Author: shemika sandy

Similar to Chapter 7, a lot of chapter 8 called out racial tensions between officers and the minority community especially the black community. What a lot of people fail to realize and I like that the chapter called out is that this racial tension is not new. The covert racial institutional systems have started since slavery when the subjugation  of black people was legalized. As the laws changed that allowed black people more autonomy and rights, other laws and practices developed  on top of them to hold black people back. For example; even after the 13th amendment abolished slavery, the Jim Crow laws of the south was another way of making black people inferior, and the federal government wanting to maintain peace, and the federal government did nothing for years until civil rights protest. I found a reoccurring theme with the government is that they see the racial problems and only become active to make changes when protests, and more recently violence commences. Most recently it has been the Black Lives Matter movement, and the relationship between officers and the black community. Police violence, and excessive force towards African Americans is nothing new, and has stemmed since slavery. Statistics even shows that black men are arrested, indicted, and convicted at a higher rate than white men, and they only make up 6% of the entire US population. Here in New York City, they are stopped and frisked more, and according the CQ Researcher, the overall national death rate due to the police’s aggressive tactics is over 1000 people in the last year. What makes all of these statistics saddening is that the government did not become involved in mending the relationship until protests began, and some of law enforcement themselves were being killed. This brings up the question that if law enforcement themselves were not being killed, would the government even pay attention to the relations between the two groups? Even with the protests, they are not making active steps to change how law enforcement behaves. 

Not only did the chapter explain race relations between law enforcement and black people, I enjoyed how they connected that relation to low income communities, housing segregation, and education. When you think about the housing segregation, and the minimal education of children in low income communities, you notice the correlation between these two factors and the current racial tensions now. After WWII, while white army veterans were given loans to buy homes in the suburbs, black veterans were not leaving them in the urban areas surrounded by underdeveloped housing. What many people do not know which the the chapter did highlight was that were one lives also affects the education that they get. Low income communities usually get the worst teachers, minimal to no extracurricular activities, and steered away from college and into vocational schools, because counselors and teachers don’t think that they can handle the pressures of it. Many students especially males, recognizing that they will not make it far turn to criminality so that they can provide for themselves, which leads to the racial tension between law enforcement and minority communities because as criminality increase the amount of police officers that need to be in the neighborhood increases. s well as the stigma that minority males are violent criminals. One part of the text that confused me was the statement made that middle class black people had an easier time after the civil rights movement than low income black people. I wish the author would explain what they meant by that statement. Reading the chapter verified the correlation that I have noticed and learned between slavery and the race relations that are occurring now. What I realized is that race relations will never change unless we all realize the covert ways that racism still systematically exists. By ignoring it, or saying that legalized racism does not exist anymore makes problems like police brutality seem more like a complaint than an actually problem. In order to make race relations better, we need to have these open conversations of change.

Throughout the reading I noticed one pattern which is gangs are developed due to specific ethnic or racial groups seeking survival. For example many immigrant gangs that were developed like the Mexican gangs were created in order to secure a neighborhood as there own, therefore protecting them from outside forces. Other racial gangs like those created by black people were used to provide them with financial security as many ended up living on welfare, and in project buildings due to not getting enough or low wage jobs, and being blocked from buying homes when moving up north from the Jim Crow south. Even prison gangs were made as prisoners were looking for protection to survive prison.  I feel that the chapter did not go into detail about why different racial, mainly street gang members, felt that being apart of a gang was necessary. For example; many gangs organized by black people were created to combat the poverty that was inflicted on them due discriminatory laws and practices. So many felt that they had to involve themselves in acts such as narcotics, weapons, and more recently human trafficking as a way of providing for their families, and maybe even getting themselves out of the projects. Although the chapter did mention that many gangs like immigrants were constructed to congregate against assimilated ethnic groups, they also did not mention that gangs like the CRIPS were established to fight police brutality, and to protect the neighborhood from unfair treatment by law enforcement. Although the ulterior motive of gangs was a sense of financial and security protection from outsiders, there overall production lead to heinous crimes that have hurt innocent bystanders, even the people within the gangs.

Although law enforcement, and the federal government have been cracking down on gang activity, I am skeptical of their actions because many of the attempts to catch gang activity have been aimed towards stopping street level gangs, which in many cases end up being minority who live in impoverished neighborhoods. I am questioning if it is easier to find street level gang activity because it is more out in the open, or because of the stigmas that are carried by minorities that live in low income areas, law enforcement feels more justified to crack down on them? I also wonder for the more organized gangs like biker or mobs, who are mainly white, does their whiteness play a role in them not being arrested for gang activity, or their activities and business tactics protect them from being caught by investigators?  Even though they implemented using injunctions on potential suspects to protect them from being profiled as gang members, I wonder if they will instill those same rule on all gang organizations. One activity that was developed to combat gang involvement is using ex cons and gang members to talk to young men about the consequences of joining gangs. Even though some are skeptical that the program may be secretly promoting gang activity, I feel that people listen to those that they can relate to not those who they feel threatened by like officers. An issue with gangs that is troubling me is the new tactic of human trafficking to generate money. I find it to be disturbing that they would utilize mainly teenage and adult women to make their profit especially because those women can be their mother, sister, daughter, and friend. I do wonder if the thousands of black and Latino women missing in the US has a connection to gang activity? Also, I want to know what is being done to detect it, and protect women from being kidnapped and sold into it? Overall I found the chapter on gangs to be quite insightful, even though I am questioning what is being done to stop all gang activity.

I found both chapters 5 and 6 to be a continuation of prior knowledge, as well as eye opening to see the background behind the militarization of police and the effects of racial profiling. What I found to be disturbing was that since 1990s, there has been a surplus of military arms being sent to local law enforcement. What is alarming about the information is that it takes about a year, or less depending on the program to graduate from the police academy. That is a shorter training for most careers as well as a shorter training period for military personnel. To entrust local law enforcement to handle such machinery like pistols, and other arms, when they have minimal professional training with these weapons is quite dangerous, which has been proven many times. When officers are put into stressful situations end up hurting innocent bystanders using such heavy machinery because they lack the training to know how to stay calm when in a high intensity scenario. What I did notice in the reading was that they were making the attempts to cut out military tools being handed to local law enforcement as a way to make a distinction between the military and the local police. Although they have changed the tactics, I began to wonder what took them so long to make that distinction? Although I was not able to find the answer for that, I was able to get a clearer understanding of the point of the SWAT team. Although, I am cognizant that the SWAT team is there to serve search warrants, and have to use heavy arms to protect themselves from any violent reactions, I do feel that their part in the “war on drugs,” has led to unfair profiling from all sectors of law enforcement, and the judicial system. Most of the SWAT arrests are drug offenses, many of those in are centered in minority communities, mainly black and Hispanic. Reading and knowing that information, made me question, how fair the law enforcement system is? It brought back the biggest question that I have when I think about law enforcement action towards combating drugs, which is why is it that the “war on drugs” is mainly centered around minorities communities who are live in poor areas, when their white peers who live in upper class neighborhoods do not get arrested or served search warrants, even if they might be distributing drugs at the same level?

From recent history I feel that the “war on drugs” became the catalysts for racial profiling in the inner city areas, as the stigma that centered inner city minority areas led to more officers being around, as well as more prejudice towards young black and Hispanic men. I found it disheartening that black teens were fatally killed at a rate of “31.17 per million in comparison to white teens who are killed 1.47 per million” (CQ Researcher). Not only are they killed at a higher rate, but they are stopped and frisked, arrested, jailed, and sentenced at a higher rate than white people for the same and or lesser offenses. What makes it terrible is that they can not afford lawyers who can spend time on their case, and do to prejudice within the justice system they receive harsher sentences that their white counterparts. Although, government officials have called for the use of cameras on cops to ensure that they are taking the right steps when arresting, that does not stop the whole system. Even with cameras, many cops are still prejudice, and if they have a boss who supports them, they can hide evidence when a racial profiling case comes about. Also, we can not focus on the lower level law enforcement when dealing with racial profiling, we also need to think about how we are going to ensure that young minority men are not being steered to take high plea deals, or that the judges presiding over their case is not prejudice. The entire law enforcement and Judicial system needs to be changed, but I feel that no one from the national to local government is taking that initiative to change a racists, and unjust system.