It is Not Justice. It is Racism!
By Katerina Canyon
About six years ago, I was living in Boston attending graduate school. One day, when I was walking home from the pharmacy, I saw a police car slowly approaching me. When the car was right next to me, I asked the officers if everything was okay. They started to question me. They asked me my name. Asked me where I was going, etc. Once they seemed satisfied, they told me to make sure I went straight home.
I often have interactions like this with the police. This is one of the milder ones I’ve had. I have been searched more times than I can count, but fortunately, I have never been arrested.
Sometimes, I will see a black person getting searched by the police, and I will stop and watch the interaction. I don’t film. I just watch quietly. When the interaction is over, the black person will often come to me and say, “Thank you. I was so scared.”
I am scared of the police because the justice system works against black people.
Harvard just released a study that examined the Racial Disparities in the Massachusetts Criminal System, and it found only one reason as to why blacks are treated more harshly under the criminal system than other races, and that reason was systemic racism. The study found that blacks are six times more likely to be imprisoned than whites. The study found that blacks received more severe charges and harsher sentences than their white counterparts. After examining more than a million cases, the only reason that the researchers could find for these disparities was racism.
This goes beyond Massachusetts. New data from the Attorney General’s Office show that black drivers in Missouri are 95% more likely to be pulled over by police than whites.
When we are looking at numbers this high, we are looking at what could be considered highly corrupt organizations. We are looking at systemic racism within these corrupt organizations. We are looking at criminal activity because when a group seeks out to punish and prosecute people solely based on their race, that group is committing a hate crime. If these hate crimes are happening at organizational levels, they should be punished under the RICO Act.
As citizens, we need to call upon the Attorney General to further investigate why black drivers are being pulled over at such a high rate. If it is discovered that this is organizational policy, appropriate charges, should be filed.
Every day, we receive more evidence as to how the justice system works against people of color. We can no longer stand by and watch others suffer and do nothing. We need to demand justice for those who face racism from the police and from judges.
We need to demand defunding of the police. We need to demand those funds be redirected into social programs that encourage equality. Contact your representatives now!
Katerina Canyon is on the board of directors of the Peace Economy Project.
