Prejudice and Racism All Men are Equal, Unless They Are...

Brian is a young African American male who has been pulled over by the police somewhere between twenty and thirty times and accused of committing a crime. The only problem is, hes never so much as jaywalked across a street. Brian is a hardworking, church-going man who is director of lighting at Black Entertainment Television in Washington, D.C. He has a spotless record. That matters little to the D.C. police. Time after time, the cops would pull Brian over to interrogate him for a recent murder, robbery, or assault. He would be yanked out of his car, thrown to the ground, and held until one of them figured out he was the wrong guy. -Brian Anthony Harris is Not Wanted, by Michael Moore In his 1963 document, Letter From†¦show more content†¦Negroes have experienced grossly unjust treatment in the courts. -Martin Luther King Jr., Letter From Birmingham Jail, 1963 The number of American black men in jail is staggering. According to the Justice Policy Institute (JPI), the U.S. currently has 2 million prison inmates, more than half of whom are non-white. The JPIs most recent study reports that the number of people incarcerated for violent crime has doubled, the number of nonviolent offenders has tripled, and the number of people imprisoned for drug offenses has gone up eleven-fold, since 1980. According to the LA Times 1999 Year in Review, American crime rates have fallen, with violent crime at its lowest rate since 1985. Even so, more Americans are incarcerated per-capita than any other country in the world. In fact, Americas non-violent prison population is larger than the combined populations of Wyoming, North Dakota and Alaska (JPI, Americas 1 Million Non-Violent Prisoners). Despite declining crime rates, at the end 1996 there were 193 white American prison inmates per 100,000 whites, 688 Hispanic prison inmates per 100,000 Hispanics and 1,5 71 African American prison inmates per 100,000 African Americans (JPI, Poor Prescription). This means that blacks are now imprisoned at 8 times the rate of whites. In fact, in 1999, 12.3% of Americas black men between the ages of 20 and 39 were in prisonShow MoreRelatedEssay about Racism and Prejudice in America629 Words   |  3 PagesRacism and Prejudice in America Nigger, Spic, Kike, Cracker. Words of hate that resonate throughout the ideals of racism. Society tends to look only at prejudice on the surface. It is easy to ignore the racism that hides below the surface and is part of American life. I’m talking about apathy. It is apathy that keeps the legacy of hate part of American life. I’m not saying that the majority of white America has a KKK robe in their closet and likes to burn crosses. I’m not even saying thatRead MoreOthello, By William Shakespeare1140 Words   |  5 Pageswritten by William Shakespeare in 1603. In this play, Shakespeare features three major characters: Othello, Iago, and Desdemona. Othello, a black man, and Desdemona, a white venetian secretly eloped in the play. Iago shows racism and prejudice towards their relationship because of their skin colors. In the play, Iago says: â€Å"Even now, now, very now, an old black ram is tupping your white ewe. Arise, arise! Awake the snorting citizens with the bell, or else the devil will make a grandsire of you. AriseRead MoreP1 – Explain the Range of Meanings Attached to Citizenship, Diversity and the Associated Terminology1297 Words   |  6 Pagesto citizenship, diversity and the associated terminology Racism Racism is prejudice or discrimination directed against someone of a different race based on such a belief. An example of racism in the public services comes from a news report on channel 4 earlier this year. 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Only a few years later, during World War II, the Japanese that happened to be in America were put into camps due to theRead MoreLetter From A Birmingham Jail And Barack Obama s A More Perfect Union1304 Words   |  6 PagesJail was Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere...Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I really thought that this was a very powerful statement and one that makes absolute sense. Barack Obama also stated something very s imilar in his A More Perfect Union speech stating the following ...I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together... Today racial inequality is ongoing whether you are aware of it or not. We have