Part 4 ( The color of justice) Flashcards
(17 cards)
What is Colorblind Rhetoric?
The belief that racial categories should not affect how individuals are treated. While it may sound fair, in practice it allows racial discrimination to persist because it denies the existence of systemic racism and requires proof that is rarely attainable under such a framework.
What is Second-Class Status?
Formerly incarcerated individuals, especially Black Americans, are often released into a social and legal status that deprives them of full citizenship rights, including employment, housing, and voting.
How do stereotypes affect law enforcement?
Stereotypes about Black criminality give law enforcement unchecked discretion, leading to disproportionate targeting of Black individuals.
What is The New Jim Crow?
Mass incarceration is a new system of racialized social control, similar in structure and function to Jim Crow laws. The War on Drugs is the key mechanism of this system.
What was Nixon’s proclamation in 1970?
Nixon proclaims drug abuse as ‘public enemy number one.’
What significant event occurred in 1980?
The U.S. formally launches the War on Drugs with 501,000 incarcerated.
What happened in the mid-1980s regarding sentencing?
Mandatory minimum sentences were enacted.
What tough-on-crime laws were passed in the 1990s?
States passed laws like Three Strikes and Truth in Sentencing.
What was the U.S. prison population in 2010?
The U.S. prison population reached 2.3 million.
How do race and drug arrest disparities manifest?
Black and white Americans use and sell drugs at similar rates, yet Black Americans are arrested at disproportionately higher rates.
What is a military example of discrimination?
Black soldiers in poorer communities are stereotyped and policed more aggressively, reflecting broader systemic bias.
What are the social consequences of incarceration?
Incarceration leads to denied employment, destabilized families in poverty, and social immobility affecting generations.
What were the tactics used during the Jim Crow Era?
Voter suppression tactics included poll taxes, literacy tests, and intimidation.
What are the parallels between the Jim Crow Era and the Mass Incarceration Era?
Both eras involve felony disenfranchisement, prison labor exploitation, employment discrimination against felons, and generational poverty.
What modern tactics mirror Jim Crow voter suppression?
Modern forms include ID laws, purging voter rolls, and restrictions targeting formerly incarcerated people.
What are key summary points regarding systemic racism?
Colorblindness hides structural racism, making it harder to prove discrimination. The War on Drugs is not colorblind; it’s a tool for racial control. Mass incarceration is the modern-day equivalent of Jim Crow.
What should be noted about the outcomes of Jim Crow and Mass Incarceration?
The outcomes of both systems are parallel: racial oppression, economic exclusion, and social immobility over generations. The parallels in their outcomes are not coincidental, but systemic and deliberate.
