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Discrimination In Black Men

1144 Words5 Pages

The skin is the largest organ of the human body and can display a range of different colors depending on the amount of melanin, a protein produced by special skin cells, that is in the skin. The more melanin that is created, the darker the skin tone. Despite the fact skin color is such a minor physiological difference, many have decided that it is enough of a reason to hate and discriminate against the minorities who possess a little more melanin than they do. This prejudice has managed to extensively infiltrate the justice system and law enforcement, causing black men to face multiple injustices such as being more likely to be convicted and given longer prison sentences than white men for the same crimes, having higher chances of being shot …show more content…

The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world with about 2.3 million people in prison. According to Vitanna.org’s statistics, an estimated one million of these prisoners are African American. 12.3 percent of the population is black, yet over 43 percent of America’s prisoners are black. This disparity is certainly unnatural, seeing as how African Americans are no more likely to be criminals than whites. Black men are overrepresented in prisons because of the unfortunately common stereotype that they are all remorseless criminals. This stereotype makes it easier for those in the justice system to see all black men as people who need to be locked up. Racism (whether conscious or subconscious) makes jurors especially willing to put minorities behind bars by overpowering their doubt and blinding them to the …show more content…

In a study done by the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, the authors found that, "Across a range of different stimuli and dependent variables, perceivers showed a consistent and strong bias to perceive young Black men as larger and more capable of harm than young White men (at least among non-Black participants).” This study shows that there is a tendency in American society to view black men as more threatening than white men of equal or slightly larger size. This misperceived threat can create unnecessary fear and panic in the general public that escalates over time as the idea that black men are dangerous is reinforced with every arrest, no matter any other evidence. The perceived danger makes it easier for police officers to justify the use of physical force against black men, often

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265 Words | 2 Pages

In the short story “Black Men and Public Space” by Brent Staples, he talks about how because of his race he is feared and discriminated upon. While in New York, Staples walks during the night and is mistaken for a mugger or a rapist because of his race and his large figure. People are very hesitant in the world today because there has been such a great amount of crime. Staples sharing his stories of people’s reactions shows how many assumptions can be made about a person simply based on the color of their skin.

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680 Words | 3 Pages

The racial stereotypes of the early American history had a substantial role in shaping attitudes toward African-Americans during that time. In the past, black men had characteristics that accompany thieves, rapist, murders, etc. and because of that, when looking into the black race, all black men are seen as threats despite being the same as any other race. When analyzing racial stereotypes, one will begin to see that they are “constructed beliefs that all members of the same race share given characteristics” and these associated characteristics are generally negative (Jewell, 1993). Brent Staples is an African American man who has been mistaken as a criminal numerous times just because of his race.

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1343 Words | 6 Pages

Annotated Bibliography Alexander, M. (2010). The new Jim Crow: Mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness. New York: The New Press. Alexander opens up on the history of the criminal justice system, disciplinary crime policy and race in the U.S. detailing the ways in which crime policy and mass incarceration have worked together to continue the reduction and defeat of black Americans.

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227 Words | 1 Pages

These authors conducted two studies to investigate how Blacks experience encounters with police officers due to stereotypes that depict Blacks as criminals, expecting that such encounters induce Blacks to feel stereotype threat such concern about being treated unfairly by police officers. The first study instructed Black and White participants to explain what they perceive and how they feel when interacting with police. The White men didn’t feel the police presented a threat to them. While the Black participants responded with their fear of feeling they would be accused of some type of wrongdoing. The second study Black and White men were asked to review a hypothetical scenario where there is an officer who has stopped in your path up ahead

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1714 Words | 7 Pages

It is apparent that public spaces can be frightening for women, as they face fears of sexual harassment and attack by men. In fact, research on fear of crime and public space usually examine the experiences given by women. Though there are many accounts exploring and emphasizing women’s vulnerability and fears, there are few which take into consideration the apprehension that males have about public spaces. In particular, anxieties that Black men are plagued with. In North America, black men have historically been depicted as aggressive, hypersexual and violent – to be controlled, exploited and tamed (Hackman, “‘It’s like we’re seen as animals’: black men on their vulnerability and resilience”).

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1049 Words | 5 Pages

The standard way of thinking about how African Americans are treated is that they are portrayed as criminals. The reason that African Americans are seen to be this way is because of the way they are shown on television. Television makes them look like they are all bad people, out looking for something bad to do. According to the video that we watched, black men account for an estimated 6.5% of the United States population, however they make up 40.2% of the United States prison population. When

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943 Words | 4 Pages

The white community is seen as inferior, which means they are given more rights, judged less, and treated like they are on top of the world. Source A describes a black male journalist who was mistaken for a killer and held at gunpoint. “Black men trade tales like this all the time.” This quote shows the likelihood of a mistaken black crime because it is very common for people to blame the black community even if they did not commit the crime. This also shows the repetition of the justice system failing the black community because it is falsely accusing them of crimes they do not commit, reducing their chances of living the lives they have dreamed of.

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908 Words | 4 Pages

The Huffington Post says, “The U.S. incarcerates nearly seven times as many people, measured as a share of population, as Canada does. People of color are disproportionately represented in the American prison population and are typically punished more severely than white peers for the same crimes” (Daniel Marans). Racism against people of color has caused them to be represented poorly in society as potential criminals, especially black. MIT informs its viewers that “according to the United States census Bureau, blacks are twice as likely to be poor compared to other races, and eight times as likely to be imprisoned. Blacks are also three times more likely to be convicted of drug violations than whites.

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1806 Words | 8 Pages

The killing of a young African American Michael Brown by white police officer Daren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri on August 9, 2014 shed a light on something that had long been ignored by the white population of the USA, the obvious inequality between black and white individuals in the criminal justice system. This racial bias is no longer based on explicit racism which was outlawed by the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, instead it is influenced by implicit racial bias present in all aspects of the criminal justice system resulting in implicit assumptions that lead to quick and prejudice judgments based on negative stereotypes by the actors of the criminal justice system especially law enforcements which lead the uneven usage of “stop and

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1706 Words | 7 Pages

The culture of aggression and violence surrounding black men is a consequence of a psychological and sociological term known as hypermasculinity; associated with extremely negative connotations and contributions to harmful and damaging stereotypes about black men. “The hypermasculine image of the black male as a violent and aggressive being has been perpetuated throughout history and continues to be reinforced in contemporary society”(Wadley 60). Black men have adapted behaviors and attitudes, like the need to be aggressive, tough, and unemotional which are reinforced by societal pressures and expectations. These expectations stem from the legacy of slavery because of black men's need to assert masculinity in the face of oppression. The black

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1554 Words | 7 Pages

Conversely, because of the historical discrimination of people of color, many police officers and white Americans have the stereotype that people of color

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828 Words | 4 Pages

The topic of the research study is racial profiling. Racial profiling is the use of race or ethnicity as grounds for suspecting someone of having committed an offense. Often times black men are looked upon as a threat simply because of their appearance, their black skin automatically make them a suspect and or threat to society. Racial profiling against black men, especially in today’s society, has a major impact on black men’s lives. Stereotyping effects black communities, families, and the individual’s life.

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1111 Words | 5 Pages

The Color of Justice There are countless injustices in America’s judicial system because of racism, whether it be subconscious or completely conscious. The racism deeply embedded within the American Judicial System needs to be radically reconstructed. Racism has to be recognized and then legally obliterated in order for African American men and women to ever receive a fair treatment by our justice system. The same subconscious racism that results in unfair and prejudicial treatment by judges and juries starts young, at home and in schools.

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679 Words | 3 Pages

Overrepresentation in the US prison and criminal justice system is a product that has historically targeted Blacks. During the Jim Crow era, black people were imprisoned for the color of their skin, and police brutality against them was common. It seems that things are becoming less and less the same. Slavery and beyond are still present in the American economic system and are clear signs of the racism that still exists in

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965 Words | 4 Pages

People of all different races and ethnicities are locked behind bars because they have been convicted of committing a crime and they are paying for the consequences. When looking at the racial composition of a prison in the United States, it does not mimic the population. This is because some races and ethnicities are over represented in the correctional system in the U.S. (Walker, Spohn, & DeLone, 2018). According Walker et al. (2018), African-Americans/Blacks make up less than fifteen percent of the U.S. population, while this race has around thirty-seven percent of the population in the correctional system today.

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