Critical Reflection #5 — History Matter
“Presumptions of guilt, poverty, racial bias, and a host of other social, structural, and political dynamics have created a system that is defined by error, a system in which thousands of innocent people now suffer in prison” (Stevenson, p. 16). Many people, especially African Americans, are wrongfully convicted, sent to prison, given a life-long sentence in prison, or even sent to death row. In Just Mercy, Stevenson describes a case dealing with Walter McMillian, who was accused of two murders. There was “no evidence except that he was an African American man involved in an adulterous interracial affair, which meant he was reckless and possibly dangerous, even if he had no prior criminal history and a good reputation” (Stevenson, p. 34). This is just one example of someone who was sent to death row with no real proof. There are many, many other cases where Black men are innocent, and wrongfully convicted and forced into horrible conditions, just because of their color. Overall, the prison population has increased substantially from 300,000 people in the early 1970s to 2.3 million people today. According to Stevenson, 1 in every 15 people born into the US in 2001, is expected to go to jail, and 1 in every 3 black male babies born into this century is expected to be incarcerated. One might think that the education system and schools might help keep people out of prisons, yet they are actually helping funnel students, mainly black students, into prisons. Yes being educated is important in being successful, and it is really important to be able to read at grade level by 3rd grade to increase chances of success, but schools with school resource officers are feeding racial disparities into the prison system. Prison sizes are actually built based on the number of 3rd-grade students who do not read at their level because they are likely to get involved with crimes. Whites and Blacks actually get sent to the principal’s office at a similar rate, but black students tend to be given a more serious punishment. According to the video “The school-to-prison pipeline, explained,” white students are more likely to be suspended for provable offenses like vandalism, while black students are more likely to be suspended for subjective offenses like talking back. This goes to show the continual unequal racial treatment in our society.
In the podcast “‘Just Mercy’ Attorney Asks U.S. To Reckon With Its Racist Past and Present,” Bryan Stevenson talks about how important it is us to know what has happened in the past so we don’t replicate it. He grew up in the Deep South, and two of the largest high schools in that area are both 98% black. They were forced to “accept the cultural environment that is hostile to the history that black people have had to endure, that is indifferent to the violence and degradation that slavery represents. And I just think it creates an environment that causes people to be dishonest about who we are and what we’ve lived through.” Stevenson believes that “ if you don’t have a consciousness of wrongdoing, if you don’t actually have a sense of shame about these horrific human rights violations, you’re not motivated to make sure that you don’t replicate those things.” This quote really stood out to me because I agree that most people in America are uneducated about what truly happened in the past, in terms of the African American population, because we were taught what the Whites wanted us to know. Even today, as we are more progressive, when there is evidence of bias and discrimination, there isn’t much responsiveness and I think this is because we aren’t very familiar with it unless we have personally experienced it. Stevenson states, “We need to have truth and restoration. And it’s not because I want to punish America that I want to talk about these things. I actually want us to be liberated. I want us to get to a better place. I think there’s something better waiting for us that we can’t get to until we have the courage to talk honestly about our past.” More can and should be done to help stop us from repeating history. I think that the museum that he has worked on is very interesting and necessary for us to learn about slavery and lynchings. I think this is a step in the right direction to help us connect to the past and learn what not to do in the future.
Stevenson reflects on his grandmother telling him “You can’t understand most of the important things from a distance. You have to get close” and “Proximity to the condemned, to people unfairly judged; that was what guided me back to something that felt like home” (Stevenson, p.14). So far from my experience working at Bayside MLK Academy, I have learned so much about how much discrimination and even segregation (which still amazes me how racial segregation can be happening in 2020, so close to where I have grown up, live, and go to school) African Americans face here in Marin. This is something I have learned only by being immersed in their community, and I am shocked that these issues aren’t very well known to people on the outside. Even when issues broadcasted, it is one thing to hear what is happening and hear all the statistics, but to actually see what affects it is having on the students is truly eye-opening. These students lack the resources necessary to be successful in the future. To me, it is very strange seeing how different of an education students are getting between the two schools in the school district and also in comparison to my education growing up. I think we often get caught up in our own lives, and never really think about how others may be struggling due to factors that are uncontrollable.
