Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Justice In Black and White

Minorities more likely to go to prison
Blacks in the USA are imprisoned at more than five times the rate of whites, and Hispanics are locked up at nearly double the white rate, according to the Sentencing Project, a Washington-based think tank. The report found that states in the Midwest and Northeast have the greatest black-to-white disparity. Iowa imprisons blacks at more than 13 times the rate of whites. The group cited Justice Department statistics from 2005. States with the lowest black-to-white ratio included Hawaii, 1.9 to 1, and Georgia, 3.3 to 1.

DWB? A broken headlight? A joint "found" in your back pocket? A wallet that looked like a gun? It really doesn't matter in the end. As long as the white men wearing black robes robes get to dictate what justice is, "Guilt" and "Innocence" are just meaningless words, especially when you're a person of color caught on the wrong side of the badge.

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