RACIALIZING CRIME AND THE PRODUCTION OF SPACE

RACIAL DISPARITY: CONTINUAL CRIMINALIZATION OF AFRICAN AMERICANS

BY J.V.S

For years African Americans have been discriminated against based on the color of their skin. The color of an individual’s skin has been a determinate factor in the opportunities available to that individual and the way the individual is treated. On a historical timeline, African Americans have been oppressed since the day they set foot in the New World. African Americans were forced to migrate the United States as slaves, where they were recognized as property rather than human beings. After the abolishment of slavery, the United States was swept with the Civil Rights Movements in the mid-1900s, where African Americans earned their own rights and abolished segregation. Or did they? According to Khalil Muhammad’s book, The Condemnation of Blackness, the racial criminalization of African Americans occurred as early as the Jim Crow Laws era. However, when one looks deeply into a black minority-majority place such as Missouri today, one can find there is great discrepancy of whether or not our nation has truly ended the vicious cycle of racism. While Missouri is majority white, there are certain cities in Missouri, such as Ferguson, where it is primarily a black community. Does there continue to be a racial divide when it comes to the criminal justice system? Does our society and law enforcement racialize crime and what race(s) do we tend to criminalize? In this blog post, I will argue that African Americans are a largely targeted population that has been and continues to be racially criminalized in today’s society and criminal justice system.

First, let’s begin with a historical perspective. Racial criminalization became a popular issue after Frederick L. Hoffman published his book titled Race Traits and Tendencies of the American Negro, in 1896, where he provided statistical evidence on black criminality (Muhammad, 35). This gained the attention of many citizens in the United States, who were then convinced and perceived the notion that being black meant you were most likely a criminal. This book offers insight on how African Americans were criminalized based on their race after gathering prison statistics, which proceeds to hold true in today’s society. In Hoffman’s research, he found that out of 82,329 prisoners, 24,277 were black, and 6 in 10 female prisoners were black (Muhammad, 50). These statistics only further support how African Americans are criminalized. For years the United States has had the largest incarceration rate in comparison to any other nation (Coates). Mass incarceration has swept our nation, and African American community is being extremely overrepresented. According to the Center for American Progress, the black population makes up 60% of imprisoned inmates, and every one in three black men can be expected to go to prison in their lifetime (Kerby). It is evident that in today’s society, the criminal justice system shows that we still racialize crime and target mostly African Americans.

Figure 1 (above): Shows racial break down of Ferguson population 

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/08/13/us/ferguson-missouri-town-under-siege-after-police-shooting.html

Looking past the historical lens, it is apparent that there continues to be a racial divide in our criminal justice system. African Americans living in Missouri only make up a mere twelve percent of the state’s total population (“Missouri QuickFacts from the U.S.”). While the majority of the state is white, a city such as Ferguson is a predominantly black community. As seen in the Figure 1, Ferguson has become a heavily black populated area after white families relocated to the suburbs (“What Happened in Ferguson?”) In wake of the shooting that occurred in Ferguson, Missouri, we only find more evidence to support that crime is still racialized. Racial tensions have peaked after the death of Michael Brown in 2014. (“What Happened in Ferguson?”). Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, was shot dead by officer Darren Wilson. Wilson, who is Caucasian, stopped Brown after realizing he fit the description of the suspect that had just stolen from a convenience store. Wilson claims that he fired his weapon in self-defense, fearing for his life, while Brown charged at him. Because Brown was unarmed and because Wilson was not indicted, it seems that there is a racial divide. African Americans are a criminalized race. Law enforcement and society alike racialize crime. Police officers are four times as likely to use some type of force when they have encounters with African Americans (Kerby). Unfortunately in Brown’s case, this statistic was held to be true. While we would like to believe our culture has ended the vicious cycle of racism, it only continues. African Americans are not equated to other minority groups who are no longer discriminated against and criminalized. Rather, African American community is still frequently targeted by law enforcement.

Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that while this blog uses the term blacks and African Americans interchangeably, blacks can encompass different ethnicities. For example, there are black Latinos, who are dark skinned but do not identify as African American.

Works Cited

Coates, Ta-Nehisi. "The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration." The Atlantic. N.p., Oct. 2015. Web. <http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/10/the-black-family-in-the-age-of-mass-incarceration/403246/>.

Kerby, Sophia. "The Top 10 Most Startling Facts About People of Color and Criminal Justice in the United States." Center for American Progress. N.p., 13 Mar. 2012. Web. <https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/news/2012/03/13/11351/the-top-10-most-startling-facts-about-people-of-color-and-criminal-justice-in-the-united-states/>.

"Missouri QuickFacts from the U.S. Census Bureau." United States Census Bureau. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/29000.html>.

Muhammad, Khalil. The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2010. Print.

"What Happened in Ferguson?" The New York Times. N.p., 10 Aug. 2015. Web. <http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/08/13/us/ferguson-missouri-town-under-siege-after-police-shooting.html>.