Lauryn Hill's Song 'Mystery Of Iniquity'

Glen Loury argues in his essay called “A Nation of Jailer” that the United States is a nation that follows a society that has been affected by racial bias. Loury claims that the people who are targeted by law are racial discriminated. Loury mainly talks about the “poorly educated black and Hispanic men who reside in large numbers in our great urban centers.” (1) Loury has made a clear and strong point. Loury shows his points in three main ways. Loury emphasizes his points by using ethos, logos, and pathos. Loury uses many well-known characters in his writing, and Loury uses strong phrases that impact the reader emotionally and questions to make sure the reader has some sort of connection to Loury’s evidence. Furthermore, Loury gives a lot

The word “disgraced” (Alexander 15) emphasizes the discrimination and struggle that African Americans experience. Through her brief description of the current justice system, Michelle Alexander believed that the Jim Crow and slavery were both caste systems and relates it back to the American system of mass incarceration. This claim is very surprising considering the fact that the United States of America is considered by many to be the land of the “free” and equal rights. She also believed that the system of mass incarceration and

Michelle Alexander in her eye-opener novel, The New Jim Crow, makes a dauntless premise that the racial caste system that was supposedly ended in America during the Civil Rights Movement still exists today and is completely redesigned in the sense that colored men are the target of an intentional “War on Drugs.” Alexander claims that the criminal justice system is used as a mean to racially control millions of colored people and the same system is used to demote them to a second-class citizen status. Alexander employs a great deal of rhetoric in her novel to appeal to the reader’s emotions and values, so that she is able to alter the ethos of the readers and ultimately reveal the blindness present in the United States Justice System. Alexander

The above text is the hook to the poem “Mystery of Iniquity” Before going in depth with the first piece of the poem; something stands out in the first two stanzas: “iniquity” and “inequity”. According to Webster’s dictionary, inquity is defined as “gross injustice; a wicked act or thing” and inequity is defined as “injustice, unfairness; an instance of injustice or unfairness” (Merriam-Webster) Here Ms. Hill sets the tone for the rest of the poem. She explains that the unfairness of iniquity and inequity is a miserable feeling. She is talking directly to those that share her unfortunate circumstances of being treated unfairly in a state of misery. The pre verse that follows the hook brings the topic of religion into view. The first four lines in the pre-verse symbolize Biblical meaning and give way to religious pretext. The verse says

When you think of mass incarceration it is imperative to look at the causes that affect minorities. One major thing that produced an increase in mass incarceration is the war on drugs. The war on drugs has impacted minorities in a major way. The war on drugs pushed policymakers to structure laws that were targeting underprivileged individual mainly minorities group. In addition, “The deinstitutionalisation of people with mental illnesses, and punitive sentencing policies such as three-strike laws (mandating life imprisonment for third offences of even relatively minor felonies) and mandatory minimum sentences for specific offence, even for some first0time offenders undoubtedly helped to both launch mass incarceration and keep it going” (Wilderman, & Wang, 2017, p. 1466). The war on drugs came during a time when crack cocaine became widespread in the black community. The popularity of crack cocaine became prevalent and accessible for many low-income individuals. Therefore, the high rate of crime that was induced by the crack epidemic forced many jobs to leave the communities. However, the structuring of laws put more emphasis on crack cocaine than powder cocaine. Not to mention, crack cocaine is prevalent in minority communities, and powder cocaine is present in the majority community. According to Martensen (2012), “Not only does this deny accessible goods and services to local residents, it likewise decreases the local job opportunities available for community members” (p. 214). Consequently, many African American called on the police to take action against the same people that looked just like them. Crutchfield, & Weeks (2015) states, “Some of the changes during this period of increased incarceration that disadvantaged people of color coming into the justice system were implemented with the help and support of African American political leadership” (p. 109). Therefore, lawmakers had to come up with a solution to address the issue. Law-makers created laws that put emphasis on arresting drug dealers for selling drugs. These small-time drug dealers were becoming a hazard to the community. However, the laws begin to cause harm to all that looked brown or black whether

One of the inequalities in Lee’s story is racism. Tom Robinson was a black man who was accused of raping Mayella Ewell, a white, nineteen year old girl. During his trial, his lawyer, Atticus Finch did his best showing the jury that he was an innocent man. The jury delibabrated for hours before they reached a verdict: “Guilty...guilty...guilty...guilty” (Lee 282). Tom was an innocent man but because of the color of his skin, he walked into that courtroom already found guilty. Today, people of color are targeted in many different ways, especially in the legal system:“One out of every 13 African Americans have lost their right to vote due to felony disenfranchisement versus one in every 56 non-black voters” (Quigley). Another example is, federal prosecutors are almost twice as likely to file charges carrying mandatory minimum sentences for African Americans than whites accused of the same crimes, according to a study published by the University of Michigan Law School. Our Declaration of Independence

As Elie Wiesel once stated, “I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented” (“Elie Wiesel Quote”). Michelle Alexander’s book The New Jim Crow, which discusses criminal justice and its role in mass incarceration, promotes a similar idea regarding silence when America’s racial caste system needs to be ended; however, Alexander promotes times when silence would actually be better for “the tormented.” The role of silence and lack of silence in the criminal justice system both contribute to wrongly accused individuals and growing populations behind bars.

Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness outlines how the criminal justice system has systematically designed new methods of discriminating against African Americans. The book advocates for racial justice, specifically, for African Americans and contends they [African Americans] were targeted and subsequently incarcerated, by white voters and public officials, through the War on Drugs campaign. President Reagan and his Administration exploited racial hostility or resentment for his own political gain and administered cash grants to law enforcement agencies that made drug enforcement a priority. “Nothing has contributed more to the systematic mass incarceration of people of color in the

However, those cases should be the only cases that would be permissible. As for reducing racial disparities in adult offenders, along with reformation of poorer communities, we need to focus on fair representation and sentencing for minorities. National surveys conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice find that while African Americans may be subject to traffic stops by police at similar rates to whites, they are three times as likely to be searched after being stopped. The “war on drugs,” acknowledged above, has been a big success in many areas, but it also represents a substantial part of the imbalanced rates of incarceration. In 2005, African Americans represented 14% of current drug users, yet they constituted 33.9% of the people arrested for a drug offense and 53% of people sentenced to prison for a drug offense. Indication of racial profiling by law enforcement does not mean that all officers’ practice this way, it just goes to show that such behaviors still persist to some degree and clearly prevent efforts to promote racial justice. (Justice for All, American Bar

The persuasive novel, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, by Michelle Alexander is designed to change your whole perspective of the American Justice System. Alexander is a highly acclaimed civil rights lawyer, advocate, and legal scholar. She’s won a variety of awards in the field of civil rights and has worked with supreme court judges. Alexander wrote the book with the intention to show that contrary to popular belief, the most despised group in America is criminals. The main focus was the war on drugs and how it affects African-Americans. Former inmates are a group to which discrimination isn’t only accepted but approved in society. In Michelle Alexander’s, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age

Michelle Alexander’s book comes from an extensive background in different fields that prepared her analyze the ‘New Jim Crow’. Alexander is a highly acclaimed civil rights lawyer, legal scholar and advocate. Recently she has taught at Stanford University Law School, one of the most prestigious university programs in the nation. In 2005 she won the Soros Justice fellowship, which supported the writing of The New Jim Crow. Since the first publication of her book, it has gone on to critical acclaim, and been well received by many different outlets. Prior to her academic career, Alexander was the director of the Racial Justice Project for the ACLU of Northern California. Much of her scholarly work is built upon her realization through her directorship, that this country in her opinion has a unjust and racially unequal criminal justice system. Before becoming a lawyer, she graduated Stanford Law School and Vanderbilt University. Following her Law School education, she clerked for Justice Harry A. Blackmun on the U.S. Supreme Court and for Chief Judge Abner Mikva on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Much of her time now is devoted to freelance writing, public speaking, committed to ending mass incarceration and also raising her three children.

Due to the history of the United States, there are inherent biases within a myriad of institutions. One of these institutions which have policies which negatively affect minorities is the criminal justice system. There is an overrepresentation of African Americans and Latinos within prisons. Discrimination and prejudice have morphed throughout time to continue to keep individual without power. There are more African American adults in prison or jail, on probation or parole—than were enslaved in 1850 (Alexander. New Jim Crow.) Through the history of this country, this trend has developed to continue the disfranchisement of minorities. Legally it is acceptable to discriminate against criminals and Africans Americans and Latinos are viewed as criminals (Alexander). “Once you’re labeled a felon, the old forms of discrimination—employment discrimination, housing discrimination, denial of the right to vote, and exclusion from jury service—are suddenly legal” (Alexander). The United States prison population has quintupled in the last 30 years; now having the highest rate of incarceration in the whole world. This is mainly due to the unproportionate incarceration of minorities.

Racial disparity in the criminal justice system is widespread and it threatens to challenge the principle that our criminal justice system is fair, effective and

One way African Americans have a disadvantage in the criminal justice system is the arrest rates. Per chapter 4 in the Color of Justice book, it states that “66 percent of African Americans are more likely to be arrested before the age of 30” (Samuel Walker; Cassia Spohn; Miriam Delone, 2012, p. 172). Based on the statistics given, African Americans seem more likely to be targeted for an arrest. The population for the African American community only makes up for 13 percent of the United States, and out of that statistic, most them will be arrested. There should be a justification to the judicial system for this outrageous arrest rate on the African American community. Another way on how African Americans have a disadvantage through the criminal justice system is by the judicial system. Chapter seven in the “Color of Justice” book briefly describes the racial differences on how

Injustice is here. Injustice should not be normal. Injustice is the reason I have been imprisoned. One of the foremost advocators for desegregation and equal rights for all races, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. writes a letter to stress to the world that, while some choose to ignore the injustices being done against the African American race, he will continue fighting for equality no matter what, even when he is in prison for doing just that. He weaves together an emotional web, drawing his audience in with vivid and sometimes horrifying pictures of oppression inflicted upon the black race and detailing his past experiencing these abuses and the past