Brittonea Meredith
Stories (1/0)
Meredithminded
It is no secret that the United States began as a slave society. Throughout history, the narrative of Afro-Americans treated as second class citizens manifested in slavery, the civil war, reconstruction, and the civil rights movement. The Supreme Court ruling of Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954), made segregation of any form illegal in the United States. Many viewed desegregation as the “freedom” Afro-Americans deserved after the calculated and systematic racism brought on by European colonizers. In 2008 history was made with the first Afro-American President and First Lady. Black women are currently the most educated group in the United States. There is an array of black wealth circulating throughout America and black entrepreneurship is on the rise. There are laws put in place to combat discrimination and racism. To the ignorant eye, Afro-Americans are “equal.” However, we know that racism still thrives in American culture. The criminal justice system in the United States is a blatant example of lack of equality amongst the races. If you look at the actual language in the 13th amendment (the amendment that ended slavery in the U.S.) it states that, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for a crime shall exist within the United States.” But we knew this. We all saw the Netflix documentary. Afro-American males account for 37% of the prison population in the U.S. There are also 96,000 people from Pennsylvania are behind bars. And with no surprise Afro-Americans make up 46% of the prison population. The number of individuals on probation and parole in PA are even higher.
By Brittonea Meredith4 years ago in The Swamp