CRIMINALIZATION OF AFRICAN AMERICANS AND LATINOS
BY C.B
As a New Yorker,
I tend to take my surroundings for granted and at times are oblivious to crime that
occurs in the city because it does not affect me. I live in the Bronx and for
most people they would assume that everyday, I am surrounded by crime and worry
about my safety. However that is not always true, in my personal opinion, I
think the amount of crime that occurs in the city is normal for each state. However
what is interesting about crime in the city and other states are the numerous
amount of minorities that commit crimes.
I started to wonder why is it that African Americans and Latinos are a
large part of the criminal system ?
For example the photo shown here is
taken the NYPD Crime Enforcement Activity Report for the year of 2015. In this
chart it displays the percentages of what race ethnicity committed the crime of
murder. Which African Americans have the greatest percentages in, followed by
Hispanics. In the other charts for different types of crimes the highest
percentages where of African Americans and Latinos. Why could that possibly be?
One
possibility that I believe is a factor is the marginalization of minorities in
United States. In the U.S, it is no secret that racism and classism, still
affect how minorities are treated all around the U.S. This is best exemplified
by James Baldwin in his A Letter to My Nephew, in which he states:
You were born where you were born and faced the future that you faced because you were black and for no other reason. The limits to your ambition were thus expected to be settled. You were born into a society which spelled out with brutal clarity and in as many ways as possible that you were a worthless human being. You were not expected to aspire to excellence. You were expected to make peace with mediocrity.
The mediocrity
that many African Americans and Latinos face then and even today is under the
umbrella of discrimination. Because of marginalization, many a of the African American and Latino population
live in poor concentrated areas which result in the amount of crime done in
these areas by their own communities. The marginalization affects these
population greatly because there are lack of resources in terms of jobs and education.
Because of the lack of resources of jobs or education, most people are either
too poor to fed themselves or families and are not qualified for certain jobs
in America that require a person to have at least a high school degree. The
discrimination system in America, for some makes it easier to become a
criminal, rather than a “upstanding” citizen.
Works cited:
Baldwin,
James. “A Letter to My Nephew.” The Progressive. December 4, 2014. Accessed
February 26, 2017. http://progressive.org/magazine/letter-nephew/
Bratton,
William J. “Crime and Enforcement Activity in New York City.” NYPD. January 4,
2016. Accessed February 26, 2017. http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/downloads/pdf/analysis_and_planning/year_end_2015_enforcement_report.pdf
I really enjoyed your article, especially the excerpt from James Baldwin's letter. The reasons why people of color are often being criminalized is like a domino effect, as you described. Living in poor concentrated areas, lack of jobs and education, poor nutrition and so forth all add up and then tend to be reasons why many people of color find themselves behind bars. And it is not necessarily their fault, but more so that the system has set them up to fail. I feel like your article really helped explain that. I also like how your article provided statistics of arrestees by race and ethnicity as well.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that you looked at the bigger scope of why some crimes are being committed and how the system is set up in some areas for it to be easier to commit crime. Because I feel as though people overlook how statistics seem to come about and just base their conclusions off of numbers.
ReplyDeleteI could really relate to your article. I also live in New York City and am oblivious to crime rates. I agree that the marginalization of minorities is what causes minorities to commit more crime. Since minorities already have a target on them, they have less room for error, so any little action that is seen as "illegal" or "wrong" they will be penalized. The class disparities between Whites and African Americans and/or Latinos is also responsible for higher crime rates among the minority population.
ReplyDeleteI also can relate to your article. The area that I live in I'm not always aware of the crime thats happening around my town. I also agree with what you said about how the area one lives in truly affects their social economic status and the crime rates.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this post. I loved how you included statistics in a graph. It really helps the reader understand what points you’re trying to get at as well as give the audience a visual. I find it easier to understand stats when it is in a visual graph because you actually see the differences. I really liked how you references the letter by James Baldwin, it really furthered your points in answering the initial question you had asked. Great post!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed how you pointed out the statistics of crime rates versus the reasoning as to why these crime rates were the way they were. If you plainly just look at statistics, you leave out all of the discrimination and marginalization that is part of the reasoning to these rates. Great job at pointing out that discrimination is a big factor on who is a "upstanding citizen".
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you made a point of unpacking the statistics of minority crime rate a little. A low income community with low benefit resources is much more subject to having crime than an affluent neighborhood but when it comes to minorities, people don't take the time to understand how or why that happens.
ReplyDeleteGreat graph! It really puts things into perspective by seeing how drastic the amount of arrests differ between other racial groups from Latinos and African-Americans. Doing a blog of similar topic, your question raised was also what I had in mind when I was doing research on the topic. The unfair concentration of police in these struggling neighborhoods also shows just how the system gives no remorse to those who need help. Great post, the graph alone can be seen as a real eye opener for some people.
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