Black Boy: Daring Act Against Racism
Tyson Amir publishing his book, “Black Boy Poems,” can be considered a daring act because Tyson Amir speaks on his idea of racism that is within the police departments and the unfair justice system. Tyson Amir feels as if the system always targets minorities, but mainly black people. In his poem, “41 Shots,” there is a black man, Amadou Diallo, he is killed because he is an African American male. In the poem, “Blue Devil,” police officers are portrayed as the demons that have ruined an African American’s life. The United States is full of different races and ethnicities. Racism is social diplomacy in the United States. Racism is the belief that members of one or more races are inferior to members of a different race. The problem with racism is the white community thinking they are superior to other racial communities. I agree with Tyson Amir’s views on racism that is within the police department and how the justice system is unfair.
First, Tyson Amir believes there is a racist system that occurs within the police department. TyIn “41 Shots,” you are clearly able to see the hatred those police officers had as they pulled the trigger shooting and killing Amadou Diallo. The police officers did not have to shoot at him forty-one times and nineteen of those shots made contact with Amadou Diallo. By looking at this case alone, you are able to sense the racism that those police officers had within them. There were four police officers involved in the shooting and there were forty-one shots fired. That means each officer took ten shots each. It is not necessary to shoot at someone completely harmless and unarmed, but this had only occurred because Amadou Diallo is an African American male. There are many cases that display these racially biased police officers, such as the Rodney King, Tyisha Miller, Abner Louima, Fred Hampton, George Jackson, Bobby Hutton, and Emmett Till. Rodney King was brutally beaten and assaulted after being caught speeding and resisting his arrest. Due to this event happening, the African American community was completely outraged and furious. They resulted in rioting and this was named as the 1992 Los Angeles Riots. Tyisha Miller’s case was about her being in her vehicle and police finding her unconscious and shooting her while she was unconscious. The police officers involved claim she was reaching for a handgun.
Second, Tyson Amir considers the justice system as “unfair.” He presumes that the system targets the black community and is against them. Tyson Amir claims an African American male is two to eleven times more likely to be incarcerated than a white male. Tyson Amir researched arrests from the past to now and the information he found shows that the arrests were targeted arrests. Ronald Reagan used the fear that Americans have over African Americans to win the presidential election, he won by persuading the racist community. Ronald Reagan planned on incarcerating more than half the African American community. Ronald Reagan declared a war on drugs, because of this, this targeted the individuals who are in possession of drugs. This severely impacted the black community because they had major possession of drugs, as a result, they were imprisoned. Tyson Amir states, “Of the 225,242 people who were serving time in state prisons for drug offenses in 2011, black made up 45 percent and whites comprised just 30 percent, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics” (130). This had all happened after the Nixon era, the Nixon era was when crime began to stand in for race. Nixon felt the word “war” is appropriate it is within the fight against crime. The black political movements of the day, Black Power, and Black Panther. Nixon felt compelled to fight against those parties. Nixon states, “We must wage what I have called “total war” against public enemy number one in the United States, the problem of dangerous drugs. A Nixon administration official has even admitted the war on drugs was only about imprisoning black people in jail. John Ehrlichman explains, “‘The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people, understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily. We could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course, we did.”’ President Nixon had only simply started the war on drugs, but President Ronald Reagan turned the battle into an actual war. Drugs were not even considered an issue for most people in the United States based on modern-day polls, but Reagan insisted on making this a problem in the United States. According to Cliff Notes, “African‐Americans make up 12 percent of the U.S. population but account for about 40 percent of all arrests, 50 percent of the prison population, and 50 percent of the inmates on death row.” Cliff Notes states, “More than 9 percent of all African‐American adult males are in jail or prison or on probation or parole, compared with not quite 2 percent of all white adult males.” African Americans are only fourteen percent of the American population, yet make up almost half of those that are incarcerated.
Our criminal justice system (CJS) should be changed for it to be equal to everyone and not only support or favor a specific classification of people. The system may have been tweaked quite a bit for it to additionally fair, it yet still seems to be unfair and targets a specific group of people. You are able to look at the statistics and see how unfair the system is. The criminal system should be shifted to make it equal and not only target a single group, but everyone in the same way. The government should lay out the case for meaningful juvenile and criminal justice reform that makes our system, fairer, smarter and more cost-effective while keeping the American people safe and secure. There should be a series of actions to enhance fairness and efficiency at all phases of the criminal justice system and to better address the vicious cycle of poverty, criminality, and incarceration that traps too many Americans and weakens too many communities. We are able to make a change by not bringing any personal vendettas to work.
African Americans have been arrested and have not been treated right throughout history. Police officers that are racially biased are arresting African Americans due to their personal views about another race, ethnicity, or nationality. The African American community should be treated more fairly and better, they should be able to live their life without someone else disapproving them based on their race. They deserve more respect and a better society to live upon.
Works Cited
- Black Boy Poems
- 13th
- https://www.cliffsnotes.com/study-guides/criminal-justice/criminal-justice-in-the-us/racial-disparities
- https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2015/07/14/fact-sheet-enhancing-fairness-and-effectiveness-criminal-justice-system
