Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
Black History Month is dedicated to celebrating the achievements of Black people despite the odds. While the achievements should be commemorated, “the odds” must be acknowledged. Often the achievement was to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles, one of the largest today being the shackling of people through the mass incarceration system. Reliance on criminalization rather than investing in social programs on the preventative side has made America No. 1 in the world in the worst possible measure: incarceration.
As a criminal defense lawyer, I sat in the homes of people overcharged with crimes explaining to them and their families the bleak prospects of successful outcomes in a system with an insatiable appetite to imprison Black people.
There are certain moments that stick with me as reminders of the harm this system causes. Like the time I had to explain to the father and mother of a young Black man that their 21-year-old son would likely spend the rest of his life in prison because he was charged in a conspiracy with people he did not even know. Or the time I had to tell a client who was the mother of a young child that she was facing 20 years in prison because the government believed she had information about her partner that she did not have.
Then there are the haunting images and sounds of young Black people struggling to move through the courtroom in shackles, reminding me of the unbroken line between America’s chattel slavery and today’s mass incarceration system. This kind of dehumanization of Black people in a public, government system epitomizes the vastness of the harm to us all.
One in five Black men born in 2001 is likely to experience imprisonment within their lifetime. Despite comprising roughly 13% of the population, Black people make up 38% of the incarcerated population. Black…
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