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Essay On Mass Incarceration

526 Words3 Pages

While incarceration plagues the nation on a great scale, its effects are palpable in varying levels throughout different communities. For years, African Americans have been targeted in various ways, making the black race “inferior” to the white race. A period in history that greatly exemplified the targeting of this group of people is known as the War on Drugs. The span of time known as the “War on Drugs” started in the late 1970’s and unofficially ended in the early 2000’s, though many argue that it is still on ongoing problem with palpable and current ramifications. This “war” may have been justified by rhetoric like “ending the drug epidemic”, or “keeping our children safe”, when in reality, it was a notion that incarcerated people of color and damaged their communities. Due to the unfair …show more content…

Consequently, the War on Drugs helped begin an era of mass incarceration - one targeting minorities.
While the United states prides itself on being the land of the free, American prisons are full of people who are stripped of their fundamental rights that make them “free” American citizens. If you are incarcerated, the freedom of the 13th amendment does not apply to you. While the United States is home to only 5% of the world’s population, it holds 25% of the world’s prisoners (DuVernay, 13th). If a quarter of the nation is locked up, and almost half of those prisoners are black, freedom is stripped from an entire race. African Americans only make up 13% of the US population (Vera). Despite their small racial representation in the country, the lifetime likelihood of a black man going to prison is 1 in 3, while the lifetime likelihood of a white man going to prison is 1 in 17 (DuVernay, 13th). However, the United States prison industry prior to Nixon was

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