The Reality Today
For the same crime, Black men often receive sentences that are longer and more severe than those given to this racial group.
White Americans.
This was a common punishment for enslaved people.
Whipping.
This is the name for the laws in the American South that kept Black and white people segregated in public places.
Jim Crow Law.
This is what allowed the Federal Government to supply local police with military-grade weapons.
Law Enforcement Assistance Act
This was a belief that the human population can be improved through reproduction, and those who are “deemed fit” should be allowed to breed, and those who do not fit the standard should not.
Black and Hispanic people are represented in this system at much higher rates than their percentage of the total U.S. population.
Criminal Justice System.
The State of North Carolina added this group to ensure no rebellions would occur in its state.
Patrol Committee.
The name of the laws that restricted the freedom of African Americans.
Black Codes.
This two-word term refers to the unequal treatment depending on one’s race in the Criminal Justice System.
Racial Disparity.
From the unpaid labor of the plantation, to the forced labor of the Jim Crow convict lease system, to modern prison industries paying pennies an hour, this core economic motive has connected all three eras.
Exploitation.
This two-word term describes when police stop a driver based on their race or ethnicity rather than a specific crime.
Racial Profiling.
This law made it unlawful for any Black people or other enslaved people to be away from their masters without a certificate.
1680 Virginia Slave Code.
The reason why Southern cities created laws requiring literacy tests or payment of a tax to vote.
To make it harder for Black people to vote.
This highly controversial police practice allowed officers to detain and search pedestrians based on vague suspicion.
Frisking.
A political cartoon that spread the idea that it was the United States moral duty to modernize people of color and carry them to civilization.
White Man's Burden.
This state had more Police Shootings per Arrest than 51% of States.
California.
This law was set to control and monitor the enslaved Black population.
1721 Charlestown Law.
An occasion when the police led a white mob to disrupt the gathering of black war veterans, where they continued to burn homes, businesses, and schools, and attack residents.
1866 Memphis
This national political initiative, launched by President Richard Nixon in 1971 and expanded in the 1980s, drastically increased police funding and served as the main driver of mass incarceration.
War On Drugs
A label used to legally strip Black people of their citizenship rights. In Era One, it was "property," in Era Two, it was "second-class citizen," and in Era Three, it is this legal term.
Felons.
The police disproportionately harasses 34% of transgender people of this specific race.
American Indian.
In 1785, the Charleston Guard & Watch were tasked with these three things.
Arrest vagrants, warn of fires, and prevent disturbances.
The Supreme Court case with a ruling that declared that the separation of public and private accommodations based on one’s race was not unconstitutional.
Plessy v. Ferguson
This was a law that provided incentives to states that imposed “truth-in-sentencing” laws to make sure convicted offenders would serve at least 85% of their sentence.
Federal Crime Act
In Era One, escaping was a crime; in Era Two, sitting at a white lunch counter was a crime; and in Era Three, possessing certain substances is a heavily punished crime. This act enforces social control over people of color.
Criminalization.