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Anti-Blackness in the United States

Anti-blackness in America has persisted throughout history in various forms. When talking about racism in the U.S. it is painted as a black and white issue without acknowledging that white supremacy ideals are embedded in various cultures and societies. Anti-blackness is perpetuated through different systems such as education, media, social class, and access or lack thereof to different resources. Systemic racism (Institutional racism) creates the constant impediment of progress by setting up barriers for people of color that otherwise would not be present or evident for those who are white or white passing.

Education

In the education system, race and class often labels the Black community as being a lazy and unintelligent race. There is a theory that people of color are inherently “inferior” and therefore don’t have an advance way of thinking. The “deficit model” correlates a minority students' success with their cultural and racial background, home lifestyle, and family values.There aren't enough studies that portray the success of African Americans in higher education nor how gendered learning is experienced.

Policing of black bodies

The idea that Black students in low-income communities that receive public education are the problem of society is attributed to the amount of surveillance there is within the schools themselves. Police officers are roaming the halls of underfunded schools and making arrests on accounts that should be handled by school administrators, not the law directly. In wealthier schools, students are granted the protection of a security officer but not monitored or policed the same way as a predominantly Black and Latino high school. White supremacy has ingrained the idea of Blackness being automatically dangerous and needing to be controlled versus whiteness. There is a correlation between the students that attend underfunded schools and the rate in which they then enter the correctional system.

School-to-Prison Pipeline

The school-to-prison pipeline manifests in low-income communities and underfunded schools. The lack of sufficient resource can be due to inadequate test scores mandatory by state to qualify for state funding. The lack of resources included outdated texts books, not enough texts books, or no books at all. It also affected the amount and quality of counselors and teachers were available to the students. Special education received even less attention and resources. Students with disabilities had programs that modeled a daycare rather than an educational forward learning environment. Zero-Tolerance Policies penalize minor infractions, such as disrupting class, with punishments as harsh as suspension. There is no follow up with the student or alternatives such as constructive activities. In turn, the students would be out of school unsupervised which leads to actions that could land them in trouble or fall behind in academics. Many of the small infractions are actions that should be addressed within the school.

Violence against the Black body

Incarceration

Although the United States only makes up 5% of the world's population, it holds 25% of the world's incarcerated population. The impact on the Black community is drastic with 1 in 9 African American men, and 1 in 100 African American women being incarcerated. These number can be attributed to the intense policing of poor neighborhoods and overall surveillance of Black bodies that involves Police brutality (Police brutality in U.S.). There were approximately 300,000 inmates in 1972, and then the jail population grew to 2 million by the year 2000. Children of incarcerated parent(s) are then more likely to be incarcerated due to the lack of parental support, disinterest in education, other family responsibilities. Many of the charges involved are petty drug crimes and it is reported that 97% of 125,000 federal inmates have been convicted of non-violent crime overall.

War on drugs

The war on drugs creates unequally cases for those that are convicted for drugs based on their race, class, location, and gender. The penalty for powder cocaine is less severe than crack even though it’s just a different form of the same dug. Crack cocaine is cheaper and more commonly accessible to poor African American versus powder cocaine which then creates the disproportional numbers in arrests. There is an alarming number of wrongful convictions including women who are forced to leave families behind. Black women's experiences within the system are harsh because those that are incarcerated have some form of mental illness. Within the prison system, there are little to no resources available in place specifically formatted to address the issues that Black and Brown women face. The lack of resources available for imprisoned mothers forces then the separation of families either in foster care, adoption, or live with other relatives.

Industry Benefit

Industries benefit Free labor o 98% of the entire market for equipment assembly services; 93% of paints and paintbrushes; 92% of stove assembly; 46% of body armor; 36% of home appliances; 30% of headphones/microphones/speakers; and 21% of office furniture • Increased production Private Prisons profit while devouring social wealth. Could have been used for subsidize housing for the homeless, to ameliorate public education for poor and racially marginalized communities, to open free drug rehabilitation programs for people who wish to kick their habits, to create a national health care system, to expand programs to combat HIV, to eradicate domestic abuse -- and, in the process, to create well-paying jobs for the unemployed. o between 1980 and 1994, profits went from $392 million to $1.31 billion o no unemployment o inmates earn a minimum of 25 cents an hour o no benefits Military Benefit • Free labor o Inmates produce 100% of all military helmets, ammunition belts, bullet-proof vests, ID tags, shirts, pants, tents, bags, and canteens.

See also

• Audre Lorde
• Black feminism
• Dorothy Roberts
• Internalized racism
• Negrophobia
• Prison–industrial complex
• School-to-prison pipeline

References

1. Louque, Angela, and Helen M. Garcia. "Hispanic American and African American Women Scholars." Race, Gender & Class 7.3 (2000): 35. ProQuest. Web. 23 Nov. 2015.
2. Herzing, Rachel. "Defending Justice - What Is The Prison Industrial Complex?" Defending Justice - What Is The Prison Industrial Complex? Poitical Research Associates, 2005. Web. 20 Nov. 2015.
3. "What Is the School-to-Prison Pipeline?" American Civil Liberties Union. ACLU. Web. 18 Nov. 2015.
4. Meiners, Erica R., and Karen Benita Reyes. "Re-Making The Incarceration-Nation: Naming The Participation Of Schools In Our Prison Industrial Complex." Penn GSE Perspectives On Urban Education 5.2 (2008): ERIC. Web. 20 Nov. 2015.
5. Davis, Angela. "Masked Racism: Reflections on the Prison Industrial Complex." Masked Racism: Reflections on the Prison Industrial Complex. History Is a Weapon. Web. 17 Nov. 2015.

• Education