Contributor Spotlight: Is Racism Just a Part of Being Human?

Due to limited staffing at 6and44, we are trying something new.  We hope you will enjoy a new feature called Contributor Spotlight. Today's post is written by Allison Gamble who has been a curious student of psychology since high school. She brings her understanding of the mind to work in the weird world of internet marketing.


Quick shameless plug: Are you an expert in the area of race and incarceration? Do you have a story to tell? Advice to offer? Do you have an example from your own experience? We’d love to have you as the next Contributor Spotlight! Contact us at: 6and44@gmail.com.


Is Racism Just a Part of Being Human?

Most Americans are pretty well aware of racism and its effects on our population, but the question of why racism exists is something of a mystery to many. Does racism occur naturally, or is it a learned behavior? If it's learned, can it be unlearned? Is there hope for a racism-free America?

Some theories suggest racism is merely a fear of the unknown, and that these fears foster prejudices against individuals of different ethnicity. There are several reasons a person would fear individuals of another race, including previous negative experiences with people of another race or being taught from childhood to fear those who are different.

Sociology and ForensicPsychology.net lead us to believe most actions and behaviors are learned and do not occur naturally. Most sociologists believe racism is such a learned behavior. They reason that children raised in a racist household or community where racism is prevalent will eventually adopt these beliefs and behaviors as their own. This could be considered good news: if racism can be learned, it can therefore be unlearned. But how can one unlearn racism? Generally speaking, education and dialogue are key, as is recognizing, accepting, and appreciating human differences.

It could also be argued racism is a natural human behavior. This theory suggests humans naturally group according to ethnicity, and that this division inevitably leads to discrimination. Studies have shown individuals will naturally try to surround themselves with people of their own race, even when they differ in age, sex, and ways of thinking. This "unconscious racism" can still be a powerful force for discrimination, as it still serves to separate and exclude.

Racism seems to run rampant in the judicial and corrections systems in the United States. The African American population in US prisons has always been significantly higher than the White prison population. This is true of females as well as males, but the numbers are considerably higher among men. In fact, black males outnumber white males more than six to one in the US prison system. Further, it's reported that one in three African American men aged 20 to 29 are under some type of criminal justice supervision, whether incarceration, probation, and parole.

Of the many theories on why this is this case, the most widely accepted highlights the role of socioeconomic issues associated with crime. Typically, African Americans come from lower socioeconomic brackets than most Whites. This includes lower levels of income and education as well as different associated social groups and upbringing. It's believed factors such as poverty, poor education, and coming from broken families lead to higher instances of crime in any community. However, since African Americans are more likely to hail from these sorts of circumstances, it is they who populate US prisons in disproportionate numbers.

The war on drugs is another significant factor. Since crack cocaine sparked the war on drugs in 1980, the number of incarcerated drug offenders has steadily been on the rise. In fact, approximately one third of the US prison population is made up of drug offenders. Furthermore, studies indicate that African Americans are eight times more likely than Whites to be convicted of drug charges. African Americans may not break the law more often than anybody else, but they more often suffer the consequences. This brings socioeconomic aspects back into play, especially poverty. African Americans are less likely to be able to afford lawyers, which increases their chances of being convicted on drug charges and impairs their ability to effectively appeal such convictions.

Whether racism is a learned or innate behavior may always be up for debate. However, just because we don't know why racism exists doesn't mean we can't work to defeat it. If racism is learned, it can most certainly be unlearned. By the same token, natural racism can be overcome as well. Not all natural instincts are acceptable or productive, and humankind needs to work to overpower our inclination to set ourselves apart according to ethnicity. Racism may be a natural instinct; hate, however, is not.

Incarceration Nation

Check out this inforgraphic from the Icelandic online magazine, Good, showing the rate of incarceration in the United States compared to other countries.

As the infographic states, we look like anything BUT the "Land of the Free."

Image of the Black Athlete: ESPN townhall meeting

This is an interesting series ESPN put together during Black History Month 2011. It was a unique perspective for myself to watch these videos, as I am a white male addicted to sports, and I did not think hard previously about media perceptions portrayed within the sports market. Take a look, what are your comments?

Harry's Law

We are starting to see glimmers of hope in mainstream media.  If you have not seen the pilot episode of Harry's Law, you can view a full episode here.  (There may be a better link out there, but we had trouble finding it.)

In this episode Harriet Korn, played by Kathy Bates, argues to keep Malcolm Davies (Aml Ameen) out of prison.  To keep Malcolm out of prison, get him treatment for his addiction to cocaine, and allow him to continue going to college, Harry uses many of the arguments we have presented here on our blog.

Although the series depends a little too heavily on stereotypes in its character development, it is refreshing to see arguments agains mass incarceration making their way into mainstream media.

Check it out and let us know your thoughts.

Life In Prison: A Project Envision Documentary

This 30-minute documentary explores the cost of California’s "tough on crime" legislation. It gives you an inside look into three state prisons, including the California Medical Facility. CMF houses the oldest and sickest inmates in the state.

The Onion - Judge Rules White Girl Will Be Tried as a Black Adult

This would be funny if it weren't so closely tied to the way people perceive others based on race.  Unfortunately, this video speaks of reality for many African Americans. Also take a look at "Would You Stop a Bicycle Thief?" and examine your own racial biases.



Judge Rules White Girl Will Be Tried As Black Adult

Michelle Alexander on KUOW

Michelle Alexander, author of "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness" on The Conversation with Ross Reynolds.

WA State Senator Adam Kline announces legislation to reform 3 strikes Law

 

In the state of Washington Senator Adam Kline, 37^th District Representative, has recently introduced legislation that brings awareness to the issue of "Three Strikes Law". 

Here's Senator Kline's position on this issue:

In 1993, Washington became the first state in the nation to pass a three-strikes law. Voters approved Initiative 593, assuming it would keep the most violent people in Washington State behind bars forever. But the law has not been effective and has cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars in corrections costs.

The most common conviction triggering three- strikes punishment isn’t a violent offense but Robbery 2, a B Felony. Under Kline’s proposal, Senate Bill 5236, the three -strikes sentence for individuals who have been convicted of only B level felonies – primarily Robbery 2 and Assault 2 – would be reduced to 15 years to Life. After serving 15 years of "hard time" (no reduction for good behavior), those individuals would be eligible to apply for parole with the Indeterminate Sentence Review Board. Any parole granted would be conditional on adherence to a closely-monitored behavior plan. Three-strikers convicted of any crime with a deadly weapon or with sexual motivation would not be eligible to apply for parole.

Full Post:(http://blog.senatedemocrats.wa.gov/kline/kline-reform-state-rsquo-s-three-strikes-law/)

Want to make a difference on this issue? Head to your state capitol and lobby to reform or repeal Three Strikes legislation in your state. 

Below is additional information that addresses this issues and underscores the importance of Senator Kline’s legislation.

For anyone who has been involved in prison reform in the past three to four decades or anyone who has read Michelle Alexander's book, The New Jim Crow, the following news may come as a shock.  This past Friday, Newt Gingrich and Pat Nolan published an article in The Washington Post entitled, "Prison Reform: A Smart Way for States to Save Money and Lives."  Though the focus is on dollars and sense, not human dignity or racism, I am not one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Republicans like Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan may have been instrumental in implementing policies such as the Southern Strategy and the War on Drugs and their "tough on crime" rhetoric, specifically targeting African Americans, but today conservatives are finally realizing that the current rate of incarceration in the United States is economically unsustainable. Because of The Great Recession, we have a unique opportunity to address the issue of mass incarceration from an economic perspective, and state governments are so strapped for cash they are more willing to listen than ever.

In Washington State, the governor has asked the Department of Corrections to cut their budget by $53 million, just over 6 percent.  Some of the cuts include eliminating electronic home monitoring, except for sex offenders and one day per month lock downs where inmates will only be allowed to leave their cells for meals. Other ideas proposed included shortening the length of socks. This change would result in a savings of approximately $20,000. Another proposal suggested limiting the number of sugar packets allowed to each inmate. Small potatoes when we really start talking numbers.

In the State of Washington, it costs taxpayers approximately $37,500 per inmate per year. The state prison population is now about 18,600, and approximately 11% of that population, or approximately 2,100 people, are serving Life Without Parole or are on Death Row.

Many of these inmates are imprisoned due to drug addictions and would be better treated through rehabilitation and recovery programs than they are through incarceration.  The recidivism rate among drug addicts is approximately 78%.  Without treatment, these individuals go in and out of the system, costing the public hundreds of thousands of dollars every year.  Many finally land in prison for life because they have never had adequate treatment for their addictions.

Millions of dollars are also spent to house inmates who have struck out under Three Strikes laws, approximately 300 in Washington. Many of these individuals commited non-violent crimes under the age of 25.  Recent medical studies have shown that dramatic changes occur in the brain development of teenagers and young adults, which affect the decision-making areas of the brain.  As these individuals mature, they should be given a chance to be rehabilitated and released to become productive members of our society.

Finally, statistics also show the rate of recidivism decreases dramatically for those over 60 years of age, but they cost the State more as they age due to age-related health costs. 

Lawmakers could be looking at all of these groups to save money without creating a danger to public safety.

Legislation Reduces Crack Cocaine Inequality...

Quarter-century-old law subjected tens of thousands of Blacks to long prison terms for crack cocaine convictions

By Chris Levister –
Addressing what both Democrats and Republicans agreed was a quarter-century old injustice in drug sentencing, Congress passed historic legislation that reduces the inequity between mandatory sentencing for crack and powder cocaine. The law many considered blatantly racist has subjected tens of thousands of Blacks to long prison terms for crack cocaine convictions while giving far more lenient treatment to those, mainly whites, caught with the powder form of the drug.
The Obama administration has called the sentencing disparity “fundamentally unfair”.

Read the full article here:

http://www.blackvoicenews.com/news/44815-legislation-reduces-crack-cocaine-inequality.html

Mass Media and Racism (1999)

Note from the blogger: This is an older article, but ask yourself 'What has changed in 12 years?' Yale Political Quarterly Volume 21, Number 1 October 1999

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Mass Media and Racism
by Stephen Balkaran

Mass media have played and will continue to play a crucial role in the way white Americans perceive African-Americans. As a result of the overwhelming media focus on crime, drug use, gang violence, and other forms of anti-social behavior among African-Americans, the media have fostered a distorted and pernicious public perception of African-Americans. 1
The history of African-Americans is a centuries old struggle against oppression and discrimination. The media have played a key role in perpetuating the effects of this historical oppression and in contributing to African-Americans' continuing status as second-class citizens. As a result, white America has suffered from a deep uncertainty as to who African-Americans really are. Despite this racial divide, something indisputably American about African-Americans has raised doubts about the white man's value system. Indeed, it has also aroused the troubling suspicion that whatever else the true American is, he is also somehow black. 2
RacismBefore attempting to understand racism and mass media, one must understand the history of racism. Race has become an institutional part of American society. From the Founding on, race has played an integral part in shaping the American consciousness. David Goldberg's Racist Culture argues that racial discourse may be interpreted as aversive, academic, scientific, legalistic, bureaucratic, economic, cultural, linguistic, religion, mythical, or ideological. 3 He also stresses that racialized discourse and racist expressions towards African-American have been widespread. Race matters exist in different places and at different times under widely varying conditions.
American race relations provides a case study in Marxist class theory. Marx argued that society has two classes: the exploited or working class, and the exploiters or owners of the means of production. He further stressed that one class will ultimately overpower the other using any necessary means. Looking at American society we can clearly see the development of the two class system. There were slave owners and slaves, and racism served as a means to overpower the exploited class.Segmentation TheoryIn the 1980's, Michael Reich developed the Segmentation Theory or the Divide and Rule, which attempted to explain racism from an economic point of view. In this theory, Reich proposes that the ultimate goal in society is to maximize profits. As a result, the exploiters will attempt to use any means to: (1) suppress higher wages among the exploited class, (2) weaken the bargaining power of the working class, often by attempting to split it along racial lines, (3) promote prejudices, (4) segregate the black community, (5) ensure that the elite benefit from the creation of stereotypes and racial prejudices against the black community.
Reich argues that the major corporations in the U.S. (e.g. Time Warner, Coca Cola, General Motors, etc.) all have at least one member on each other's corporate boards of directors. As a result, it is in the interest of these members to maximize profits while employing the above devices. The mere fact of these corporate executives' sharing economic corporate power, combined with the quest for economic profit has now paved the way for economic discrimination. But the question still remains, is the media one of the tools used to promote racism? Does the elite use the media to ensure profits are maximized by corporations?The U.S. Media And RacismMedia have divided the working class and stereotyped young African-American males as gangsters or drug dealers. As a result of such treatment, the media have crushed youths' prospects for future employment and advancement. The media have focused on the negative aspects of the black community (e.g. engaging in drug use, criminal activity, welfare abuse) while maintaining the cycle of poverty that the elite wants.There are no universally accepted and recorded codes or rules, which apply to journalists in news selection and production. The media have devoted too much time and space to "enumerating the wounded" and too little time to describing the background problems of African-Americans. 4 What is not a crisis is not usually reported and what is not or cannot be made visual is often not televised. The news media respond quickly and with keen interest to the conflicts and controversies of racial stories. For the most part, they disregard the problems that seep beneath the surface until they erupt in the hot steam that is the "live" news story.
The RiotsThe media have not studied important events in the African-American community today. Issues such as urbanization, education, poverty, and other elements have a significant bearing on positions of the black community. A good example of this is the media portrayal of the Los Angeles riot in 1992. What we witnessed in Los Angeles was the consequence of a lethal linkage of economic decline, cultural decay, and political lethargy in American life.Race was the visible catalyst, not the underlying cause, as media portrayed it to be. 5 The portrayal of this individual event encouraged the perception that the black community was solely responsible for the riots and disturbances. According to reports, of those arrested, only 36% were black and of those arrested, more than a third had full-time jobs and most had no political affiliation. 6 Some 60% of the rioters and looters were made up of Hispanics and whites. Yet the media did not report this underlying fact. The media portrayal of this event along with other race riots has again inflicted negative charges and scorn on black awareness. Race riots in Miami in 1980 were similar to the later Los Angeles riots. Here the media also refused to search for the underlying cause behind the protest choosing instead only to depict African-American males engaged in violence and destruction. The underlying factors behind these problems were never researched or explained in prior stories.
The Rodney King StoryThe defense put on by the four white Los Angeles police officers accused of beating Rodney King in 1991 is telling. They claimed that they were scared and felt they might have been attacked or harmed, a legitimate excuse in the white American society. Their "fear" is a manifestation of a deep-rooted media bias that anything black is bad. This media stereotype of bad guys wearing black or that anything that is black is evil has been fostered for decades--e.g., the fact that the bad guy always wore the black in Westerns, and the movie The Birth of a Nation. This media bias has also been illustrated in the Susan Smith case. Smith was the South Carolina woman who made headlines when she claimed that a black male kidnapped her two young children. It turned out that Smith herself had killed them. However, the finger-pointing that her accusations set off are indicative of the media's reflexive need to blame blacks for social ills. This same reflex can also seen in the case of Charles Stuart in Boston who killed his wife and also blamed it on a black man. The media have taken a step further in Hollywood. Here, the portrayal of young African-American males (involved in gangs and other deviant acts of violence) has become a multi-million dollar industry. American society has now accepted these stereotypes which the film media have ascribed to the black community. Films such as Boyz in the Hood and Menace II Society have become multi-million dollar success stories with criminal portrayals of young blacks. This portrayal, over time, has fostered false beliefs in white America regarding the way we perceive and view blacks. What the media refuse to acknowledge is that the vast majority of blacks are employed, attend school, and are not involved in gangs or other criminal activities. It is now quite common for young African-American males to be stopped and questioned by cops for any misfits. The profit motive behind continuing this stereotype is a fact. One can only conclude that Michael Reich's Segmentation Theory might be right. It is in the interest of the elite to use media to demean one class by using racial stereotype in order to maximize their profits.The U.S. News, Media and RaceClearly, the economic structure of the American news media and the local media make them subject to pressures from powerful interest groups. In 1967, the Kerner Report attacked the mass media for their inadequate handling of day-to-day coverage of racial events. The Report charged the media with failing to properly communicate about race to the majority of their audience. That is, white America needed to hear more about the actual conditions and feelings of African-Americans in the U.S. Only when events are associated with concern of the "white public" do they become newsworthy. Given the situation in America where the major news media have predominantly white reporters and serve a mainly white audience, it follows that the "public" which dictates newsworthy events is a white public. The day to day tensions of black existence and exploitation, which are crucial concerns of the black community, are not primary concerns of the white public. Only the symptoms of these conditions, such as freedom rides and social disturbances, impinge upon whites. Hence, it is only such "events" which become newsworthy in a white press.
One of the main reasons for the inadequate coverage of the underlying causes of racial stereotypes in the U.S. is that the condition of blacks itself is not a matter of high interest to the white majority. Their interest in black America is focused upon situations in which their imagined fear becomes a real problem. Events like boycotts, pickets, civil rights demonstrations, and particularly racial violence mark the point at which black activity impinges on white concerns. It is not surprising that the white-oriented media seek to satisfy the needs of their white audience and reflect this pattern of attention to these selected events.Research has disclosed that most serious crimes (homicide, rape, robbery, and assault) in inner cities are committed by a very small proportion of African-American youth, some 8% by estimates. 7 Yet the tendency to characterize all African-American males as criminals continues in our society. It is now common for law officers to stop young black males and to harass them as a result of this stereotype. The negative stereotype has continued to affect the black community, as well as their prospects for employment and advancement. All this has been destroyed and, as a end result, it has contributed to high unemployment within the African-American community.
Some Selected StatisticsWhat the media refuse to acknowledge is the fact that between 1967 and 1990, the percentage of black families with incomes of a least $50,000 more than doubled from 7 to 15 percent. The median income of African-American families in which both husband and wife worked rose from $28,700 in 1967 to $40,038 in 1990, an increase of more than 40 percent. By comparison, the median of white family incomes with two wage earners increased 17 percent during this period, from $40,040 to $47,247. 8
Although there are significant variations in school dropout rates from community to community, nationally the dropout rates for both blacks and whites have decreased since the 1970's. The proportion of African-American high school dropouts fell from 24 to 13 percent from 1972 to 1991. When family income and other background differences are taken into account, African-American youths are no more likely than whites to drop out of school. For many African-American youths, staying in school has not improved their prospects for full- or part-time employment. In fact, unemployment among this group remains at more than twice the rate for white youths. 9 The consequence of racially biased coverage is to maintain racist stereotypes in popular culture and to lead us towards an increasingly dysfunctional society. Given that the news media are staffed and controlled almost exclusively by whites, it follows that the media-reinforced popular consensus is that of the predominant sub-culture. The dysfunctional aspect of this bias emerges when the realistic concerns of African-Americans are dismissed as irrelevant or threatening to the majority population.
ConclusionsThe media have and will continue to portray a self-serving negative stereotype of the African-American community. The societal and economic factors of racism have become more than just a bias. They are also a profitable industry, in which the elite will continue to suppress the lower class in order to maximize profits. According to Harvard professor Cornell West, 1 percent of the elite holds some 48 percent of America's wealth. This means that media, racism, and stereotypes will continue to be employed so that those elite can be sure of their continuing economic stability.

Endnotes
_____________________

Thanks to Ronald Taylor Ph.D., Director of the Institute for African American Studies and Professor of Sociology, Darryl McMiller, Ph.D. Professor of Political Science, and Rose Lovelace, Program Coordinator of the IAAS at the University of Connecticut for their help in researching and documenting this paper.

¹ Ronald L. Taylor, "The Harm Wrought by Racial Stereotype," Hartford Courant, 19 March 1995, D1.

² Ralph Ellison, What America Would be like without Blacks. (Preager Press, 1970), 4.

³ David Goldberg, Racist Culture (Cambridge, Mass: Blackwell Publishers, 1993), 42.

⁴ Paul G. Hartmann, Racism and the Media (Rowman & Littlefield Press, 1974),147.

⁵ Cornell West, Race Matters (Cambridge, Mass: Blackwell Publishers, 1993), 74.

⁶ Ibid., 3.

⁷ Ronald L. Taylor, "The Harm Wrought by Racial Stereotype," Hartford Courant, 19 March 1995, D4.

⁸ Ibid., D4.

⁹ Ibid., D4.

Find the full article here: httPublish Postp://www.yale.edu/ypq/articles/oct99/oct99b.html

Fairly Compensated?

Inmates' Jobs, From Call Centers To Paint Mixing

"Many people understand inmates have jobs, but don't realize the variety of products and services they provide and the byzantine pay system in place for many prison jobs. It's not just license plates anymore: Prisoners operate call centers, build office furniture and mix the paint used on highways."

Fairly Compensated? See more at NPR: http://www.npr.org/2010/12/16/132112124/inmates-jobs-from-call-centers-to-paint-mixing

How mass incarceration turns people of color into permanent second-class citizens

Another great online article by Michelle Alexander:

http://prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_new_jim_crow

"...The scale of incarceration-related discrimination is astonishing. Ex-offenders are routinely stripped of essential rights. Current felon-disenfranchisement laws bar 13 percent of African American men from casting a vote, thus making mass incarceration an effective tool of voter suppression -- one reminiscent of the poll taxes and literacy tests of the Jim Crow era. Employers routinely discriminate against an applicant based on criminal history, as do landlords...."

Please read the entire article 

Michelle Alexander is an associate professor at the Moritz College of Law at Ohio State University and author of The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in an Age of Colorblindness. This article was adapted from a speech delivered at Constitution Day, an event hosted by the Constitution Project and the Georgetown Center on National Security and the Law on Sept. 17, 2010. Copyright (c) 2010 by Michelle Alexander, reprinted here with permission.

Should Rappers Wage War on Mass Incarceration?

Yesterday, Dr. Boyce from Syracuse University published an article entitled "Rappers Should Be Repping The Georgia Prison Strike." It's a well-informed article on the issue of mass incarceration, and in it, Dr. Boyce appeals to rappers to take up the issues of mass incarceration. "Rather than writing lyrics to glorify incarceration and excessive materialism, [the hip hop community] may want to consider doing things that challenge the systems that enslave hundreds of thousands of black people."

Well said, Dr. Boyce.

But we'd like to take his message a step further. Who has a responsibility for spreading this message?

Certainly, rappers need to examine their messages and ask themselves how their lyrics are serving their community. The 13th Amendment of the Constitution allows for slavery if one is incarcerated, and the media reinforces the African American male stereotype of the "criminal clown" through imagery, movies, music, and the like.  These images find a home in the minds of law enforcement officers, jurors, judges, and politicians.  If the only way to sell music downloads is to play into this media model, isn't that the ultimate form of selling out? You're just reinforcing the stereotype. You're playing right into the slaveholder's hands! How about some positive black images for once.

But it's not just rappers who have a responsibility. EVERYONE who becomes aware of this injustice needs to get involved and make their voice heard. African Americans only make up approximately 12% of the United States population. There is no such thing as a 12% majority vote, and the Civil Rights Act would have never been enacted if it depended solely on the African American community.  Rappers, television and film personalities, academics, lawyers, judges, upper and middle class businessmen and women, young and old, white, black, Asian, Latino, all need to speak out when they see an injustice of this magnitude.

As Dr. Boyce stated in his article, "While it's easy to say that every man and woman in prison is there because they deserve it, we must remember that the power of the state to define someone as a criminal is arbitrary (even Jesus and Martin Luther King were "criminals" according to the state.)  The erosion of civil liberties related to rights such as those regarding illegal search and seizure, forteiture of property, access to counsel, and voting rights as they have been applied to African Americans should be a concern to us all.

Over the past two decades, with the War on Drugs, we have managed to lock away a significant portion of our population, and African Americans have been disproportionately targeted even though research shows that whites use drugs at a higher rate.  The result is that the United States now incarcerates a larger percentage of its black population than South Africa did during the height of apartheid.  In the past, Germans locked up and put to death a large portion of their population too.  Does anyone remember that?  And yet we have the audacity to wag our finger at other countries for their human rights abuses???

So, in conclusion, it's not just rappers who have a responsibility to their community, it's all of us.

Action Step: Read "Until They Come For You" and post comments on how you are trying to make a difference.

Would You Stop a Bike Thief?

When we at 6and44 try to explain our mission, most people don't immediately understand. Let me rephrase that. Most Caucasians don't understand.  Most African Americans and Latinos, even those in law enforcement and the criminal justice system, are well aware of the inequitable distribution of enforcement and punishment, otherwise known as racial profiling. 

When we start to talk to Caucasians about the issue of the disporoportionate percentage of African American men in prison, however, we are often met with a quizzical look, and people ask something on the order of, "But if they do the crime, shouldn't they do the time?" At this point, we typically launch into a discussion about the research, which shows that African Americans are stopped and frisked for drugs at a ratio of 5:1 over their Caucasian counterparts and at every level of the criminal justice system, blacks are swept into the system at a disproportionate rate, when it fact research shows that whites use drugs at a higher rate.

The following video from ABC's show "What Would You Do?" shows how our perceptions and racial biases can play out in real life.  Watch how people react to three separate scenarios involving a Caucasion male, an African American male, and a sexy, white female as they try to steal a bike. What would you do??



Action step: Question your own racial biases, and confront them. The next time you watch television, for example, analyze how the characters are portrayed. Do they reinforce your racial biases? If you close your eyes and picture a drug dealer, what image comes into your head?

Chances are your image is not supported by the data.