A Tale of Two Mothers in America in a Post Racial Society

[RainDog]

122. here ya go

ACLU Report: The War on Marijuana in Black and White
http://www.aclu.org/billions-dollars-wasted-racially-biased-arrests

STAGGERING RACIAL BIAS
Marijuana use is roughly equal among Blacks and whites, yet Blacks are 3.73 times as likely to be arrested for marijuana possession.

and more about it here:

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2013/06/marijuana_and_race_aclu_finds.html

Blacks are nearly four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than whites – even though usage rates are comparable, according to a report issued today by the American Civil Liberties Union.

Marijuana enforcement has unfairly targeted black people, said the report, entitled “The War on Marijuana in Black and White.”

The racial disparity in marijuana arrests has markedly increased in the last 10 years, the ACLU found. Although black people are 3.7 times more likely to be arrested for possession than white people, blacks are now 30 times more likely to to be arrested for the drug in the counties with the widest disparities, they found.

The private prison industry benefits from this racism - but doesn't create it - that is being done by LEOs - even AFTER reforms for stop and frisk in places like Chicago, for instance, as was noted here recently.

Higher Profits Explain Why There Are More People of Color in Private Prisons

http://billmoyers.com/2014/02/07/higher-profits-explain-why-there-are-more-people-of-color-in-private-prisons/

The law is applied in a racist manner and contributes to stereotypes and, worse, denies access to education for those who are TARGETED by stop-and-frisk and labeled, early, by such an arrest for such a nothing offense that contributes to the continuation of a cycle of racism in this nation. This needs to stop. Now.



Sentencing disparities from the crack era - that have just recently been corrected for the racial bias that created those laws in the 1980s. The Fair Sentencing Act - to address racism - https://www.aclu.org/fair-sentencing-act

How many white professors do you think get arrested for trying to open their front doors?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/20/henry-louis-gates-jr-arre_n_241407.html

The number of black men stopped for "driving while black" has no comparison among whites in this nation - it doesn't happen. You can find tons of examples of famous people who have dealt with this - including one excellent writer, Ta-Nehisi Coates, who has written about his own experiences, and those of others.

There is no comparison for "shopping while black" for white people, but numerous examples of the same, every day, for African-Americans.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/07/barneys-racist_n_4225710.html

In a 2007 Gallup survey, 47 percent of black people surveyed said they are not treated equally by retailers. More than one-quarter of those surveyed felt they were targeted because of their race while shopping in the last 30 days.

Racial profiling lawsuits against major retailers have made headlines across the country. In 2005, Macy's paid New York state a settlement of $600,000 after the attorney general found that the majority of people detained at a sampling of Macy's stores were black and Latino -- a disproportionately high number compared with the percentage of minorities shopping at the stores.

A few years earlier, store employees at a national retail chain admitted that they were instructed to follow black customers around the store and avoid giving them large shopping bags.

http://abcnews.go.com/WhatWouldYouDo/story?id=7131333

A scholarly look at that issue here: http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/2646965?uid=2&uid=4&sid=21103885772487

In jobs -

http://www.techyville.com/2012/11/news/unemployed-black-woman-pretends-to-be-white-job-offers-suddenly-skyrocket/

http://jezebel.com/5822293/man-takes-fake-white-name-to-test-job-discrimination

This isn't limited to a few examples - http://www.nber.org/digest/sep03/w9873.html

In total, the authors responded to more than 1,300 employment ads in the sales, administrative support, clerical, and customer services job categories, sending out nearly 5,000 resumes. The ads covered a large spectrum of job quality, from cashier work at retail establishments and clerical work in a mailroom to office and sales management positions.

The results indicate large racial differences in callback rates to a phone line with a voice mailbox attached and a message recorded by someone of the appropriate race and gender. Job applicants with white names needed to send about 10 resumes to get one callback; those with African-American names needed to send around 15 resumes to get one callback. This would suggest either employer prejudice or employer perception that race signals lower productivity.

The 50 percent gap in callback rates is statistically very significant, Bertrand and Mullainathan note in Are Emily and Greg More Employable than Lakisha and Jamal? A Field Experiment on Labor Market Discrimination (NBER Working Paper No. 9873). It indicates that a white name yields as many more callbacks as an additional eight years of experience. Race, the authors add, also affects the reward to having a better resume. Whites with higher quality resumes received 30 percent more callbacks than whites with lower quality resumes. But the positive impact of a better resume for those with Africa-American names was much smaller.

http://craigeisele.wordpress.com/2012/02/23/subtle-racism-still-very-prevalent-in-society-today/

A study conducted by San Francisco State University Professor Alvin Alvarez identified everyday racism as “subtle, commonplace forms of discrimination, such as being ignored, ridiculed or treated differently.” Explains Alvarez, a counseling professor, “These are incidents that may seem innocent and small, but cumulatively they can have a powerful impact on an individual’s mental health.”

Alvarez's study is also mentioned here: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100401085344.htm

Annie Barnes further illuminates the matter in her bookEveryday Racism: A Book for All Americans. She identifies such racism as a “virus” of sorts exhibited in the body language, speech and isolating attitude of racists, among other behaviors. Due to the covertness of such behaviors, victims of this form of racism may struggle to determine for certain if bigotry is at play.

In a study done by the Entman-Rojecki Index of Race and Media, 89% of Black women in movies are shown swearing and acting in offensive behavior while only 17% of White women are portrayed in this manner. From "Interracial Communication: Theory Into Practice, published in 2014.

Tuscaloosa, Alabama is going back to segregation- http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/04/segregation-now/359813/

anyway, that's just a quick look to demonstrate that racism is currently an issue in American society. You have an opinion not informed by facts, iow.