Black Code

Black Code
 
"Left me alone I grew up amongst a dying breed" Tupac 1995
 
Black codes were restrictive laws designed to limit the freedom of African Americans and ensure their availability as a cheap labor force after slavery was abolished during the Civil War. Under black codes, many states required blacks to sign yearly labor contracts; if they refused, they risked being arrested, fined and forced into unpaid labor.(History.com 2019)
 
It is amazing how people display homage to the Jews for what happened during the Holocaust and empathize with the Natives of America because of what happened during the Trail of Tears, and tell Black Folks to get over the 400 years of slavery, segregation, and systemic racism.
 
We do not control any major media outlets.  When you can control the narrative, you can control the negro. Over representation of degradation. African Americans fall under drug users and drug abusers versus our counterparts for the same consumption the media utilizes verbiage such as controlled substances and substance abuse. 
 
Black on Black crime. I often hear how if Black Lives Matter then Black lives need to matter to Black People.  My response, they do. Every nationality has its issues. For example the leading culprit in white murders is white people. The leading culprit in Japanese murders is the Japanese.  The leading culprit in the Italian murders is the Italians. However, mainstream media has over cinematized black crime.
 
Often a specific issue such mass incarceration of African Americans is swapped with criminal justice reform. African Americans only make up 40% of US state prison population but only make up 14% of the US population. However, criminal justice reform is more inclusive which is why improvement to the treatment of African Americans and the criminal justice system is marginalized so say the least.
 
In 2019 US Census Bureau estimated 48,221,139 African Americans in the United States meaning that 14.7% of the total American population of 328.2 Million is Black.
 
The Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that in the U.S. 35% of state prisoners are white, 38% are black, and 21% are Hispanic.
 
African Americans account for nearly half of the 96,000 people locked up in Florida prisons while making up about 17% of the state population. Whites with half of the overall population make up 38% of inmates, while 13% of inmates are Hispanic.
 
One solution is Civilian Review Boards, this is one way we can help alter mass incarceration and abuse of force from the local police. Citizen Review Boards or Civilian Review Boards, review misconduct by local police which are independently investigated by people from the community. Citizen review boards typically operate independently of the courts and other law enforcement agencies and act as external checks and balances to ensure standard operating procedures were followed and shared accountability with law enforcement. 
 
There are Citizen Review Boards around the United States in Houston, Honolulu, New York City,  Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Memphis, Cincinnati and Cleveland, Atlanta, Miami, Seattle, and Washington D.C.  but not in Minneapolis (George  Floyd), Glynn County (Ahmaud Arbery) Camden County (Tony Green) and Jacksonville Fl (Jamee Johnson)
 
In closing, “Morality cannot be legislated, but behavior can be regulated. Judicial decrees may not change the heart, but they can restrain the heartless.”
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.