RACIALIZING CRIME AND THE PRODUCTION OF SPACE

THE CYCLE OF INCARCERATION AND DISCRIMINATION TOWARDS BLACK CITIZENS 

BY J.F.

One of the most pressing yet virtually undiscussed issues (in terms of media coverage and general cultural awareness) in the United States is the Prison-Industrial Complex. The United States has the highest per capita incarceration rate of any industrialized nation, incorporating 5% of the world’s population, but 25% of the world’s prisoners (Criminal Justice). But the importance of this issue rises not solely from the sheer number of imprisoned citizens, but rather from the way our law enforcement system is so inextricably linked to a larger pattern of racial discrimination, profiling, and obstruction of socioeconomic mobility. The over one million currently incarcerated African Americans (who are imprisoned at almost six times the rate of white people) demonstrate on a national scale that there are disparities within this system that need to be addressed (Criminal Justice).

Why is this happening? When living in a society which prides itself on freedom and cultural sensitivity, the reality of a persevering discrimination rooted in the foundation of our nation’s history seems irreconcilable with such a generally progressive outlook. While social work has existed for as long as there have been organized societies, the modern ideas of equality and multiculturalism that we currently hold are frighteningly young. The institution of slavery as well as the post emancipation Jim Crow Era are the foundation for the corrosive racial stereotypes that continue to affect black Americans. In The Condemnation of Blackness, author Khalil Muhammad discusses the beginnings of the idea that black people somehow have a propensity for criminal activity, stating (in quotation of historian David Levering Lewis) “’The national white consensus emerging at the turn of the century’ … ‘was that African Americans were inferior human beings whose predicament was three parts their own making and two parts the consequence of misguided philanthropy” (Muhammad 52). Stereotypes and racial generalizations have a way about sticking in people’s heads, and are passed on more easily than one would think through generations. In a society where the prison systems are swelling and law enforcement institutions are systematically discriminatory in their construction, these beliefs, compounded with the socioeconomic stagnation that blacks have been facing for years, have resulted in a cycle of poverty, incarceration, distrust and disillusionment with police forces, and ultimately recidivistic behavior. As long as racial generalizations remain in our collective consciousness, such cycles are inevitable, unless a conscious, prolonged effort is made in order to dispel these beliefs and explain their historical cultural context.

How can this be seen on an approachable level? New York City has been the center of multicultural research in the United States since the European immigration of the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. What makes this area such an interesting case when thinking about this particular issue is the density and variety of other minority populations alongside African Americans. Since 2000, the Asian and Hispanic populations of New York have increased by 34% and 10% respectively. Despite this, we can still observe the disproportionally high rates of poverty and crime with respect to African Americans, who number about 1.9 million throughout the five boroughs in contrast to the collective 3.4 million Hispanic and Asian populations (US Census Bureau). We can better understand the racial disparity in crime rates, even within the same communities, through a historical perspective. In the mid-20^th century, during the “Puerto Rican Problem,” there was a developing anti-Latino sentiment in New York. During this time, Puerto Rican people living in the city tried to distance themselves from being classified as black. This was because at the time, it was clear that the lack of social mobility due to discrimination was a serious issue for African American citizens, and others wanted to avoid the oppressive “classification.” This is what is meant by the term “The Condemnation of Blackness,” a persistent cultural division brought upon by the historical consequences of racial oppression. W.E.B. Dubois wrote of a “veil,” the idea that blacks are separated from the rest of society by a “double consciousness,” observing their own actions through racial implications. Even today, through the divide between African American incarceration and that of other racial backgrounds in New York, we can see the consequences of past oppression.

Works Cited

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

"Criminal Justice Fact Sheet." Criminal Justice Fact Sheet. NAACP, n.d. Web. 09 Feb. 2016.        <http://www.naacp.org/pages/criminal-justice-fact-sheet>.

"2015 - Stats and the City | Crain's New York Business." Latest from Crains New York Business.            US Census Bureau, n.d. Web. 09 Feb. 2016. <http://mycrains.crainsnewyork.com/stats-   and-the-city/2013/demographics/racial-breakdown-1>.