NationMaster - Encyclopedia: African American contemporary issues

African American contemporary issues are a group of social, political, and business issues that are of interest and concern to African Americans because these issues and the state of their resolution directly affect the quality of life of African Americans. Historically African Americans have faced discrimination in varied forms to a much greater extent than other ethnic groups. Image File history File links AmericaAfrica. ... An African American (also Afro-American, Black American, or simply black) is a member of an ethnic group in the United States whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Africa. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The Atlantic slave trade was the trade of African slaves by Europeans that occurred in and around the Atlantic Ocean. ... The word Maafa (also known as the African Holocaust or Holocaust of Enslavement) is derived from a Kiswahili word meaning disaster, terrible occurrence or great tragedy. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Military history of African Americans is that of African Americans in the United States since the arrival of the first black slaves in 1619 to the present day. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... For the automotive term, see redline. ... See also: American Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968) The civil rights movement in the United States has been a long, primarily nonviolent struggle to bring full civil rights and equality under the law to all Americans. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... African American studies, or Black studies, is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to the study of the history, culture, and politics of African Americans. ... In the United States, Historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) are colleges or universities that were established before 1964 with the intention of serving the African American community. ... Kwanzaa (or Kwaanza) is a week-long Pan-African festival primarily honoring African-American heritage. ... African American art is a broad term describing the visual arts of the American black community. ... African American dances in the vernacular tradition (academically known as African American vernacular dance) are those dances which have developed within African American communities in everyday spaces, rather than in dance studios, schools or companies. ... African American literature is the body of literature produced in the United States by writers of African descent. ... African American music (also called black music, formerly known as race music) is an umbrella term given to a range of musical genres emerging from or influenced by the culture of African Americans, who have long constituted a large ethnic minority of the population of the United States. ... This reproduction of a 1900 minstrel show poster, originally published by the Strobridge Litho Co. ... Detail from cover of The Celebrated Negro Melodies, as Sung by the Virginia Minstrels, 1843 The minstrel show, or minstrelsy, was an American entertainment consisting of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music, performed by white people in blackface or, especially after the American Civil War, African Americans in blackface. ... The term black church refers to Christian churches that minister to the African American community. ... The Black Buddhist Community in America is historically the first and only organization to propagate Buddhism specifically among persons of black or African descent in the United States. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Black Hebrew Israelites (also Black Hebrews, African Hebrew Israelites, and Hebrew Israelites) are groups of people of African ancestry situated mostly in the United States who claim to be descendants of the ancient Israelites. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Voodoo redirects here. ... This does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... â€œLukumi / Yoruba Religion / La ReligiÃ³nâ€ redirects here. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Black supremacy is a racist[1] ideology which holds that black people are superior to other people and is most often thought of in connection with anti-white racism, anti-Semitism and bigotry towards non-black people. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... This article needs to be wikified. ... Black Capitalism is a name for a movement among African Americans to build wealth through the ownership and development of businesses. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... The Black Panther Party (originally called the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense) was an African American organization founded to promote civil rights and self-defense with a mission of domination in the United States. ... Pan-African people are all people with African physical features. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP, generally pronounced as EN Double AY SEE PEE) is one of the oldest and most influential civil rights organizations in the United States. ... The Southern Christian Leadership Conference Logo. ... The Congress of Racial Equality or CORE is a U.S. civil rights organization that played a pivotal role in the Civil Rights Movement of the 20th century. ... The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (or SNCC, pronounced snick) was one of the principal organizations of the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. ... National Urban League Logo The National Urban League (NUL) is a nonpartisan civil rights organization based in New York City that advocates on behalf of African Americans and against racial discrimination in the United States. ... The Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) is a non-profit organization founded in Chicago, Illinois, in 1915 as The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History by Carter G. Woodson and Jesse E. Moorland. ... United Negro College Fund logo The United Negro College Fund (UNCF) is a Fairfax, Virginia-based American philanthropic organization that fundraises college tuition money for African-American students and general scholarship funds for 39 historically black colleges and universities. ... National Black Chamber of Commerce The National Black Chamber of Commerce, (NBCC), was â€œincorporated in March of 1993, in Washington D.C.â€ The organizations mission is â€œTo economically empower and sustain African American communities, through the process of entrepreneurship and capitalistic activity within the United States and via interaction with... The National Pan-Hellenic Council, Inc. ... The Links, Incorporated is an exclusive non-profit organization based upon the ideals of combining friendship and community service and was was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on November 9, 1946, from a group of ladies known as the Philadelphia Club to have focuses on civic, cultural, and educational endeavors[1... Bud Fowler, the first professional black baseball player with one of his teams, Western of Keokuk, Iowa The Negro Leagues were American professional baseball leagues comprising predominantly African-American teams. ... The Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) is a college athletic conference made up of historically black colleges in the southeastern United States. ... logo of Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) is a College athletic conference consisting of historically black colleges located in the southern United States. ... The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) is a collegiate athletic conference which consists of historically black colleges in the southeastern United States. ... The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) is a college athletic conference made up of historically black universities in the southern United States. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... The Gullah language (Sea Island Creole English, Geechee) is a creole language spoken by the Gullah people (also called Geechees), an African American population living on the Sea Islands and the coastal region of the U.S. states of South Carolina and Georgia. ... Louisiana Creole (CrÃ©ole Louisiane and KourÃ-VinÃ, as it is known in and near St. ... Note: This page or section contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ... Lists of African Americans: // List of African-American writers List of African American nonfiction writers List of composers of African descent African Americans in the United States Congress (includes a long list) List of African American Republicans List of civil rights leaders (not necessarily African American, but mostly) List of... This is a list of landmark legislation, court decisions, executive orders, and proclamations in the United States significantly affecting African Americans. ... This is an alphabetical list of African-American-related topics: Contents: Top - 0â€“9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A African American African American contemporary issues African American culture... Image File history File links AmericaAfrica. ... An African American (also Afro-American, Black American, or simply black) is a member of an ethnic group in the United States whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Africa. ... This article is about discrimination in the social science context. ...

Background

Much of the discrimination African Americans have experienced is a direct result of slavery within the United States until that "peculiar institution" was outlawed at the end of the American Civil War in 1865 with several amendments to the United States Constitution. Though slavery within the United States was legally ended, American society was slow to change. During the Jim Crow era, especially in the Southern United States where racism was much more overt and socially acceptable than in the Northern United States, African Americans, as well as other ethnic groups, were faced with a large number of obstacles to participating in the main stream of American society, politics, and business. The African American community was basically a community apart as the White majority created a legal and political structure which attempted to create a social ghetto into which African Americans were expected to remain. Slave redirects here. ... Combatants United States of America (Union) Confederate States of America (Confederacy) Commanders Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee Strength 2,200,000 1,064,000 Casualties 110,000 killed in action, 360,000 total dead, 275,200 wounded 93,000 killed in action, 258,000 total... The United States Constitution is the supreme law of the United States of America. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Racism is a belief or concept that inherent differences between people (such as those upon which the concept of race is based) determine cultural or individual achievement, and may involve the idea that ones own race is superior. ... A ghetto is an area where people from a specific racial or ethnic background live as a group in seclusion, voluntarily or involuntarily. ...

During the 1930s, a series of changes within the United States triggered by increasing industrialization and increased mobility of the population along with changes from World War II in the 1940s saw movements of African Americans, who were concentrated in the primarily agricultural Southern United States, to the industrialized North in search of jobs. During the 1950s, the Separate but Equal educational doctrine and segregation practices in general came under legal attack with a series of court actions by the NAACP and others to upgrade the dismal educational facilities available to African Americans. Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki TÅjÅ Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... Separate but equal was a policy enacted into law throughout the U.S. Southern states during the period of segregation, in which African Americans and Americans of European descent would receive the same services (schools, hospitals, water fountains, bathrooms, etc. ... The Rex Theatre for Colored People Racial segregation is characterized by separation of different races in daily life, such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a rest room, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home[1]. Segregation... The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), is one of the oldest and most influential hate organizations in the United States. ...

The 1950s and 1960s saw a series of political acts by African American leaders, such as Martin Luther King Jr., Andrew Young, and Malcolm X, resulting in President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. While political changes were being made at the Federal level, change at the state level was slow to come. Many southern politicians staked successful political campaigns around resisting the Federally mandated changes but while their rhetoric was segregationist, most southern politicians bowed to the inevitable especially when Federal subsidies were tied to compliance--with some notable exceptions, such as George Wallace, Governor of Alabama, and Lester Maddox, Governor of Georgia. Martin Luther King, Jr. ... Andrew Jackson Young, Jr. ... Malcolm X, born Malcolm Little, also known as Detroit Red and Al-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (Omaha, Nebraska, May 19, 1925 â€“ February 21, 1965 in New York City) was a Muslim Minister and National Spokesman for the Nation of Islam. ... Lyndon Baines Johnson (August 27, 1908–January 22, 1973), often referred to as LBJ, was an American politician. ... The Great Society was a set of domestic programs proposed or enacted in the United States on the initiative of President Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-1969). ... President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964. ... George Corley Wallace, Jr. ... Lester Garfield Maddox Lester Garfield Maddox (September 30, 1915 â€“ June 25, 2003) was an American Democratic Party politician who was governor of the U.S. state of Georgia from 1967 to 1971. ...

Some cities in the South, such as Atlanta, Georgia which adopted the motto of "A city too busy to hate", began to become centers of African American culture as African American politicians such as Andrew Young and Maynard Jackson rose to prominence. Other cities in the South, such as Birmingham, Alabama became notorious for political and legal practices designed to continue segregation. Hotlanta redirects here. ... Andrew Jackson Young, Jr. ... Maynard Jackson, Jr. ... Nickname: Location in Jefferson County in the state of Alabama Coordinates: , Country United States State Alabama County Jefferson, Shelby Government - Mayor Bernard Kincaid (D) Area - City 151. ...

During the 1970s and the 1980s, African Americans began to participate more and more in the mainstream of American society and politics as more cities and states began to elect African American political leaders such as Tom Bradley, mayor of Los Angeles (see also African American politicians). The 1970s, 1980s and the 1990s also saw increased participation by African Americans in business primarily due to affirmative action initiatives that encouraged business and social organizations to diversify their employees and membership to include African Americans as well as other ethnic groups. The booming economy of the 1990s also assisted African American businesses to grow and prosper. Thomas J. Tom Bradley (December 29, 1917 â€“ September 29, 1998) was the mayor of Los Angeles, California from 1973 to 1993 (five terms) and only the second African American mayor of a major U.S. city. ... Flag Seal Nickname: City of Angels Location Location within Los Angeles County in the state of California Coordinates , Government State County California Los Angeles County Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D) Geographical characteristics Area City 1,290. ... Affirmative action refers to policies intended to promote access to education or employment aimed at a historically socio-politically non-dominant group (typically, minorities or women). ...

The result of these changes in American society have resulted in the removal and dismantling of the most overt and easily identifiable practices of racist discrimination. Access to good educational opportunities and jobs, for instance, has become less of a racial discrimination problem and more of an socio-economic problem. Some problems, such as discriminatory practices in the American judicial system also appear to be more of an economic problem in which access to good legal assistance is directly correlated with financial ability to pay.

As a result of the historical fact of discrimination, the policy of Affirmative Action has been put into place. Under Affirmative Action, members of groups traditionally "under-represented" in higher education, etc., are given preferential access to education and employment. Most prominent of these groups are African-Americans, though women, the handicapped, and other non-East Asian minorities also receive preference. On the one hand, Affirmative Action has made it possible for even more African-Americans to improve their educations and incomes. On the other hand, it comes at the expense of other applicants—some of whom may have superior qualifications—who, as a result of limited positions, are denied access. This practice has been the subject of intense debate and even legal action. Affirmative action refers to policies intended to promote access to education or employment aimed at a historically socio-politically non-dominant group (typically, minorities or women). ...

Since the Civil Rights Movement, the situation of African-Americans continues to improve dramatically, in the economic, educational, and societal realms, and discrimination and racism are, on the societal level, clearly on the decline. However, perhaps the greatest paradox about discrimination is that in spite of these changes, charges of white racism against blacks have, if anything, increased in recent years. There is no consensus opinion on why this is the case, although some attribute it to the effects of Affermative Action giving unfair advantages to certain ethnic groups (it largely works at the detriment of Asians and Whites). Martin Luther King is perhaps most famous for his I Have a Dream speech, given in front of the Lincoln Memorial during the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom This article is about the civil rights movement following the Brown v. ...

Institutional racism and discrimination

Institutional racism is discriminatory practice by organizations (institutions) that is based on the ethnocentric beliefs of a particular group without regard to the effect of the practice on other groups. Institutional racism (or structural racism or systemic racism) is a theoretical form of racism that occurs in institutions such as public bodies and corporations, including universities. ... It has been suggested that Organizing be merged into this article or section. ...

In some American states, mostly in the South, felons can never vote again. This prevents numerous black men from voting, as they have disparate incarceration rates. Some suggest that the 2000 presidential election may have had a different outcome if all blacks who wanted to vote had had the opportunity to do so. Only by moving to states where they do have the right to vote as ex-felons can these men and women influence the federal outcome once more. When viewing the fact that in modern times only 3 African-Americans were able to make it to become Senator, while the population is at least 12% African-American, another political disconnect is found between a specific population group and the specific representatives. Studies suggest that employers are indifferent to a white male's participation in the military, but are appreciative when African-American men have served in the military. A felony, in many common law legal systems, is the term for a very serious crime; misdemeanors are considered to be less serious. ... Voting is a method of decision making wherein a group such as a meeting or an electorate attempts to gauge its opinionâ€”usually as a final step following discussions or debates. ...

A second example was the effect of poll taxes, literacy tests and grandfather clauses on the ability of African Americans to vote during the century between the end of the American Civil War and early part of the 1960s before they became illegal through federal legislative and judicial action. Several southern states implemented such discriminatory barriers to voting, which disenfranchised many poor people and African Americans. A poll tax, head tax, or capitation is a tax of a uniform, fixed amount per individual (as opposed to a percentage of income). ... A grandfather clause is an exception that allows an old rule to continue to apply to some existing situations, when a new rule will apply to all future situations. ...

Another example of institutional racism could be requiring a college degree for a job whose performance does not require a college education--thereby ruling out African Americans and Hispanics who could competently do the job but do not have a college degree. While, in this case, the degree requirement would also rule out other ethnic groups without college degrees, a greater percentage of African Americans lack a college degree than Whites (about 3 million employed blacks age 18 to 64 held a bachelor's degree or higher in 2004 whereas 39.4 million employed civilians age 18 to 64 of all races held a bachelors degree or higher according to the United States Census Bureau and about 30% of Whites held a bachelor's degree or higher while only 18% of Blacks within the civilian employed population 18 to 64 years old held such a degree). The United States Census Bureau (officially Bureau of the Census as defined in Title ) is a part of the United States Department of Commerce. ...

Education

Due, by and large, to widespread de facto segregation in housing patterns^{[citation needed]} and white flight, many of the nation's economically depressed urban centers are populated predominantly by African Americans and other minorities. Public schools in the nation's inner cities and other centers of poverty which serve low-income families generally and consistently have failed to produce literate learners who achieve at or above grade level. African-American children, who are more likely to live below the poverty level than any other group in American society, consistently score below national or state averages on standardized tests. In many instances, when there are white children living within the areas served by failing schools, their families send them to higher-performing, out-of-boundary public schools, or to charter, magnet or private schools.^{[citation needed]} Although a significant number of African-American children are served by below-average schools, this phenomenon is only restricted to the black lower and lower-middle classes. In many middle-class schools, African Americans do not perform as badly as the "inner-city" schools and also socially blend in with people of other races. White flight is a term for the demographic trend where working- and middle-class white people move away from increasingly racially mixed inner-city neighborhoods to predominantly white suburbs and exurbs. ...

There are various factors lying behind the lower scores that schools in lower-income African-American neighborhoods achieve. One of the factors is that when the whole region is poor, the school is unable to provide experienced and trained staff to meet the needs of students. Because inner-city public schools are supported with fewer tax dollars, these schools usually spend less money per student than affluent middle-class public schools. Also, many African Americans are skeptical about the nature of the tests themselves,^{[citation needed]} claiming the tests are biased against African Americans. Although many black schools in depressed urban areas fall below average, some have progressed and shown excellent academic scores as compared to other schools with similar demographic make-up. Five of Inglewood's elementary schools, for example, have made the Pacific Research Foundation's High-Performing, High-Poverty Schools list. [1] Other lower-income schools that were historically under-achieving are now also improving greatly and taking big steps toward better education of today's African-Americans youths. Nickname: Location of Inglewood in Los Angeles County, California Coordinates: , Country United States State California County Los Angeles Established 1888 Incorporated February 14, 1908 Government - Mayor Roosevelt F. Dorn Area - City 9. ...

The SATs have recently changed, partially in response to criticism from university administrators. This change was not aimed at reducing the race gap. [2] The SAT Reasoning Test is a standardized test for college admissions in the United States. ...

Economics and employment

Economically, blacks have also benefited from the advances made during the Civil Rights era. The racial disparity in poverty rates has narrowed. The black middle class has grown substantially. In 2000, some 47% of African Americans owned their homes. However, African Americans are still underrepresented in government and employment. In 1999, the median income of African American families was $33,255 compared to $53,356 of whites.

There is, however, a significant African-American working class, which tends to neutralize or distort the tremendous progress among those in the black middle and elite classes. In times of economic hardship for the nation, African-Americans suffer disproportionately from job loss and underemployment, with the black underclass being hardest hit. The phrase "last hired and first fired" is reflected in the Bureau of Labor Statistics unemployment figures. Nationwide, the September 2004 unemployment rate for blacks was 10.3%, while their white counterparts were unemployed at the rate of 4.7%. [3] [4] The term working class is used to denote a social class. ... The Bureau of Labor Statistics was founded in 1884 by President Chester A. Arthur. ...

The income gap between black and white families is also significant. Employed blacks earn only 77% of the wages of whites in comparable jobs, down from 82% in 1975. Although rates of births to unwed mothers among both blacks and whites have risen since the 1950s, the rate of such births among African Americans is three times the rate of whites.

The black middle class

However, many blacks have risen up to the middle classes, have increased their presence as professors, doctors, lawyers, government officials, and corporate executives, and since the 1960s and 1970s, this sector has also grown rapidly as many African Americans move from the inner cities into the suburbs. The term inner-city is often applied to the poorer parts at the centre of a major city. ...

Some communities, which used to be mainly African American, have now been replaced by other ethnic groups, such as Asians, Latinos and whites; gentrification is not uncommon in many former ghettos. // The term Latino is a linguistic identity that refers to an individual that has significant ancestry from a nation-state where a Latin derived language is spoken or is the offical language of the government. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... The tone or style of this article or section may not be appropriate for Wikipedia. ... A ghetto is an area where people from a specific racial or ethnic background live as a group in seclusion, voluntarily or involuntarily. ...

Generally, the black middle class has the opinion that persistence of the poor black working class concentrated in the inner city or rural areas, which carries with it all the cyclical pathologies associated with poverty, continues to plague "blacks as a group", i.e., to draw media attention away from the more fortunate and affluent members of the black community. The black middle class tends to believe that the presence of a large portion of poor blacks in the country distorts the collective image of blacks. There are very few or no other articles that link to this one. ... The term working class is used to denote a social class. ...

Just as whites and others who have risen into the bourgeoisie have historically looked down upon the working class from which they originated, many in the black middle class believe that the blacks who are left behind in poor and working class conditions are actually lazy and ignorant. Many blacks who progressed from inner city slums to the suburbs often express detached feelings toward blacks remaining in ghettos. This is especially true of black athletes, doctors, actors, and so forth. [5]. Renowned black comedian Bill Cosby has spoken out to this effect. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... William Henry Bill Cosby, Jr. ...

The black economic elite

Racial economic disparities are greatest of all at the highest levels. According to Forbes rich lists, a 2000 net-worth of only $800 million made Oprah Winfrey the richest African American of the 20th century, in sharp contrast to the 20th century's richest White American Bill Gates whose net-worth briefly hit $100 billion in 1999. Winfrey's been the world's only black billionaire since 2004.[6] and she's been the only black on the Forbes 400 nearly every year since 1995 (BET founder Bob Johnson briefly joined her on the list from 2001-2003 before his ex-wife acquired part of his fortune). With only one black wealthy enough to rank among America's 400 richest people, blacks are currently only 0.25% of America's economic elite, despite being 12% of the U.S. population. In 2005 Winfrey became the first black listed by Business Week as one of America's top 50 most generous philanthropists, having given an estimated $250 million. [7]. For other persons named Bill Gates, see Bill Gates (disambiguation). ... The Forbes 400 or 400 Richest Americans (est. ... Black Entertainment Television is an American cable network based in Washington, D.C. targeted toward African-American and urban audiences in the United States. ... Robert Johnson, on the cover of a biography. ... BusinessWeek is a business magazine published by McGraw-Hill. ...

Health and healthcare access

As a group, Black Americans have shorter life expectancies than the national average and often higher mortality rates for certain disease conditions. They suffer disproportionately from heart disease, AIDS, hypertension, stroke, sickle cell anemia, and diabetes. The rate of blacks organ and tissue donation in the U.S. is currently on par, percentage-wise, with that for whites; however, because as a group they require a disproportionately higher number of organ and tissue transplants, the result is a net deficit. Lower-income blacks’ lack of access to quality health care, a general and well-documented pattern of race-based discrimination in health care delivery, as well as deep-seated distrust of the medical establishment occasioned, in part, by the Tuskegee syphilis study all are contributing factors to these Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS or Aids) is a collection of symptoms and infections resulting from the specific damage to the immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Stroke (or cerebrovascular accident or CVA) is the clinical designation for a rapidly developing loss of brain function due to an interruption in the blood supply to all or part of the brain. ... Sickle-shaped red blood cells Sickle cell anemia (American English), sickle cell anaemia (British English) or sickle cell disease is a genetic disease in which red blood cells may change shape under certain circumstances. ... This article is about the disease that features high blood sugar. ... // The Pelkola Syphilis Study (1932â€“1972), also known as the Public Health Service Syphilis Study or the Tuskegee Experiment(s) was a clinical study, conducted around Tuskegee, Alabama, where 399 (plus 200 control group without syphilis) poor -- and mostly illiterate -- African American sharecroppers became part of a study on the...

The criminal justice system

Black experiences with and attitudes towards the criminal justice system often differ markedly from whites. Because of a history of racism, discrimination and brutality at the hands of law enforcement agencies, African Americans tend to distrust the criminal justice system far more than whites. In 1991, the attack of a fleeing felon, Rodney King, by four Los Angeles police officers was captured on videotape. An all-white jury later acquitted the police officers after seeing video evidence which the media edited from its broadcasts, sparking riots in Los Angeles and protests around the country. Ten years later, in June 2001, a series of killings of violent black males in confrontations with police, and deaths in police custody, provoked rioting in Cincinnati's Over-the-Rhine community.

Due to public safety concerns, local law enforcement, news media and the general public place a higher priority on combating street crime, compared to white-collar crime. The higher profile of street crime in the media and law enforcement has given rise to the perception that African-Americans (due in large to the stastics baring this out), particularly young, black men, are a "problem population" prone to thievery, violence and other criminal behavior. Such facts are a major factor in the kind of afrophobia which encourages white flight and often causes non-blacks to assume criminal intent or activity on the part of blacks when there is none.[citation needed]

Historically law enforcement agencies, especially (but not limited to) local agencies in the southern states, employed a significant number of racists and white supremacists who used their positions to victimize innocent blacks, sometimes acting in concert with vigilante groups such as the Ku Klux Klan or lynch mobs. In Northern and Western states, law enforcement issues had still been present with African Americans who were under-represented in various agencies before the civil rights movement. In many urban areas such as New York and Chicago, police forces were dominated by working class White ethnics primarily of Irish, Italian, and Polish origin, all three of whom lived on more hostile terms with African Americans. Allegations of unnecessary or excessive force, police brutality, police corruption, racial profiling, suspicious deaths of black detainees while in police custody, and illegal detainment and interrogation are well-documented problems that perpetuate black distrust of, and antipathy toward, public law enforcement.

Both property crime and violent crime in the U.S. are concentrated in poor, urban areas. And because African-Americans are disproportionately poor and heavily concentrated in the nation's inner cities, black communities have a notably higher crime rate than that of other communities. Poverty, alienation, despair and criminality in the black lower class have led to the rise of a number of professional street gangs and criminal networks. Although the incidence of violent crime is dropping among blacks,[citation needed] more than one million African American men are currently in jail or prison.[citation needed] Homicide remains the leading cause of death among black men between the ages of 15 and 34.

Many local law enforcement and justice agencies have little diversity within their organizations.[citation needed] Cultural differences between non-black police officers and African Americans is sufficiently large that misunderstandings and misreading of agressive behaviorial cues can lead to conflict and physical violence.[citation needed] Also, many blacks view the criminal justice system as a bureaucracy which oppresses African Americans, and especially poor African Americans, who are unable to afford the competent legal assistance (although the state will always provide legal assistance in this instance).[citation needed]

Since the 1960s however, more African Americans have been hired by law enforcement agencies due to lawsuits such as Penn/Stump v City and due to a rise in terrorist militancy from groups such as the Black Panther Party who constantly fought with police departments. The hiring of Black officers however has not stopped the rates of police brutality. In several American cities, police departments have instead more justification for brutalizing African Americans as the use of African American officers neutralizes any racial issues. Some cities that have majority Black police forces such as Detroit and Washington D.C. have even been notorious for leading the nation in homicide rates of Black citizens.[citation needed] In short, the racial issues that persist with police departments exist all over America regardless of the department's demographics.

In 1995, one-third of African American men between the ages of 20 and 29 were under some form of criminal justice control (in prison, on parole or probation).[1] Some statistics report that African Americans are at least seven times more likely to murder, be murdered and/or incarcerated than white Americans.[2] Studies suggest that the association of racial or ethnic identity with crime rates is a potentially misleading and racialist paradigm, with education and socioeconomic status being more accurate correlates to criminal behavior.[citation needed] From 1976 until 2004, despite their comprising approximately 12% of the population, African-Americans comprised the majority (52%) of criminal offenders arrested and convicted of homicide (murder and manslaughter), and a large proportion (46.9%) of homicide victims. [3].

There are allegations that other factors which contribute to the overrepresentation of African Americans caught up in the criminal justice system. African Americans are allegadly the targets of racial profiling[4] and negative societal stereotyping.[citation needed] [8] Additionally, once apprehended and charged with a crime, African-Americans are several times more likely than whites to receive substandard legal representation and harsher sentences for petty crimes (largely due to three strikes laws), including longer periods of incarceration.[citation needed] Blacks also receive the death penalty far more frequently than whites for similar crimes, particularly when the victim is white.[5] Further, sentencing laws, which generally mandate harsher sentences for certain types of drug offenses (crack cocaine) and for street crime, as opposed to other types of criminal offenses (blue and white-collar crime, and victimless crimes), place the black poor at a disadvantage when compared to whites.[6]

References

Contents

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