Systematic Racism

No one is oblivious to the black lives matter protests that have been going on across America this last month. People are hitting the streets and making their voices heard in regards to the lack of equality will no longer be ignored or accepted in the majority of today's society. Although this giant goal is fully to support there are smaller ones that affect the whole nation that are symptoms of the bigger picture that still need to be addressed.

    There are an estimated 6.1million American voters who have become disenfranchised due to having a history of a felony conviction and are still on probation or parole. There are even some states, such as Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, and Tennessee where the voters right are almost fully suspended for life. On the surface, this may seem fair where it is targeting convicted felons who broke the law and need some sort of punishment for their crime where they aren’t fully fit to take part in today's society but the justice system is not equal. There is a larger disproportionate impact on African Americans who get profiled by police and have a higher arrest rate than Caucasians. It is estimated by a Sentencing Project article found that African Americans are 5.9 times as likely to be incarcerated as Caucasians and Hispanics are 3.1 times as likely in 2001. This means that one of every three black boys born in that year could expect to go to prison in his lifetime. This is no accident as states with higher numbers of black residents like Mississippi and South Carolina have been more likely to pass stricter laws too limited the rates that these people can join the voting pool.

    This has roots stemming from the nineteenth century and the systemic racism that comes with disenfranchising the community in order to suppress their rights as people and the ability to vote for acts that might bring about greater eras of change. On the surface level, when the passage of the Thirteen, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth amendment “abolished” slavery and gave African Americans the right to vote there have still been things going on under the surfaces to suppress that right they have has human and American Citizens. In 48 states there still remains some form of felony disenfranchisement laws where the African American community is taking on unequal buried and limitations as a result. As we continue to take to the streets and make the voices of the people heard the states need to make an equal effort to fully restore voting rights for people with a troubled past that are still moving in the right direction.

Author: Wolfgang Schildmeyer