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Mass Incarceration In Bryan Stevenson's TED Talk

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A few important facts from Just Mercy and Bryan Stevenson’s TED talk, in 1972 Bryan Stevenson’s states “ that there are were 300,000 people in prison and in the jail system, but today and in our present era there are 2.3 million locked up in jails and prisons”. Following this statement Bryan Stevenson’s also informs on how the United States is the highest country with incarceration population in the world. Bryan Stevenson also informs how the mass incarceration leads to fundamental changes within the US. Many of the funding’s that typically goes toward construction, youth, and poverty assistance and many more helpful things. The money that usually goes to support all of those helpful facilities for American are now going toward either expanding …show more content…

He feels society needs to be more courageous and embrace the many challenges, problems and suffering of out wrongfully accused and African American population. This book connected to this class on so many different levels. One element it connected to was the mass incarceration that are going on in the United States because we “our class” did touch base on that topic. Another element from the reading that can connect to class discussion is the many wrongful convictions of many Americans that the system has to exonerate after being identified as innocent individuals who were put on death row. I have learn many things from these readings. One factor that I found interesting was learning that there are programs put out in the world, that does help out the individuals who are wrongfuly convicted. Even if its just that they did not have a equal or fair trial, or being cause or being to poor to offord a denfense attorney. Programs like The Equal Justice Initiative.(2017) even though that insituion is mainly based in Alabama, it provides legal representation to individuals who are locked up and “may” have been wrongly convicted. They also provid assistance for poor prisoners, who need proper presentation, or individuals who are denial a

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He had seen firsthand how African Americans experienced brutality growing up. He had seen this when Jess Alexander Helms a police officer brutalized a black woman, and dragged her to the jail house. He had explained it as “the way a caveman would club and drag his sexual prey”. This shows how little rights African Americans had in these days because he was unable to do anything. All of this happened while other African American individuals walked away hurriedly.

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Furthermore, he also explains that he, too, dealt with the “fugitive-slave laws, Dred Scott decision, indictment for treason, and long and dreary indictments.” By explaining that he understands the difficulties they faced, the audience knows that he understands their pain. His mentioning of their hardships allows him to declare that their “duty...is not to cavil over past grievances.” In other words, he wants his fellow African Americans to look past their difficulties and to fight with those who failed to even recognize them as citizens. By explaining that he empathizes with his audience,

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He showed how black people were not seen as equals and how people reacted to a black person being in a white person’s territory. Both sources showed the challenge of being different. The challenge of what it’s like to live as a minority. How people can be cruel and condescending just by a person’s race and change is not easy to accept and achieve. Change is not something that can easily be accepted by everyone.

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He presents his audience with the idea that when race becomes a major component in a criminal case people lose focus on the actual crime itself. Which is true, in cases such as Trayvon Martin or Michael Brown the focus stemmed around the races of the victims and the accused assailant, not who they were or whether their actions were right or wrong or right. The media coverage of the cases seemed more determined to depict the assailants as racist that majority of the coverage was spent on the race instead of the violent nature of the

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With this, he shows that African Americans have experienced this unjust treatment time after time and nothing was being done about it. By forming a sense of remorsefulness in the community, it held the people accountable for their actions and helped them come together, as a force, to embark upon the problem that was at

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The author stated that the poor Hispanic and black men are in prisons, they are the ones who are not well educated. The author develops the personal issue telling that himself is a black Africa male. He can relate to this problem because he has gone through prison and all other things. The author explains that the crime has colored and everyone have different views about it. Another problem is that the discrimination, and punishment applied to people as racially.

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He discusses the issue of segregation and the various forms of injustices that were prevalent in the Southern region, elaborating on how these deplorable actions were impacting African Americans. The individual affirms the necessity of civil disobedience through peaceful protests, emphasizing their non-disruptive nature. He asserts that the breaking of unjust laws is justified when they oppress a particular group, and engaging in peaceful actions is not indicative of weakness, but rather demonstrates

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The time period the essay was written in was 1986; so while looking back at the history during the late 70’s & early 80’s when many of his unjust treatments were bestowed upon him. Around this time period the black people community fought through barriers in many areas to achieve the equality they rightfully deserved. Likewise with civil rights activist groups like the black panthers protesting and rallying many people thought of the black community as violent or disrespectful which would have led to the maltreatment and inequality that many black men and women faced like

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Secondly, he states.” Now this approach is being dismissed as extremist. I must admit that I was initially disappointed in being so categorized” (Letter from Birmingham Jail page 4). Simultaneously this adds to his feelings and frustrations; it lets us understand he is trying his best but as well know even the best of work gets criticized. Thus, these quotes also allow the reader to reflect on their own morals and understanding, allowing them to see the wants and needs of the black community during this time.

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Essentially, Stevenson wanted the taxpayers to be worried about where their money is going. The government funding for prisons has risen from $6.9 billion in 1980 to nearly $80 billion today; as a result, America now have to face the unprecedented economic crisis (Stevenson 16). The money spent on jail is suppose to be used for public services, education, health , and welfare. This is the reason

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He explained the process taken to organize a nonviolent movement by taking “Four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self-purification; and direct actions” (78). By doing so, shining a light on the unjust laws maintained in U.S against the “Negro” community that should be changed. Any laws that disregards human dignity and distorts an individual’s worth within that community is considered unjust.

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In Ted Talk I believe Zimbardo did a good job explaining the idea of evil. He believes that there is no line between good and evil. Good people can turn bad and bad people can be good ,depending on circumstance around them. When Zimbardo demonstrates sadistic photos of prisoners , I was shocked and sad about how far the soldiers are willing dehumanize because of power and control was involved and the environment. Then he explain the same situation happen in the Stanford prison experiment.

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Out of the 337 cases where innocent men and women were wrongfully imprisoned nearly half of the true suspects were identified and convicted. The racial heritage of those who have been exonerated is fairly diverse, consisting of “206 African Americans, 104 Caucasians, 25 Latinos, and 2 Asian Americans” (The Innocence Project). (Transition) Although The Innocence Project has changed the lives of many who others would not afford them the opportunity to prove their innocence, they would not have been able to do so without the recent

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Around 2 million Americans are currently residing in the jail system; around 5% of those inmates are believed to be innocent. With an estimate of around 230,000 innocent people currently living within the prison system, little action is taken to right these wrongs and assist them. The wrongfully accused often have little to no resources to aid them and they are stuck in prison for a crime they did not commit. These people face physical and mental abuse in prison alongside disbelief from those around them as they try to convince people of their innocence. Prisoners who are falsely accused faced impacts on both their mental and physical health.

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For example, open Black support of harsh punishment and law enforcement may seem hypocritical because in reality these policies and practices contribute to mass incarceration of Blacks. Alexander clarifies that Black support is more complex than it appears and can be attributed to a combination of complicity and wanting better safety for their communities and families (Alexander, 2012, p.210). Alexander also offers a unique perspective throughout the entire book by explaining how the systems of slavery and oppression have affected White individuals and not merely in the form of privilege or the dismissal of White people as simply as racist individuals. I resonated with one particular section discussing the "White victims of racial caste" (Alexander, 2012, p.204); the author 's anecdote of a white woman falling in love with a Black man and due to miscegenation laws could not have children. I could relate to this story on a deeply personal level in that my own parents experienced extreme and countless hurdles due to their interracial relationship and having biracial

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