Reflect on the discussion about history, our foundational structures, the "red lining" of families of color out of opportunity for economic advancement, the connection between poverty, educational opportunity, and incarceration. Are you able to see those connections?
All of the above topics are a continuous cycle. Trying to fix just one of them would be like putting a Band - Aid on a bullet hole. They all feed into on another, with lack of a college education or other type of training there won't be decent paying jobs, which leads to poverty. Poverty leads to not being able to afford a nice place to live, which leads to children going to a disadvantaged school. These disadvantaged schools lead to students not being able to do their best, and the wheel of injustice keeps turning and turning.
The foundation of the United States was built by white people for white people, and enforced with the concept of "Law and Order." The origin story of law enforcement and policing is oppressive based. In the South, policing was simply used to preserve the slavery system. We want to keep the foundation strong so our house does not collapse, but this leads to more oppression as many white people see changes that positively affect people of color, as negatively affecting there own stature.
I see the connections all over and even more so now that I know the true origin of law enforcement. I hear and see the quote "the system is broke" all the time, but was it ever really "whole?" According to what I have seen in our country's history it doesn't seem like it ever has been.
I knew that racial profiling and police brutality are real things but I thought they were more of an error of a "just system" that has some majorly broken parts, but could hopefully be fixed. Now I understand that the system was designed for racial profiling and police brutality. So now I wonder is a just policing system even possible? What does that look like? If we could resign a law enforcement system from the ground up (which I realize is not possible) what would it look like?
Alyssa, I shared this thought that it ws more an error in the system and that the system needed to be fixed. More training. More education. But the commentator saying that our system is not dysfunctional, that it is operating the way it was designed. This has shifted my perspective a lot. It explains to me so much of what we are currently seeing, and what we have seen.
This is an area of the stars quo that I never thought to question. It seems like needing police is a necessary component of having a safe society. But is it? Our society does not seem safe for so many people. IN large part because of the laws and the enforcement of these laws.
So much in our society needs to be shifted and redesigned.
I already knew that the issue of racism was systemic, and I knew that dividing the poor into different races by colour in the early days helped the rich divide the poor so they could get the poor Irish on their side and have a white majority voting to their advantage.....but to hear that the concept of law and order is purely about racial oppression was something I had not considered, and it hit hard, from a white American woman with policemen in her family history.
I believe that the concept of racial difference is a tool abused to the benefit of the current wave of capitalism, but it hadn't occurred to me that all law and order might be purely for oppression. It always felt like some basic law makes sense to maintain peace and to clarify and solidify unspoken agreements that we adhere to in a society.
I'm now questioning... Is law needed for a happy and healthy society? What positive part does law have to play in a society? Where does it actively and unhelpfully detract from our personal freedom and personal accountability? What other ways are there of establishing agreements on behavioural standards in a society? I want to find out about how things are done in different cultures. That's where I'm at.
I really appreciate the questions you pose on the role of law for a happy and healthy (and I will add to that) safe society, what other systems are in place globally, and how they work. I am inquisitive about this now, too. I have yet to explore other law customs, however what is on my mind is this: Laws are created to uphold the values of a society (in America's case, these values are white supremacy). Therefore, in any society, law's function is to oppress any individual or group of people that live without those established values.
@Shayna Freedman I think this is where ethics play a huge part.
Yes, there might be different beliefs and different groups might naturally form. There we find the importance of freedom of movement, to safely and easily leave the place you don't fit in and go to where you can live as you believe - this can only be a true ethical freedom when it's equally freely available to all.
I think we need to look into the history of where the decision to intentionally mislead and miseducate people to take advantage of others for power is born. It didn't happen everywhere. It was spread by some people through conquest and colonialism, conquering others who had no such intention. There are still people's on the planet today trying to get on with their lives without participating in whatever we're all doing, those outside their village or tribe.
I suspect tribal culture might be a good place to look at how morality might be handled differently, as well as the history of organised religion and capitalism, to see the places ideas have been deliberately misused as unethical tools of control.
To me it seems pretty sensible that you and I agree not to kill each other so we can stop worrying about that and enjoy the mutual benefits of connection and cooperation. Now when it comes to what haircut or outfit is appropriate for work I think we've gone too far! Some ideas need defending and others don't - and they don't all have to be made legal or illegal to have an impact.
Those are today's thoughts! Basically, I'm feeling like oh my god I have to learn all of history and ethics to get somewhere on this !
Redlining looks just the same as the way we gerrymander elections today - just get a map, cut it up into unjustifiably nonsensical shapes that correlate extremely suspiciously to the desired outcome of the ruling class.
As people complain about protests right now, I see no ethical way to avoid them and continue to abide by a system that is inherently unethical.
Ashley, I, too, was struck by the history of police. As others have mentioned, I tended to think of this as cracks in a system that by and large was developed to protect the community, but it was a system developed to protect the white community. Knowing the history of policing makes everything that's been in happening in our country in regards to the relationship between police and people of color, specifically Black people, that much clearer. I was familiar with many other aspects of systemic racism, such as redlining and the biases in standardized testing, so I shouldn't be surprised that policing would be any different.
The consistent and constant escalation of violence on, incarceration of and bias towards people of color is and has long been denied by those who weld power, Acknowledgement of a "systemic abuse of power" would destroy the illusion created by the oppressor that all people in the United States are equal under the law . The oppressor would then lose the power. A power structure such as that built in America from the very beginning can stand only if all involved are participating in the lie that all Americans are equal. A foundation built on the backs, lives and heritage of people of color , requires strict policing , legislation and cooperation. in order to constantly shore up its faulty foundation. The great American fallacy of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, the concept of equal justice under the law and the illusion of equality are all built into the foundation to insure the economic success of the oppressor.
I recently started reading "Before His Time," which is about Harry T. Moore, one of the US' first civil rights martyrs. He lived, worked, and was killed in my small hometown and I'd never heard of him. So far one of the most interesting things about this biography that ties in to this module about incarceration is all the elaborate ways that white government had to keep black people from voting in Florida. Back then it was poll taxes and literacy tests. Now, it's mass incarceration and disenfranchisement of felons. Even though Florida has voted to re-enfranchise felons, the existing government is trying so hard to put as many obstacles in their way as possible. This kind of voter suppression tactic is already awful, but paired with the disproportionate prosecution of blacks, it's truly the same fight they were fighting 100 years ago.
I have always known systemic racism to exist because of my upbringing. I saw that because I have a latin last name most people assumed I spoke only Spanish. When they realized that I was biracial I was treated differently. My brothers and I had to work hard to get our education, but still were treated as though we didn't earn it fairly. While we were taught to respect "law and order" and authorities we were also taught to have an unhealthy fear of them. Being black/brown in this society is very difficult to navigate. Exploring the effects of systemic racism on the mental health of people of color would help show why this system should no longer exist in order to really adopt the value of true "equality."
I didn't think that the section on law an order was convincing in terms of origination of law and order. It is clear that policing is implemented in a racist manner though. https://www.cliffsnotes.com/study-guides/criminal-justice/development-of-the-american-police/policing-colonial-america