GETTING AHEAD IS TOUGHER FOR BLACKS
I was never sure if the prison counts for blacks are real, but unfair. I am now. They are! Of course there are more blacks in prison , out of proportion, to their numbers in both Canada and the U.S. Did you know that 1 in every 15 African Americans and 1 in every 36 Hispanic men in the U.S. go to jail in comparison to 1 in every 106 white men. Why? Is it because they commit so many more crimes, are arrested and go to jail. I think not. All people commit crimes, white ,black, Latino and Asian. There are no completely innocent races and colours, but the police in North America target people of colour more than whites. If all people commit crimes, and the police target neighbourhoods where people of colour live, you are going to get more people of colour in jail. But there is another problem. When people of colour, essentially blacks, commit a crime , and face judgement, they are put in prison, whereas whites get a lesser sentence. Why? It is plain and simple race discrimination. Do you think Canada is much better for blacks. Think again! A recent article in the Globe and mail pointed out that procedures in court, sentencing and imprisonment for similar drug related crimes, 55% of blacks went to prison compared to 36% of whites. Whites and Blacks both use illegal drugs, but in the U.S. in 2003, black men were almost 12 times as likely to go to jail.
There is another problem with blacks. Their divorce rate is similar to whites or even slightly more. But black people are more poor, and the wives left behind do not have the resources to look after their family. Children left on their own do get into trouble and face a biased justice system. They go to jail too often for crimes that white children would have lesser sentences. You cannot compare the discrimination faced by people of colour now , with 100 years ago, but our North American society has a long way to go to achieve true equality.
Should what I have written give a license to blacks to shoot and kill police on the streets? Not by a long shot because you may be killing the very officers who do an excellent job. The world is a complicated place.
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