American Hypocrisy

        Genocide is a term not to be thrown around lightly. History is riddled with some of the worst persecutions known to man. The most documented is the Holocaust. But there are still numerous incidents around the world. The Armenian, Rwandan, Bosnian genocide, etc. Along with the Holocaust, the American government interfered with the latter two. Condemning the acts and speaking in favor of human rights. Hypocrisy is defined as claiming one belief or standards, while your behavior does not support said claim. Americans have been prepared to ignore the country’s history of genocide and human rights abuses. First, the massacre of the native Americans. Killed before and after the revolutionary war, to make space for a growing empire and later young country. The mass enslavement of those with African descent and the second-class treatment of those with Asian descent. Following the Civil War, apartheid became prevalent. Segregation it was called; enforced by the Jim Crow Laws. The Civil Rights movement may have made apartheid illegal however Jim Crow did not die. Like energy it transformed into a subtle version legal version. The popular term for this new legal version is the New Jim Crow.

            Let’s look at the system as it stands today. A system of laws and courts meant to be impartial are still subject to political and cultural machinations. The legal language allows for discreet discrimination and over-policing of non-white (minority) communities. How did it become culturally acceptable? It goes back to the criminalization of black culture. This was a gradual process that continues to evolve today. First, the Moynihan report was produced during the Johnson era. Its purpose to eliminate poverty in America, primarily focused on black families. This report dictated that black communities were poor because of its ghetto culture. Perpetuated by the lack of male influence in the home. The rising single mother homes, created a bad influence on children providing inappropriate values. The inappropriate values preserve the ghetto culture which in turn produces violent males and criminal activity. Through the Civil Rights Movement and the Moynihan report, the Southern Strategy was developed. Politicians using language to gain support; claiming they will fight for what they claim to be the rising criminal element in America. With Reagans welfare queen and Nixon’s war on drugs, blackness became associated with crime.

            The association bleed into the impartial systems; as judges gain more influence in sentencing, a disparity began to form. Blacks tend to receive harsher sentences then their white counterparts who committed the same crime. Minorities face greater punishment and greater chance of imprisonment no matter the odds. The case of Cynthia Brown is an excellent example. In 2004, she was 16 when she was forced into prostitution. Sexually, emotionally, and physically abused she faced obstacles in every step of her life. Her family was continuously threatened daily. After being raped by a real estate agent, Johnny Mitchell Allen, she shot him in the back of the head as he slept nude besides her. She received life imprisonment with the possibility of parole when she turned 67. As a third-generation abuse victim and forced into the sex trade, what choice did she have? Those with similar circumstances as she is normally considered victims. Given therapy and help put her life back into order. Yet, headlines read a young black girl kills successful white man.