Punishment+in+America

PUNISHMENT OF THE OTHER IN AMERICA

//“…a people amongst whom religion and law were almost identical, and in whose character both were so thoroughly interfused, that the mildest and the severest acts of public discipline were alike made venerable and awful.”// //**– From Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter**// "Historically, the most terrible things have resulted not from disobediance but obediance." **- Howard Zinn ** The article reads: Four Los Angeles police officers were acquitted of assault today in the videotaped beating of a black motorist that stunned the nation. The verdicts immediately touched off a storm of anger and scattered violence in the city.

The "black motorist" mentioned in the article is the now famous Rodney King and the "storm of anger" were the 1992 Los Angeles race riots which resulted in 53 deaths and thousands of injuries. media type="youtube" key="6QLL9MZXLIQ" width="425" height="350" align="center"

 There are more African Americans under correctional control today -- in prison or jail, on probation or parole -- than were enslaved in 1850, a decade before the Civil War began.
 * - Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow **

But what if Obama, who has admitted to violating our nation's drug laws, had been treated like a common criminal -- what if he hadn't been insulated by growing up in Hawaii and attending a predominately white university -- where would he be now? Most likely, he would be cycling in and out of prison, trapped in the parallel social universe that exists for those labeled felons. Far from being president of the United States, he might be denied the right to vote. He would be subject to many of the same forms of discrimination, stigma, and social exclusion that we supposedly left behind. How many black men and boys are trapped in this undercaste who might have been president of the United States? We will never know.
 * - Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow **

Under the Obama administration, immigration authorities have carried out record numbers of deportations, with nearly 400,000 immigrants removed in each of the last two years.

Reflection on Punishment of the Other in America

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