based on race, but rather work ethic, and the determination to get a job and make a sustainable life for oneself. How can Blacks get jobs to sustain themselves when it is statistically proven that applicants with black sounding names are rejected for white sounding names fifty percent of the time?
In 2012 a study revealed that many doctors have a subconscious prejudice towards African American patients. If Blacks aren’t facing subliminal racism at well-funded predominantly white hospitals, they are subject to the underfunded hospital in predominantly black areas.
Hospitals in predominantly black areas also are severely understaffed, making it difficult for patients to be seen in a timely fashion. As far as doctors are concerned, Black doctors have a harder time obtaining grants from the government for research projects. Systematic racism, unfortunately, affects all almost all aspects of American life from wealth, to education, to healthcare, and our criminal justice system. Blacks are only thirteen percent of the population yet make forty percent of our nation's jails. African Americans are more likely to be arrested than Caucasians even when they commit the same crime.
Systematic racism began as early as after the civil war. After the civil war, the south passed Black codes. These were laws that attempted to control black slaves. These laws did allow blacks some freedoms, however, their primary purpose was to restrict blacks activity. Vagrancy laws were a big part of the black codes. Unemployed homeless backs were arrested and charged as vagrants. Most of the time the person could not afford the fine, so they were sent to jail for labor or sent to private employers.
Systematic racism has replaced the Jim Crow era “in your face racism” as a new silent but just as deadly version. There are many that question is systematic racism is real, however, the statistics show that it is very real, and exist in every corner of our society .Many times, racism is looked at as individual occurrences or individual prejudices. It needs to be understood that racism is a system. The closer we get to understanding that the closer society will be to ending this awful system.
By not understanding the system, or worse, ignoring the system, we continue to nurture the bad seed that is systematic racism.
