Author: sarahginsberg

To think that at this stage of American history racial conflict remains an issue, as this article by Peter Katel indicates, is very disturbing. Our society should have learned from the mistakes of racial discrimination of the past. I was very troubled when I read about the racial inequalities that continue to exist in the United States today because I expect better from our country and its people. As a college student in a diverse, multicultural institution, I am not witness to racial discrimination of the kind that Katel’s article discusses.

I believe that I have been less exposed than others to racial conflict because I am situated in an academic environment that does not tolerate racial discrimination. The key to eliminating racial discrimination is, I believe, education. Liberation from racism requires education. This education must be aimed in two directions: one, towards the prejudiced person who is not treating other people properly because of their race, and another, toward the victims of prejudice.  When both sides are educated, racial conflict can be minimized. In response to Katel’s article, I think such education should be given to our police forces, who tend to generalize by race and disproportionately stop- and –frisk black people and also disproportionally use violence when apprehending them. These police practices have unfortunately led to the deaths of many innocent black people. Education must play a crucial role in teaching uneducated people about not treating people differently because of their race.

Education should also be directed at the victims of prejudice who are often black citizens.  Currently, the socio-economic level of many black people is one of poverty, of low levels of education; these factors are often associated with a broken family life. Yet, there are many black people who have succeeded in life, even reaching the highest political position in our country, the presidency of the United States. What most of these success stories have in common is a good education that seems to bring about a reduction in racial conflict. A strong, comprehensive education is optimal to motivate many black people, who may have a sense of failure or doom about developing or being appreciated, to move forward from victim to citizen with full and respected rights. The article indicates that black youth of today have much lower math and reading scores than white youth of equivalent ages. Education is a tool that should be provided to everyone. It is an important tool through which people can learn to help themselves. As a result of slavery there may be a form of learned helplessness and defeatism among black people, but through education in an integrated educational environment, blacks can extract themselves from their difficult situations to full socio-economic freedom. Despite the many laws of civil liberty that have been instituted in our recent history, racial conflict persists. However, I submit that without being given the true key to freedom, a good education equivalent for all, freedom and equal opportunity remain no more than a dream. Equal education for all, will make that dream become reality and help eradicate racial conflict.

The article “Fighting Gangs” indicates that gangs have existed for centuries across many parts of the world. Comprised of the outcasts, and the impoverished of society, they form groups that enable them to fight their way to success. Their success can be measured by territorial control of certain neighborhoods, by financial success through profitable criminal behaviors such as selling drugs, or, more recently, by exerting power and control through the means of social media. What these gangs have in common, regardless of their ethnic make-up or location, is the banding together of underprivileged individuals in society for the purpose of succeeding outside that society. Through aggressive means, these gangs seek to achieve, often illegally and with much force, the goals they wish to attain. They often do this in circumvention of society’s authorized ways of attainment.

For centuries, as long as there have been gangs, the law enforcement agents of their times have not been successful in fighting gangs.  Law enforcement’s attempts to bring down the gangs merely makes them pop up on different street corners, get involved in different criminal activities, and, if anything, may cause them to escalate their fighting techniques to regain their supremacy. I submit that it would be better, as others suggest in this article, to wage peace rather than war with gang members. There can be no winners in a wrestling match between policemen and gang members. Instead, we would all be better served by a two-pronged approach. One method would be to work with potential newly approachable gang recruits to educate them about all the negativities associated with gang membership and to give them alternative approaches by which to succeed. Another method would be to work with those gang members that are already part of the group, by offering them different ways to get out of their gangs and succeed in society. I believe that the best approach to use with respect to engaging the future and the currently enlisted gang members is through the use of gang “interventionists” who have lived the gang life and therefore are aware of what makes people join gangs and the pitfalls of being a gang member. The employment of these interventionists, former gang members, would be helpful in understanding and working with current gang members, since they have lived through the same perils. Moreover, the gang interventionists that would be employed would themselves be supported in their financial and social comeback to society.  In order to help the interventionists succeed (this article brings up that some do not), they would need to be given the right tools to engage in their fight against gangs. Preparing the interventionists properly would lead to their getting involved in creating meaningful educational, mental health, and employment opportunities for those who are not yet accepted members of society. There appear to be two promising laws soon to be enacted by Congress, “The Youth Promise Act,” and the “Redeem Act,” that could strongly support the work of gang interventionists. The “Youth Promise Act” would emphasize educational, mental health, and outreach programs to prevent young people from joining gangs. The “Redeem Act” would help those who are already gang members and have been incarcerated by sealing the records of minors and giving second chances to those who did not commit violent crimes. The best way to fight gangs is not with police force but rather through peaceful social rehabilitation.

Kenneth Jost’s article takes a practical, historical, and cultural approach towards understanding the debate regarding racial profiling and excessive police force. The primary function of a police force is to maintain the safety of the community for which it works. There is a responsibility to protect the average citizen, the criminal, and the police officer himself. This becomes an issue of balance. How does the police officer protect the citizen without bringing harm to himself or to the criminal? In what situations is it permissible to use force? The potential criminal, the innocent bystander, and the policeman, who himself is a member of a community with a family that wants to be protected, all have equal rights. This article has made me realize that not only are the split-second decisions that have to be made to protect everyone difficult, but even long-term policy decision-making issues are not so straightforward to rule on and enforce.

This article brings up several different issues which tend to blend into one. There are the legalities and local debates regarding racial profiling, and there are the issues of how to handle, without too much force, criminals without unnecessarily hurting or killing them. These are two separate issues, each of which this article reviews. The concept of racial profiling is a policy that needs to be addressed by the courts, and it has been. The rulings of the court prohibiting the targeting of possible criminal suspects based on their race, have already occurred. The rulings can be questioned, reviewed in court, or argued in court, but until there is a change in ruling, this policy, based on much thought, statistics, and rights of each citizen in the US, needs to be followed. There are those who argue that the philosophy underlying racial profiling is to protect the citizen, and that by selecting minority groups to profile, police officers are merely profiling based on criminal statistics. However, the courts have ruled this practice to be prejudicial; why should an entire race or minority group be targeted for inspection, even though they may have a somewhat higher criminal percentage rate? Every person needs to be judged on his own, as an individual, not as a member of a race. The courts have so ruled, however, the ruling is not always followed. There have been local police chiefs who have chosen to ignore court rulings that prohibit racial profiling. The government has just begun to ensure that there is enforcement of these issues through the recording policemen at work. This in itself may seem a violation of individual rights; nevertheless, it ensures that policy is followed. Police chiefs who have ignored court rulings and taken the law into their own hands have recently been indicted themselves.

The second aspect of the problem that needs to be addressed is that of excessive police force. This is a difficult policy to enforce, as there are many human factors involved. Much of the recent rage against the police has been triggered by the police forces’ tendency to use excessive violence, sometimes ending in the death of the alleged criminal. The deaths of some criminals who have recently been targeted include a higher number of minority citizens, leading to the creation of the movement “Black Lives Matter.” The key to understanding how to react to the potentially violent criminal, without excessive violence, is education. Policemen have to face their own fears when threatened with a weapon, but also have to be made to realize that many criminals who appear to be threatening may be living in a moment of panic and fear. It is up to the police and government to set up programs to teach young policemen and policewomen how to de-escalate rather than fuel tense, dangerous situations. There are special tactics that can be used with the mentally ill to calm them down. In contrast, the tactics used to capture a terrorist on a shooting rage are quite different. The policemen on the street need to learn that there are many reasons for criminal behavior, and depending on the etiology, they can play a major role in ensuring the calming of the players and reduction of the tenseness of the situation. Thus, government by way of the court systems should ensure equal treatment for all people, and should also work through the educational system to teach policemen to act as members of the community and learn to calm rather than escalate tense situations. Such an approach can play a significant role in reducing the unfair practice of preselecting criminals and reducing the harm to police and to the criminal when both are in a dangerous situation.