DEINDUSTRIALIZATION AND CRIMINALIZATION

BY STUDENT

Throughout history, Blacks and Latinos have constantly been criminalized and viewed as a danger to society when compared to their white counterparts. Years before the “Black Lives Matter” movement and the inauguration of the Trump administration, Black and Latinos fought for the right to be treated fairly under the law. In the 1920’s and 1930’s, crime in the African American community became more tolerant and abundant than crime in the white community (Muhammad, 2010). Why did these black communities constantly experience criminal injustice in the north during the 1920’s, and how did these black communities tackle these problems?

Historian Kenneth Kusmer stated that “ineffective policing in black communities was good public policy,” meaning that white leaders and politicians benefited from these circumstances (Muhammad, 2010). When the white communities wanted to clean their streets of prostitutes, thugs, cadets, drugs, and alcohol, they were moved to “undesirable parts of the city,” or in other words, into the black community. When this happened, the white communities no longer had to deal with such circumstances. Latinos and African Americans became easy prey for petty police due to their ignorance of their rights and the law, regardless of their innocence. Whites may be the ones to commit the crime, but African Americans were viewed as the criminals. During the 1920’s, prohibition began and crime rates increased rapidly as a result. It became clear that the police were often on the wrong side of the law by leading mobs in attacks against blacks (Muhammad, 2010)

Black reformers and a small number of white liberals began to respond to inequality and the crime stigma that was steadily increasing in the 1920s and 30s. Reformers believed the best way to tackle black crime was if each race attacked its half of the problem. For instance, blacks were "expected to police their criminals, and whites were expected to police their racists" (Muhammad, 2010). This was to help provide some sort of law and order between the two races. On the other hand, Booker T. Washington urged blacks to prove that they deserved equality by improving their economic status, instead of fighting for it (African Civil Rights, 2017). Aside from some of the whites who supported the concept of segregated policing, the NAACP involved many white leaders and organizers and black members who were against it. The NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) began documenting and publicizing racisms toll on black lives and its contribution to the increase in criminality. The NAACP had to not only protect the lives of African Americans against injustices and attacks, but also unite them as well (NAACP,2017). I believe the Black and Latino community has and always will face injustices for multiple reasons that may not always be clear. But, being the strong community that they are, they can find their way through the obstacles thrown at them and make it to the finish line that they deserve.


References
African-American Civil Rights Movement (1896–1954). (2017, February 18). Retrieved February 23, 2017, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African-American_Civil_Rights_Movement_(1896%E2%80%931954)

Muhammad, K. G. (2010). The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America (Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America). Harvard University Press.

NAACP. (n.d.). Retrieved February 20, 2017, from http://africanamericansinthe1920s.weebly.com/naacp.html