Past Legal And Modern Social Apartheid
An opinion piece on past legal Apartheid in South Africa and how it is socially reflected in the United States.
When stepping inside of a solitary cell at Constitutional Hill in Johannesburg, I felt a tightness in my chest and wanted to leave that small space immediately; imagining a Black South African who broke the pass laws during Apartheid being in there is beyond disturbing. Due to laws such as the Native (Urban) Areas Act No 21 of 1923, the Bantu/Native Building Workers Act of 1951, and the Bantu Homelands Citizens Act of 1970, Black South Africans during Apartheid were extremely limited in where they could live, detrimentally affecting their economic and employment opportunities. When touring the former Constitutional Hill prison, the guide told us that, when Black South Africans were caught without passes permitting their stay in Joburg for the day and/or night, they spent 5 days in prison, along with murderers and others who committed serious crimes. If caught multiple times breaking these pass laws, they would spend 5 years in this prison. Most of those who violated these pass laws were unemployed or sought better employment in Joburg; this is understandable, as a person has a better chance of having a job by being there physically. When thinking further about the lack of opportunity they suffered from due to the aforementioned laws creating this effect, this legal repercussion becomes further and further disturbing. Additionally, this also directly led to the creation of "White" and "Black" areas, where Whites lived in areas of better opportunity (ex. cities, suburbia), and Blacks were subjected to living in poverty and townships where there was limited economic and employment opportunities.
This lack of opportunity is echoed in the U.S. when looking at socially designated "White" and "Black" areas. Trayvon Martin was murdered by George Zimmerman essentially because he thought Martin "was not where he belonged", which was in a nice suburban area. As a person of color myself, I have been stared at in museums, followed in stores, and once at 12 years old kicked out of a shop (I did not do anything wrong), because I "stuck out". In this way, society told me (and violently told Martin) that we don't belong in those areas, that we "belong" in ghettos or prison; the racial demographics of populations in U.S. prisons will support me here. Therefore, by society socially designating where people "belong", not only do they bind themselves in their own ignorance, but also prevent people of color from sharing the same access to plentiful life and economic opportunity.
References
Native (Urban) Areas Act No 21 of 1923: Prevented Black South Africans from leaving designated area without a pass. The ruling National Party saw this as keeping Whites "safe" while using Blacks for cheap labor.
Bantu/Native Building Workers Act of 1951: Allowed Black South Africans to enter the building industry as artisans and laborers. Restricted to "Native" areas. Prevented competition between Whites, Coloureds, and Blacks. Could not work outside a designated area unless given special permission.
Bantu Homelands Citizens Act of 1970: All Black South Africans would lose their South African citizenship/nationality over time. Would not be able to work in "South Africa" due to being aliens. Black South Africans would have to work inside their own areas and could only work in urban areas if they had special permission from the Minister.
South African History Online. "Apartheid Legislation 1850s-1970s." South African History Online, South African History Online, 11 Apr. 2016, www.sahistory.org.za/article/apartheid-legislation....
Does Our Justice System Really Not See Color?
Our justice system is not supposed to see color when it comes to sentencing but facts prove they are unfair when serving justice.
Our justice system is supposed to bring justice to everyone! They are supposed to treat every case the same no matter the gender, the color of their skin, the way they identify, or what they do for a living. But it seems more and more lately the justice system has been missing the ball more and more when it comes to delivering fair justice.
1. Bill Cosby
Bill Cosby is sentenced to 3 to 10 years for drugging and sexually assault Andrea Constand 14 years ago. Bill Cosby, who is 81 years old, seemed to just accept his fate while others say he will die in his jail cell. Now, is this fair? In my opinion, no. He should have gotten more time and more of a penalty than $25,000.
2. Carolyn Byant Donham
Now the same can not be said about Carolyn. Carolyn Byant Donham admitted just last year that Emmett Till did not actually whistle at her or tried to grab her. She is an accomplice to a confessed murderer and even served as an accessory to murder, but yet she is not serving jail time for standing by and having a 14-year-old boy killed because of her lies and deceit. She is 83 years old, yet the grand jury has not pressed charges and seems to be just leaving her alone.
3. George Stinney Jr.
George Stinney Jr was the youngest to ever be executed in the United States for the 20th Century. George was accused of murdering two young white girls that were 11 years old and 7 years old. Their bodies were found by the house where George Jr. lived and he was automatically taken into custody and accused. His trial was just two hours and 30 minutes and he was not even allowed to have a lawyer or have his parents present. The all-white jury found him guilty after just 10 minutes of deliberating. Poor young George spent 81 days in detention without even saying goodbye to his parents. George sat clutching his bible while 5,380 volts of electricity coursed through his young body. Years later he was found innocent but nothing can bring back a child who was killed wrongly. (see attached video)
4. Gregory Counts and VanDyke Perry
Twenty-six years ago a young woman ran to a cop and said she was raped at knifepoint and she identified Gregory Counts and VanDyke Perry and two of the three guys who did it. However, things did not add up. Both "suspects" had alibis and the DNA taken from the young women was neither Gregory or VanDyke. They even declared they were innocent multiple times, but they were still convicted and Counts served 11 years while Perry served 26 years, but earlier this year the conviction was overturned after the DNA was tested and found associated with another case in the FBI database.
5. Brock Turner
Brock Turner case took the world by shock after he was found in the midst of raping an unconscious young girl behind a dumpster. Brock was found guilty but the white judge felt like Brock had his whole life ahead of him to have a rape charge follow him around so he was sentenced to 6 months in prison. I guess rapists do get special treatment after all.
6. Lyle Burgess
Lyle Burgees is a California businessman who raped a 5/6-year-old young girl. The 79-year-old has been sentenced to 90 days of house arrest and five years of informal probation and does not have to register as a sex offender. Anyone else would've been sentenced to prison no matter what, but this "businessman" will be sitting in his home still running his business while the little girl deals with the aftermath of her assault.
7. Brianna Brochu
Brianna Brochu spent a month and a half secretly terrorizing her roommate (Rowe). She spit in Rowe's coconut oil (which was meant for her hair), putting moldy clam dip in her lotions, rubbing used tampons on her backpack, putting her toothbrush where the sun doesn't shine (really disgusting) and so much more. Brianna was charged with breach of peace and criminal mischief but in fact, served no time. After two years, her charges will be throw out all together!
8. Eric Wright
Eric Wright was at home with his girlfriend when his ex-girlfriend barged in slamming him to the wall and abusing him. While his current girlfriend yelled for her to stop and get out. Eric pushed her outside and off the porch and fired a warning shot five feet away from them and yelled at her to leave. His ex-girlfriend was indeed traspacing, and assaulted him but when the police arrived they arrested Eric instead and he is now serving a 20 year sentence for firing a warning shot into the grass five feet from everyone.
9. George Zimmerman
George Zimmerman shot an unarmed young black boy by the name of Trayvon Martin and was later found not guilty stating he feared for his life (I guess it's scary encountering someone carrying a sweet tea). He later auctioned off the gun he used to kill Trayvon like it was a prize.
It seems like the justice system is continuing to drop the ball when it comes to providing justice for all. They are continuing to let those people who are depending on them down and leaving families grieving with no justice.
When will providing justice be taken seriously again?