Race Relations: Judicial- Social - Law Enforcement

Yesterday I posted something asking to give me new subjects to write about. One of the subjects given was about the George Zimmerman verdict and race in the legal system. I assume this person, with respect of the trial and the media charges of how Blacks fit into a system; or perhaps even Latinos but I will be mostly touching on Blacks and towards the end of generalities will touch on Latinos as well.

With this particular piece it will be about how other people see Blacks in a judicial, societal and law enforcement view… but also how Blacks see themselves in the context of the judicial system, how society views them and how they feel with respect to law enforcement.

I will first write about the Zimmerman trial and verdict which I expect to be rather short for the most part and then go into the broader situation of both the irony of this trial and race relations as a whole.

George Zimmerman Trial
I originally was not going to pay attention to the trial because I felt that from the offset I already knew how it would play out. I tend to be a pessimist of such things I admit. Yet as I am sure other political addicts have seen, every political channel was covering this case.. Fox News, CNN, MSNBC were all covering this trial and I have three televisions in this room and those are the three channels that the they are usual on… so because of that I just watched the trial. [though my Desktop PC and laptops still were on C-Span, C-Span2, and C-Span3 to see what was happening in congress…or lack thereof]

Watching the trial, and I have been saying this for over a year that I was not there, I cannot say with complete certainty and that is why if we look at the jury, and the verdict without emotions and things of that nature.  Many of the experts in the trial came from the defense, I know generally in cases you have the defense experts, the prosecution experts.. yet the prosecution in this case did not see to have many experts. I expected the usual voice analysis of the prosecution calling people saying it was Martin and the Defense calling people saying it was Zimmerman  - I have never heard either of their voice in different situations, so I cannot speak to that. I think the closing pretty much told me the case would go the way I already expected it to go… the defense as I expected showed the many steps of reasonable doubt and how the evidence was there.. the prosecution ended with a bunch of hypothetical situations and questions which as a political junkie, and someone who has seen many trials is a weak way to close your case… it makes it seem as if you are unsure so … the verdict was as expected.

With respect to the trial, I was asked by someone “was I happy with the verdict?” No, regardless of your view on the issue, a kid is dead so it is hard for me to be “happy” about anything involving this case. With respect to the verdict itself, I do not think anyone which watched the trial expected an conviction if we looked at it solely from a legal standpoint in which the defense did show reasonable doubt, and thus if there is “any” reasonable doubt then the jury was to come back with a not guilty verdict, I understand and expected that.

Someone else asked me… or rather said to me, he is innocent because he was found not guilty. I hear this often and the legalese of cases and the way the verdict is read is very confusing in that, the verdict never says you are innocent, it says guilty or not guilty. What this means is that under the law, has the state met or not met its case to show that you are culpable to enough of a degree to get a conviction. I am sure you hear it often, not just in this case but in general when people who say guilty means they surely did it and not guilty means that they innocent; our legal system does not tell of innocence or guilt, it tells whether or not the prosecution or defense has argued their case better to warrant a decision to their side.. not guilty does not mean innocent and without any culpability.

We are a nation of laws, so I of course will respect the verdict as it stands, are there things that I think Zimmerman should have never did such as getting out of the car and things of that nature, while not illegal, I would say yes. But these actions are not illegal and thus, it would seem the jury looked at not at the start of the entire event but looked at the altercation and then they either all agreed that Zimmerman was telling the truth, or they were unsure, and thus since there was reasonable doubt they voted not guilty and perhaps it was a mixed bag in which some were unsure and some thought Zimmerman was telling the truth.. I cannot get inside the mind of others to know what they were thinking and why they were thinking that way.

I will close this by saying there was only two people out there that day, so of how it all started we only have two people who were actually there ..and regretfully one of them is dead. And thus we only have one side of the story of a person that was there from start to finish,

When a friend proofread this, she asked me, would it still be regretfully if Zimmerman was the one who was died, yes, either way it is generally a regretful situation when someone dies in an altercation.. a loss for their family..

When I was researching links to write this, I found this which I thought was well written and further shows why some blacks have issues or negative views towards the "system"
Cord Jefferson
The Zimmerman Jury Told Young Black Men What We Already Knew
gawker.com/the-zimmerman-jury-…

False comparison and “factual one sided statements”:
I have debated several people, four times now people have brought up the Murders of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom. They said that the only reason that the national media did not cover it was because they are white. One woman told me that it was “clear” that they were targeted because they were white and when I asked her for the evidence she could not tell me.. just continued to ramble on about the lack of media coverage.

I found this a bit of a “eh” feeling since most cases that gain national attention are of the murder of White individuals, generally though by other whites individual(s).

While I have asked all four people who brought this up, what does this have to do with the Zimmerman case…

According to both the head detective, the District Attorney etc there was no evidence that there was a clear racial motive and according to those involved that they were chosen randomly, not because they happen to be white.

But I find the mentioning of this case as a bit of a false comparison. In this case the five people involved were immediately arrested when they were found, four of the five were convicted in state courts and 1 was charged and convicted in federal court.. Zimmerman, was not charged for nearly two months after public outcry.. As stated, I was not there to know what happened but I find it a bit eh… when people compare these cases as if they are the same.


… one woman kept claiming things as “factual” yet all of her statements were just Zimmerman statements, regardless of you view of the case, I cannot take something as factual when even the experts say they cannot tell, or such as when Zimmerman says Martin just attacked him… only Zimmerman and Martin was there at the beginning of the trial, the witnesses did not start on-looking until the scuffle has already started thus if you wish to debate the trial, okay but please do not claim something to be factual just because Zimmerman said it and the only other person that could possibly refute such is dead.  So I expected the verdict, and was not there.. but I try not to say something is factual .. when there is no evidence of it being ..factual..



The injustice of the Prosecutorial difference
While it does not have to do with this charge specifically, am I the only one who found the choice of the District Attorney a bit ironic?

The State Attorney in this case, Angela Corey, who said she wanted Justice, and that the law will work and other nonsense is the same State Attorney that trialed and convicted Marissa Alexander … Alexander, a woman who was abused by her husband, who had a restraining order of protection against her husband because of his abuse of her… Her husband came to home, threatening her with violence,… Alexander got her legally owned firearm, she fired a bullet into the air, in her own home, as a warning shot in order to make her husband get away.. it worked.. but not as expected. She was arrested and charge… What did Angela Corey say then? Was the case about Justice? No, Corey said that Alexander was “Angry” that she shot not out of fear but that she was angry.

In this case, she never aimed and shot at her husband, no one was harmed..  her husband was in violation of the order of protection… but Corey charged her anyway and now Alexander, unless something happened will spend twenty years in prison. For firing a warning shot, while her abusive husband, who had an order of protection against him.. violated that order of protection and came to her home… Since Florida has mandatory minimums that means that a woman, who was on her own property… who fired a warning shot in her own home… where no one was harmed.. was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

So, from the start and knowing of this case, I admit I was like “eh…..” when the state attorney was chosen to head this case.. while I know this case had nothing to do with the Zimmerman case.. it did make me question Corey’s view of Justice when a woman who was in her home… fired a warning shot and got 20 years.

It is of course up to the state attorney whether or not to bring charges, and she could have just not brought charges..

This case of course has been compared to the Zimmerman trial for the “Stand your ground laws”… Many are saying warning shot or not, did she not have the right to stand her ground.. her abusive husband violated the Court Ordered, order of protection. She fired a warning shot because she said she did not want to hurt anyone and now is spending or rather is sentenced to 20 years in prison… I do not know what happened to her three kids, if they were set back to their father, to her family or if they are in the system… but the point of this story and what I call the irony of this case is the State Attorney in the Zimmerman case said she wanted Justice yet.. in the case of Alexander, where a woman was her home, her husband violated the order of protection and went to her home.. which was of course a place he was not allowed to be around at all, she [Alexander] fired a warning shot, in her own home, the bullet went into the wall of her home, no one was hurt and now she has been sentenced to 20 years in prison…

Certain cases like this I will touch back on later, but I used this to move away from trials and onto the race relations and how they correlate with respect to the “Judicial, Social & Law Enforcement” systems.

As anyone who knows me knows that racially I am mixed, [Russian, German, Native American, Irish, Jewish and Black] yet with my skin color, you would just think that I am fully Black… well I grew up in Harlem, New  York and as some others may tell you like if you grow up as a Black kid in NYC, or other big cities that the cops will mess with you often. Stopping you, wanting to frisk you and just generally messing with you.

I personally have had several friends that have been shot by cops, some were more understandable such as these friends were in a lifestyle of crime and who probably resisted the officers and things of that nature.. but I also have friends who were doing nothing wrong and were shot by the NYPD and some died… as usual it was called a mistake and nothing was done to the cops.

But as a black male in these type of places, you generally have more worry of the cops than the crooks. The crooks you may know, see more often yet generally when you see cops it is for them running through your neighborhood, harassing you and those that live thing and things of that nature.

I will say now, I honestly think most cops want to do a good job and hold no ill intent in their hearts, but when you have that small group of cops that want to seem like a hard ass, it makes the general view of the rest much harder. You can ask any cop, and they will tell you that bad cops makes their job a lot harder since the people will have even more of a distrust to the police because of these cops… where I grew up we had cops that would rob drug dealers, we have had cops who worked for organize criminal organizations and would run plates and act as hit men for these groups .. some of these officers were caught and convicted and some were not. But this is why in many cases that Blacks may have a general distrust of cops because in general when you see them it is not for the whole protect and serve but for the stop and frisk.

The mayor of the city I live in, Michael Bloomberg, has said that he supports stop and frisks.. which I found to be moronic since about 90% of the people who were stopped and frisked were innocent.
www.nyclu.org/content/stop-and…

According to the New York Civil Liberties Union, going all the way back to 2002, look at the stats, nearly 90% of all those stopped were innocent

80-90% of those stopped were Black and Latinos,
More than half were between the ages of 14-24

So when you have the police just randomly stopping you as you are walking down the street minding your own business then this of course can lead to animosity between how certain communities feel towards police.

For a moment I am going to focus on New York City…
These are just the cases of the NYPD shootings of unarmed people that made it to the national news, of course there are many others that are shot every year by the NYPD and other officers… but this is just to show why some Blacks have somewhat of a distrust of police officers.

In 1984 you had the case of Eleanor Bumpurs, a 63 year old woman, who was resisting an eviction.. when the cops came she resisted arrest and was shot twice with a 12 gauge shotgun… that officer of acquitted, which did further the general distrust of cops in New York city… for many Blacks.

Now, this is on top of, the cases like Abner Louima,
This was a man who at 30 years old, in 1997 was arrested, beaten and sodomized by the New York Police Department.. who took a plunger, and sodomized this man with the handle of that plunger…

While these officers in this trial was convicted, this only added fuel to the fire of how some Black communities feel about law enforcement and how for some, it is the cops you have to worry about.

Another case, Amadou Diallo
This case is about a 23 year old man, in 1999
Now here is the case of an innocent man, barely spoke any English, unarmed, walking outside of his building and was fired at by four police officers.. who shot a total of 41 shots at him, 19 of which hit him… he of course died of these injuries… at trial these officers were also acquitted .. Which did nothing but further certain distrust between the community that the color of your skin, is enough to be profiled, victimized, killed…

Another case: Patrick Dorismond
Here is a case from 2000, of a 26 year black man.. yet again
In this case, Mr. Dorismond was standing outside the nightclub with a friend,, when an undercover cop walked up to him and asked him for drugs… Mr. Dorismond understandably become outraged yelling at the cop such things as “I am not a drug dealer” and things of that nature… … the incident ended with Dorismond being shot in the chest… and once again in this case the officer was not even charged…

Another Case: Ousmane Zongo
This is a case from 2003, was a 43/42 year old [exact month of birth unknown] he was an arts trader, while in the building where he worked an undercover cop came in to investigate some DVD pirating scam… when Zongo saw the police draw his weapon, according to officer testimony he fled,… officers assumed it was because he was afraid ad thought perhaps it was a robbery or something… after running into a dead end the officer shot the unarmed Zongo 4 times, 2 of those shots were in the back … the police admitted that Zongo had nothing to do with the illegal CD/DVD pirating scam…

The cop got 5 years probation … which once again furthered the angst against law enforcement because in just one state … in just once city after a few years you have 3 dead black men, shot while not doing anything illegal, that were unarmed.. and cops got a slap on the wrist.. there are two more I wish to discuss and then will move on somewhat.

Not much now, but in NYC, during hotter days people would sit on rooftops til early morning rather than be in a hot house.. in 2004, a cop was on roof duty which is when they just check rooftops and if anyone up there clear it out.. no biggie.. well in 2004, Timothy Stansbury, 19 years old was on the roof and was about to head down the stairs from the roof.. as he opened the door the officer admit that he [the officer] was startled and he fired a shot from his gun which was already drawn.. killing the 19 year old… It was deemed accidental, and nothing else came from it…

The last case I will mention is the shooting of Sean Bell… now this is not just about Sean Bell but his two friends as well, in 2006 Bell and two of his friends were exiting a club where his bachelor party was being held, the day before his wedding.. after he argued with someone in the club… the police claimed that someone in the club said they heard someone mention gun but was not sure if it was Bell or his friend.. when Bell and party was in the car .. police surrounded the car with their weapons drawn.. one officer claimed he saw one of the men going for a gun and yelled “gun” before the officer opened fire and shot a total 50 shots at the car… wounding two of Bell’s friends and killing Bell… No gun was found in the car after the incidence.

Three of the officers were charged and in 2008… all three were acquitted of the charges.

So this is just a few of the literally hundreds of cases over the years of police shooting unarmed black males and why some Blacks hold negative views toward Law Enforcement and the so called “system”.

Though not in New York City, the shooting of Oscar Grant, I decided to add it to it since the new film Fruitvale Station… Oscar Grant was pulled off a train with a few others after police were called after a fight on the train.. Grant was taken off the train, handcuffed him behind his back and laid him on floor… police claimed that Grant was cursing at them … the officer claimed while faced down and handcuffed that Grant was moving and the officer reached for his gun and shot Grant in the back .. killing him.

The officer claimed that he meant to go for his taser gun and not his firearm… The officer was sentenced to 2 years in prison but due to time served he was out of prison in less than a year..

I will now lead to a University of Washington study, which did a study in 2003 which showed that cops are more likely to shoot a black man holding a harmless object than they are to shoot a white male holding a gun.

While this is an old study, I used this to show that in 2012, 313 black people were killed by law enforcement, security guards, and vigilantes claiming to be enforcing the law..  that is one black person killed by law enforcement every 28 hours .. I would not lie and say all of these men were innocent, but if you look up the cases, a good percentage were unarmed, and quite a few were young males under the age of 18.

It should also be pointed out, that of that 313 - 136 of them, 44% of them were unarmed at the time of their killing.

So every 28 hours in America, in 2012 a black person was fatally shot by someone in Law Enforcement, I would say look up the states, five years ago only about 175-200 blacks were killed per year by law enforcement and now the number is over 300 a year .. I wonder what it will be in 2013…

I use this to lead away from why some Blacks may hold some angst regarding Law enforcement. I am sure someone may try to say, well black on black crime is higher, and while that is true, that is not the scope of what the individual who asked me to write about. He asked for race relations between Blacks and Law enforcement .. and that is what I am writing about.

This next step is more so something I want you, the readers, to look up for yourself and I will just give references to which are very long pieces that would require pages more of writing just on this.

In 2010 the New York times did a study which showed that black youths are nine times more likely than whites, and Latinos are 4x more likely than whites to receive adult sentences for marijuana charges when the amount is the same and the past records, or lack of records are the same.

What this means is all things being equal the Black youth is nine times more likely, even if he or she has the same amount of marijuana and have the same record, or clean record as their white counterparty of being sentenced as an adults than their white counterparts.

Before we even get to sentencing of adult black males, several studies show that black males are 30-40% more likely to receive jail time than white.. what this mean is that for drug crime and crimes of the like are 30-40% more likely to receive jail time than to have t heir charges dropped to a lower charge or be released.

A report from the state of Washington from 2007 showed that while Blacks only made up 3% of their population yet 51% of those sent to the state prisons are Black .

According to a report by the U.S. Sentencing Commission, Black males receive on average 20% longer prison sentences than Whites for the same crimes in America. This is both with and without mandatory minimums and other sentencing guidelines.

White Privilege
After letting a friend read this, she who happens to be a white female, asked me.. or rather asked me do I believe in or have I seen “White Privilege” in America.

I would say yes, I have already discussed how whites generally get less time for the same charges, I have already discussed how whites are more likely to have their charges knocked down.. I have already discussed how whites are less likely to be stopped and frisk etc.

Now, this is not to say anything negative regarding White people. I just think, it is rather hard to discuss race relations with some White people because they have generally either not have to worry about it much or have not had to deal with it.

I will speak from personal experience, 2-4x a week, I run 5-10 miles just to release energy, stress and just to exercise.. I have lost count on the number of times I have been stopped, while fellow runners who happen to be white were allowed to keep going … and asked, what am I doing, why am I running etc..

Another case, is when me and a white friend were driving to his parent’s home in upstate New York, a very well-to-do affluent neighborhood and the cops pulled us over, had their guns drawn and kept asking my friend was he okay.. My friend was asking them why did they pull us over, and they just kept looking at me asking was he okay.. after a few mins they just told him to have a good day. I was like really…

I understand my body frame can be intimidating, I am a 6’6”, 275-300 lbs. muscular Black man.. at least once a month when walking down the streets I am stopped by cops and questioned. Most of the time they just say what are you doing here etc, then you get the occasional want to be an hard ass that asks to search me, etc. I have never given them permission to search me, there is no law that says just walking down the street is probable cause to search me [I understand when in the subway and some other areas that I am subject to random searches… ] some of them go the rout of “we can take you to the station if you would like” I generally say something to the effect of if they want all of that paperwork then I am willing to go to station..

Growing up, even though my father, a USMC Vietnam Vet.. and also was a police officers he had the talks with me and my brothers. Talks that when writing this I asked a few friends who were white and they never had to worry about such. The talk about being a young black man, and the police; The usual always keep your hand out of your pocket, never walk away, even if you see a cop car coming your way, turn and make sure your hands are clearly seen …

I grew up in New York City in the late 80s and early 90s, where the NYPD was quite corrupt, many cases of police shootings unarmed people, many cases of police brutally beating etc. It of course is not just NYPD, we can look at the LAPD and its great abuses during the 50s, 60s, 70s… of shootings, of beating people up.. or even Chicago now and a few decades ago..

I am not saying that all or even most cops are bad, I honestly believe that most cops want to do their jobs, try to enforce the law, try not to unjustly harass anyone - - but you then have that small minority, that makes it very difficult to trust the police.

What I tend to love about, and I hate to make this somewhat politics and color blind, is I have several white conservative friends and they say “Well, if you are not doing anything wrong then you have nothing to worry about” This shows a great misunderstanding of the critical race theory, of a systemic and systematic seemingly inferiority and criminality of being Black in America.  As I am sure some may know, in many cases you do not have to be doing anything wrong to be stopped and frisks, to be beaten by the police, to be brutally murdered by cops as just a few cases above where those men were doing nothing wrong.

I will stretch again, I am not saying that every single black person is innocent, and things of that nature but when you have a system that looks at blacks, especially black males as something that automatically is criminal, that automatically should bring about a sense of fear in you.. and for decades we have been saying we as a nation will have a serious discussion on race relations in this country and for decades we never have.

I mean we make half-hearted attempts but we never truly have a national debate on race relations in this country.

We can look at our education system, where inner city schools that have many more students, get less money than the public schools in more affluent neighborhoods. We can look at a study a few years ago which said in Chicago the average school was using text books that were more than five years old, and in some cases 15 years old. But we say, oh it has nothing to with race at all!!.. eh.

There was another study which also said that around the country that the old text books from more affluent schools were sent to inner city schools to make sure that these more affluent schools get the more up-to-date books.

I do commend the Chicago Schools for trying to address their food problem, many of the schools stay open year around because the poverty level of the city is quite high.

In speaking of poverty and unemployment, I think these is more of mix of not addressing the socioeconomic and educational things in which we know will save us money on the long run.


Possible Changes
I have already touched on the legal system above, I will address a bit what can be done in a congressional level, and federal level that would stop the systemic and systematic disenfranchisement of blacks in America.

One thing which is law if that once you are a felon, in most states you utilize your right to vote or the rest of your life. If we are truly a nation which believes once you have went to the prison and “paid your debt” to society then it would seem in this sort of society that these men and women should be allowed to register to vote again.

30% of Black males have a felony record, so what this means is once out of prison these men find it hard to gain employment, they will never vote nor much care of the political actions which affects them and others like them.

This is not of course only about blacks, most felons lose their right to vote once convicted with no general way to get it back. I would be okay if you said you had to be out of trouble for 5 years to get the right to vote reinstated, or even if they said you get to register as soon as you are out.. but have some clear pathway to getting this right back. Even if they do not take advantage of it and utilize this, but at least have a pathway to get the right to vote back.

My welfare reform and prison reform are pretty much the same with a few swiping differences.
Though I have written on this before, I will write some new stuff and copy and paste from my previous piece.

Focusing on welfare reform the things I would like to implement is new programs that would allow for people on welfare [elderly and sick are not required by may take part if they wish]

Education programs:
Volunteering and apprenticeship programs:
I would institute a program where those on welfare [old and & sick excluded unless they wish to take part] where the people will volunteer at several businesses, and for more professional trade skills work under someone as their apprentice if able - - either way it will follow up with these other wishes I want.

GED programs:
If someone does not have their HS Diploma I would like to implement a GED program and have those who receive welfare go through a GED program to get their General Education Diploma..

If someone on welfare has their GED or HS Diploma, I would allow for some community college courses, or if they have the grades and get a scholarship for a school that is not a state run school all the better.

Some will of course say, SEE pumping money into it thinking it will fix everything. It is not merely pumping money into this or that, it is allocating that money for a specific thing.

What is it that we know, we know that the higher the level of education that you have completed the less likely you are to be on government assistance, the more likely you are to be able to seek employment with a wage that is somewhat more conducive to a livable wage for your locality..

The Volunteering and apprenticeship will also make it more likely to find employment. As many will tell you, when you have years of missing work history, education or just a general years gap on your resume that makes it much harder for you to get a job. So that is why I would like to see an implementation of volunteer and apprenticeship programs which, coupled with the person going to get their GED/College Degree, will make their resume much better and thus make them be able to find a job and get off welfare and other forms of public assistance. Which is the goal; I would say of most if not all [exception of those that just milk the system] is to get off welfare and find a good job.


The second thing is prison reform, which has been set up the way it has on purpose. Look at the hundreds of thousands of dollars that the Prison Owners and Correctional Officer’s Union give to state and US congress members to keep the laws as strict as possible, which benefits no one but the Correctional Officer’s union and prison owners.. The fuller the prison, the more money they get and make off of the states.

One of the first reforms with respect to prison sentences is to get rid of mandatory minimums. I will use the case as Marissa Alexander as example, should anyone really get 20 years in prison because they fired a warning shot, where no one was harmed?  So, look at it this way, in America we spend on average $40,000 per year, per inmate.. so let us say she does the entire 20 years.. that means tax payers are spending $800,000 dollars to keep someone in prison.. for firing a warning shot due to the fact that the mandatory minimum sentences in Florida said that that was the sentence, if convicted she must get.

Secondly, similar to the welfare reform, I would like to see GED programs brought back to prison, as well as some college courses.

www.forbes.com/sites/collegepr…
College Behind Bars: How Educating Prisoners Pays Off
Forbes Magazine

What this study found, when paired with other studies, and what is widely known is that if an inmate receives his GED in prison he is twice as likely not to return to prison. If an inmate receives some college education, even if they do not complete the program they are nearly 3x more likely not to return to prison. If an inmate receives their degree in a course while in prison they almost never return to prison.

I would also like trade schools brought back to prisons as well.
Paired with previous data, we also know that prisons that have vocational schools aka trade schools show that when an inmate successfully completes the program, he or she almost never returns to prison.

What these skills generally are can range from cutting hair, electrician, plumber, etc.. which once out of prison these fields of work are now open to them. Some states even have out of prison care where upon being released from prison they have programs, with these new certification and skills help these people find employment.

Many states have cut these program claiming it costs the state too much money, which is nonsense. If you cut recidivism rates you are saving the state a ton of money, studies have shown the cost of these programs actually saves state money. A program generally may cost on average of 2-3K .. the more expensive ones run on average of 5K per inmate, … if as a nation we are spending 40K per inmate. If you can stop one inmate from reoffending … that 40K you would have spent per year if they reoffended .. can now be spent on 7 inmates to try to stop them from reoffending and so on.

The issue of course, is the correctional officer’s union in some states that give a lot of money to keep the laws strict, to cut these programs because.. less inmates mean of course that prisons will have to start closing and some Correctional Officer's may lose their job. But is that the society that we want where.., we keep strict laws, lose money just so a few people will not lose their job?

Is it better for society that we keep laws harsh, prison sentences long for petty offences so that a few correctional officers can keep their job? Not to mention the money wasting on housing each inmate compared to the salary of the Correctional officer.

While these changes would help all people who are in the prison system, I do not see why we have not yet done it.

Can it get better?
After I had finished writing  and was about to post, I let another friend skim through it and when he did he asked the question of what can be done… or he asked can it ever get any better, it being race relations in America.

I would say sure, but as with anything we must first admit that there is an issue in this country with race. As stated above, for decade we have been saying we will have a discussion on race relations in America and for decades that discussion has not happened. Yes, race relations in America has made great steps of progress over the decades, and I commend that but we do still have issues in this country.

Some issues, as discussed above that when you have a black youth being charged with similar circumstances as a white youth, why is the black youth 9x more likely to be charged as an adult. Why are Black defendants more likely, with the same charges to get tougher sentences [even in cases of the same judge]. Why are inner city schools, why tend to be a majority of minorities not as well funded as other public schools that have less students.

I do believe that we can get better, but first we have to admit that in America, race relations had made great progress but it does still exist.

I hear some saying, “We have a Black president now so race is no longer an issue in this country” If only that were true I would be glad, but it isn’t. While having a mixed-raced president I would say or historical perspectives is a great achievement on the backs of slavery,…. Then blacks not even considered citizens … then blacks having hard time voting etc.. but having a Mixed Raced President does not mean we are in a “Post Racial America”

So, long story short, until this country is seriously ready to have a discussion on race and how it effects certain communities more than others in both the educational, societal, judicial and law enforcement realms then .. I do not see it truly getting better in a way to set us on a path of what I believe everyone wants .. a truly post racial America.


The Wrap-Up
I do not know much what else to say; I was asked to tell of the race relations between law enforcement, societal issues, justice issues and why a particular segment of society, Blacks, may have some negative views towards this system.

If *Ratchet-Halo [the individual who asked my views on this] thinks this is enough, I may stop here… if *Ratchet-Halo or other readers will like me to add something in the context of this subject and I think it is worthy then I will of course add on to this… pass that I guess I am done for now…