Mass Incarceration And Racism

The 36th annual Marion Wright Thompson Lecture Series on mass incarceration was great. I chose to attend this lecture because I acknowledge the increase in mass incarceration and racism that is deeply rooted in American society. Last semester, I was enrolled in an Intro to Women’s and Gender Studies class, where I briefly studied the relationship between mass incarceration and race, while also trying to analyze the “new Jim Crow.” Thus, I wanted to connect that experience with the Marion Wright Thompson lecture. I was not surprised when the speaker, Khalil Gibran Muhammad, immediately mentioned racism. I am heavily aware of how differences in race are dealt with – or rather, sometimes ignored. Institutionalized racism is the biggest factor

Even in 2016, today we can still see how discriminatory America is. I was conscious of the fact that the audience of this lecture was predominantly African-American, and felt an appropriate level of tension and anger towards the implement of. During the lecture, I felt my blood boil when I learned how much of a social and political imbalance there really is when it comes to the black and white racial binary. One claim that was used as a PowerPoint slide header was “Respectability Will Save Them.” Mr. Khalil Muhammad then began to speak on the behalf of the black population that has been maltreated over and over again. I appreciate the fact that respectability was brought up because the black community almost always fails to obtain it. This is mostly because of white supremacy and the fact that “white power” dominates to the point where it becomes virtually impossible for any black individual to break out of this racial hierarchy. Another part of this lecture that I appreciated was when Khalil Muhammad explained how the racist history of America repeats itself. Muhammad addressed the enforcement of white supremacy and “racial etiquette.” From my understanding, “racial etiquette” always meant presenting and carrying yourself as the white man’s subordinate. Racial etiquette essentially makes it okay for white people to continuously treat the black community in such a disgustingly irrational manner. The enforcement of this behavior just makes it easier to keep racism alive, and I do not stand for