Racial Inequality in the Justice System in America

This article discusses the racial inequality present in the justice system in America, specifically in the police and courts of law. It also highlights how film, music, and visual art have been used to create awareness on this issue.

Running Head: RACIAL INEQUALITY INJUSTICE SYSTEM IN AMERICA
Racial inequality in the justice system in America
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Over the years, there has been injustice in America's justice system. This injustice is
following racial inequality. Americans who are not of the white race, to be specific, are affected
by this discrimination. The police and courts of law are the most evident institutions of the
justice system in which racial inequality is most practiced. In recent years, there has been a
severe treatment of black Americans by the police (Bensimon, 2018). This has even further
escalated to killings of black Americans by the police sworn to protect them. Michael Brown’s
killing in Ferguson in 2014 is just one of many examples where a black American was killed at
the hands of the police. Since this event, Americans have paid more attention to the racial
inequality present in their justice system.
There are depictions in the form of songs, films, and art on racial inequality in the
American justice system. American Skin (41 shots), is one of these written and sung by Bruce
Springsteen (Millner, 2002). The Central Park 5, made in 2012, is a documentary film that also
illustrates this vice. Ken Burns, his daughter, and her husband. Harmed, directed it & Dangerous,
visual art by Dread Scott alludes to the same. It includes four photographs that show African and
Latino males and females who are armed. It also consists of a prison booth.
American Skin is a song about a Guinean immigrant, AmadouDiallo, who was shot 41
times at his doorstep in his New York home by the police. They were going door to door in
search of a serial rapist. The man reached for his wallet, and the police mistook the action to him
pulling out a gun. The police assumed that he was a criminal due to his race. The film, Central
Park Five, tells of the story of an assault on a white female jogger that happened in Central Park
in New York. On that night, five juvenile males, one Hispanic and four black Americans, were
arrested in connection with the crime.

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Before their trial, a DNA test of the rape kit was conducted, and none matched the
arrested people, but these findings were termed inconclusive. The five were found guilty and
served a sentence until one Matias Reyes confessed to the crime. There was clear DNA evidence
that he was the perpetrator and the police ignored this (Stratton, 2015). The race of the five
convicted is what prompted these heinous actions. Harmed and Dangerous illustrates that the
other races besides white, are considered to be more prone to committing crimes. This is brought
about by the photographs of people holding guns (Bray, & Gebel, 2018). The prison booth that is
close to these photographs cast light on the fact that prisons are filled with people of color.
Film, music and visual art are humanity disciplines that have been used to bring to light
the injustice that is present. These disciplines create awareness among a wide range of people on
racial inequality in the justice system.

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References
Bensimon, E. M. (2018). Bridging the Artificial Gap between Activism and Scholarship to Form
Tools for Knowledge. Taking It to the Streets: The Role of Scholarship in Advocacy and
Advocacy in Scholarship, 65.
Bray, R. A., & Gebel, H. M. (2018). OR43 Racial inequity among 0-ABDR mismatched kidney
recipients. Human Immunology, 79, 48.
Millner, S. (2002).41 Shots.Public Culture, 14(2), 305-310. doi:10.1215/08992363-14-2-305
Stratton, G. (2015). Transforming the Central Park jogger into the Central Park Five: Shifting
narratives of innocence and changing media discourse in the attack on the Central Park
jogger, 1989–2014. Crime, Media, Culture: An International Journal, 11(3), 281-297.
doi:10.1177/1741659015592794