Institutional Racism and Mass Incarceration: Revised

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Written By: Tori Palmberg

            Growing up in a predominantly white community, I did not have the opportunity to develop many friendships with those of color. However, as a young woman in my 20’s, I did become very close to a young black boy in our community when I was working at a preschool in our town. He became an important part of my life, though his struggle has been very painful to watch. At 4 years old, Joe was full of energy and was already getting into trouble. He had been sent home repeatedly for hitting his playmates, yelling, and defying authority. As this young boy grew, his teachers branded him as too much trouble and the boy found himself repeatedly suspended from school and eventually expelled. By age 13, he found himself in trouble with the law and incarcerated in an out of town juvenile hall in French Camp, California. Out on probation, the juvenile continued to get into trouble. By age 18, he had committed a burglary and was charged with his first felony. Now, at age 20, he is still on probation trying to make better choices, but still having difficulty. Sadly, Joe has been incarcerated for more than three years of his adolescence and has been to adult jail twice.

            Throughout his life, Joe was repeatedly labeled, ostracized, called names, stereotyped and even physically attacked because of his race. He had no real family in the area and there were few families of color for him to identify with. Joe’s barriers to success in life, are due in part to the individual and structural racism he has experienced throughout his life. 2013 statistics from Kiddata.org, on juvenile felony arrest rates, shows that African American youth in California disproportionately have the highest arrest rate at 30.3 per 1,000 compared to the next highest group which is Hispanics at 7.7. Whites have the lowest arrest rate at 5.5 per 1,000. Sadly, Joe’s story is all too common as the issue of mass incarceration and the number of young black men incarcerated in the United States is without parallel.

            When comparing US incarceration rates in terms of race, the statistics are quite unsettling. According to data published by Sociology Professor, Tonya Golash-Boza in her book Race and

U.S. Census Bureau 2008

Racisms: A Critical Approach, in 2009, the imprisonment rate of white males was 487 per 100,000 of the population, as compared to 1,193 per 100,000 Latino males and 3,110 per 100,000 black males. In fact, by the end of the twentieth century, black men were seven times more likely than white men to go to prison (Golash-Boza, 2015). This data suggests that race and a pervasive system of inequality are direct correlates of the disproportionate number of young black men and other men of color we see behind bars.

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            In today’s society, we can still see the persistence of racism in spite of laws that no longer allow it. The current system of laws and policies governing our states do not explicitly mention race, but are designed to benefit whites over blacks nonetheless, all the while preserving the possessive investment in whiteness. Statistics show that Blacks and minorities have higher arrest rates and receive harsher sentences for their crimes as opposed to whites. In addition, we can see the persistence of racism in our urban schools which are racially segregated with lower standards and a severe lack in funding (Golash-Boza, 2015). Stereotypes and individual racism including daily micro aggressions also demonstrate how racial discrimination is pervasive in every day society. Judging others by the color of one's skin only serves to perpetuate the current racial ideologies. Furthermore, the covert nature of today’s colorblind racism, as opposed to the overt nature of racism during the Jim Crow Era makes racism more convoluted and sometimes harder to recognize. If you don’t explicitly know that you are being outright discriminated against, how can one be sure that they are the target of racial inequality? Current events surrounding the deaths of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and Eric Garner have thrust racism into the spotlight as blacks and minorities struggle to find justice in a Neoliberal society that refuses to acknowledge its transgressions. 

Understanding the Gap

In regards to the education system and race I feel as though I personally relate to it when it comes to expectations and how those expectations reflect the amount of attention and help the students and the schools recieve. It has been shown that there is a noticeable gap in achievement levels between black and latino students in comparison to white students. There are many reasons for this and a large amount of situational factors play a role in the creation of the achievement gap, but every day society tends to fall back on stereotypical reasoning. As a result of the negative stereotypes associated with black and latino people, it seems as though teachers expect less out of them and are surprised when they do well and unsurprised when they fall behind.

By ignoring the real contributing factors to the educational achievement gap such as socioeconomic status, lack of access to resources, and other combatants that can result from those things, as noted in the LATimes, the education system is unable to fix the gap and help minority students achieve at the same level as their white peers. In my own experience, I really noticed the difference in education between minority and white students when it came time for me to enter high school. Because I lived in Inglewood, I was set to go to high school at Inglewood High. However, my mom worked in West Hills and I had gone to middle school out there so, naturally, I wanted to go to high school out there as well. Just looking at the two different high schools, I could tell the difference in the quality of education. Inglewood High School wasn’t very well maintained, the text books were older and outdated and it seemed as though students were just passing through because they had to. At Chatsworth, the school I ended up going to, the campus was a lot cleaner, the textbooks weren’t always current but they were a lot nicer and more up to date than the ones at Inglewood, and there were a lot more opportunities for students to succeed. It was as if the teachers and the administration expected more out of the students. 

Funding for schools and the amount of help and resources they receive is heavily dependent of the success rates of the students. If it appears as though white students perform better than minority students, those students are going to receive more help. Inglewood High School is a predominantly black school while Chatsworth was a school in a predominantly white area (although the student population was fairly diverse).  All of this can go back to the notion of structural racism and white privilege. As a result of racist laws that led to the segregation of white and minority groups, whites still tend to make up a good portion of the population in more affluent areas. These affluent areas receive more resources that help people further their success. Experts in this area of research have found that the reason behind the disparities in education are due to subtle gaps in opportunity. Being raised in low income areas of poverty leaves children with less access to resources both at home and at school. For example, studies have shown that 68% of higher-income middle school students had access to math teachers who were considered to be of high quality while that very same statement was true for only 53% of low-income students.  With a history of having more opportunity, white families are able to help the younger generations that are in school today. That cultural capital (approximately 23% of white parents have a BA, while 11% of black parents and 8% of Hispanic parents have the same credentials), access to material resources, as well as lack of environmental and psychological stressors that minority children may be experiencing, it makes sense that there is a gap in educational achievement.

If people pay attention to these things and realize that if all children were given the same opportunities, and funding and support were given to schools based on need rather than raw test scores, the achievement gap between students can be lessened and opportunities for success would be far easier to come by.

All for One and One for All

In relation to Education and Race, I am able to relate a personal story of my own during the time of SAT and college applications. As discussed in lecture as well as the chapter 8 in the textbook, there is large achievement gap from Black and Latino students compared to white students. Though there a numerous stereotypes on why this may be, studies have proven that there are multiple factors that may cause minority students to fall behind compared to white students. What will be specifically analyzed in this response will be the socioeconomic differences between minority families and also the levels of social/cultural capital as I experienced this for myself. In my senior year of high school, it was highly encouraged for our students to properly prepare themselves for college. As I went to college preparatory school, throughout our four years the counselors kept up with our grades and ensured we were taking the proper A-G courses. Due to the high tuition costs of our school in general, my friends and myself pushed ourselves to excel in school as our parents were paying such high prices. When offered SAT courses at our own campus, my parents thought it would make most sense for me to attend and utilize the resources offered. What we didn’t know is that a single class or SAT prep session was nearly $500, not included in your tuition. With such high rates, the only students who were able to attend the classes were the upper middle class white students. Though there were many other courses that were offered to students through private agencies and other high schools, the convenience of taking prep classes during zero period would have benefited many of the students, like myself, who did not have transportation to get around as my parents worked late hours. When I would talk to my counselor about my inability to attend any SAT prep classes because of cost and location, I was put down and felt very discouraged about my acceptance to college. Being told that I wasn’t taking my applications seriously made me feel bad for something that really was not in my control. Now looking at my situation however I am able to realize that even without those courses I was still able to fulfill all the necessary requirements, send in my applications in on time, and ultimately end up attending a UC. Many students in similar positions however are not as lucky as they don’t have the proper encouragement. This lack of proper encouragement ultimately causes the idea of oppositional culture that states Black and Latino students do not have motivation or the right attitudes toward higher education. This theory cannot be proven correct as there are numerous factors holding students of color from pursuing higher education. My example of SAT prep courses perfectly explains how resource such as these are “offered” to everyone but is not accessible to all. Due to the costs and also location, many students who come from working class families don’t have the accessibility. This goes to explain that minority students don’t have a negative attitude towards higher education; they just do not have same resources as white middle class families. My statement can be supported through statistics found from Public Policy Institute of California that in San Francisco alone more than 40% of all students complete their A-G requirements and college applications. Also, 40% of these students end up moving forward to a JC or CSU. It can be found that though not all students are able to utilize the same resources, minority students are still applying themselves and valuing higher education.

In relation to class, it can be found that institutional racism occurs daily and the effects on minority students have a strong permeance. Although racism is no longer as overt and permitted through our laws, this does not go to say that racism is no longer existent. Throughout our time in class through our blog posts, discussions, and numerous cases; it can be seen how racism has been reformed and recreated into a more subtle form that still ultimately benefits whites. This can be seen through my example of overpriced SAT courses that automatically disadvantages students who don't have the proper resources for it. By excluding students from resources such as these, those who are not excluded are able to benefit from that. Those benefits are what we have learned to be white privilege. As seen in Chapter 8 of our text, institutional racism in education reproduces white privilege as white students somehow always get the bigger end of the stick compared to students of color. However, being that racism is less overt, we are told that their is no exclusion when it comes to education for all students. My example though clearly proves that cases such as these happen daily and are disregarded as the minority students' own fault. With the conclusion of this class, we are all able to recognize that is just a case of racism that our society has so strongly tried to cover up with other explanations. 

Sources
Golash-Boza, Tanya. Race and Racism: A Critical Approach. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.