I saw an op-ed piece that you wrote in the
newspaper about racism in the criminal justice system. It was very
moving and shocking. I'd like to see it get wider distribution.
Maurice
Dear Maurice,
Thanks for your kind words of support. Many white people in this
country believe that racism was a problem, but that the civil
rights movement in the 1960s took care of it. Regrettably, this
is far from the case. Here is what I wrote in the op-ed piece to
which you refer, titled "Is the American judicial system racist?"
"Is it racist when young black males make up 6 percent
of the U.S. population, and 50 percent of the prison inmates?
Is it racist when, in Massachusetts, blacks and Hispanics make up
9 percent of the state's population, but 83 percent of imprisoned
drug offenders?
Is it racist when African-American teens are more than ten times
as likely to be incarcerated in California Youth Authority facilities
than white or Asian youth?
Is it racist when Harris County, Texas, which includes the city
of Houston, and has sent more people to death than any other state
in the country, blacks make up 20 percent of the population but
70 percent of death row inmates?
Is it racist when Danville, Virginia, which regularly executes more
people than any county in the country outside of Texas, has never
once since its incorporation in 1890 executed a white person?
Is it racist when Dallas, Texas, has sent dozens of people to death
row, but never a single one for killing an African-American?
Is it racist when no white person in Georgia has ever been executed
for the murder of an African-American, and the death penalty has
never even been sought in such a case?
Is it racist when, in the state of Georgia, every one of the 46
state district attorneys - who alone decide whether to seek the
death penalty - are white, but 55 percent of those sentenced to
death in the last 20 years have been black?
Is it racist when half the time black people have been executed
in Georgia in the last 15 years, there were not only no black people
in the jury, but no black people even in the jury pool?
Do white Americans who speak proudly of 'liberty and justice for
all' have any idea at all what black Americans live with every day
of their lives?"
Thanks for your concern for this vitally important issue.
