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interested-in-history · 4 years

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‘The legacy of the enslavement of Africans is still with us.’

The legacy of the enslavement of Africans is still seen today within two main institutions - schools and their education, and the Criminal Justice System. These two institutions are creating and perpetuating racial hierarchy through teaching an ethnocentric curriculum disregarding any black culture until one month of the year, and through racial discrimination which unfairly targets certain sets of people due to what they appear to represent rather than their actions. The two institutions involved maintain a level of inferiority pushed onto blacks and enable the systems of punishment to legally discriminate in ways that were acceptable during the enslavement period. By maintaining the subordinate position, many ask was slavery declared dead or just reincarnated through new institutions. This legacy haunts many today and questions the level of emancipation that has been ‘gained’ over the years. In this essay, I will argue that the role of education and police relations for those of African decent are intrinsically linked and that one often follows the other in what is known as a self perpetuating situation. Within education the example of the Jena Six incident in 2007 explains this view as well as the deep rooted racism that occurs in nearly all schools across the world. The police relations and Criminal Justice System also have deep rooted racism links and the example of Rodney King in 1991 and the events that followed show this in great detail. These specific instances are both recent points in history when the legacy of slavery can still be seen impacting lives after 129 and 145 years since the emancipation of all slaves was proclaimed. As James Baldwin said, the great force of history, comes from the fact that we carry it within us, unconsciously controlled by it in many ways, and history is literally present in all that we do. Much political thought surrounding the situation have the mentality of ‘we are here because you were there’.

Firstly, in education the idea is that all students are taught the same lessons and subjects and it is their responsibility to work hard and achieve in order to move up in the world. However, research over the years has found this not to be the case.

Many education systems hold unconscious racial profiles and teach accordingly, often these are based upon stereotypes held by generations or images portrayed in the media. Blacks are often pushed into more physical activities and this could be based upon the idea that slave owners had a preference for athletic specimens on plantations. Schools stereotyping races into different areas of academia often leads to a poorer education and expectation of failure for the black students. If asked, schools would deny any aspects of institutional racism and through education we are taught a learned ignorance - we can see race but we aren't supposed to really see it. What this means is the colour of someone’s skin is still, subconsciously considered a marker of identity which was commonplace during slavery. Even when teachers aren’t subconsciously racist the system of education unfortunately is, and perpetuates the inferiority of black cultures as well as other non-Western cultures. There have been asks to include more culturally diverse teachings with education at all levels, yet this faced huge opposition especially to the changes designed to provide instruction in mother tongues, black studies and the appointment of more black staff in order to supply a role model and cultural diversity to an ever-continuing white system. By sidelining other histories especially, it reflects a racist ideology and cultural homogeneity which in turn causes an educational disadvantage among black children. Black Marxism believes that this hegemony maintains the position of power and by negating ‘others’ histories and cultures creates disadvantages within races.

A educational disadvantage is clearly shown in the Completion Rates of 18 to 24 year olds - those who left high school holding a basic education. The completion rate of Blacks was 86.9% in 2008 compared to 94.2% of whites - meaning that 3,744,000 blacks had a basic education compared to 16,018,000 whites. In 2008 only 13.7% of blacks held this educational level compared to 62.3% of whites. These statistics show that the education deprived blacks massively and this separate and unequal education impacts more than most realise. With less blacks achieving the basic education, it then stops them achieving success and stunts their influence in the world forcing them into manual, low paid jobs often then housed in poor areas overrun with drugs and crime, which often ends in prison time. This stunted success keeps them at an inferior position much like the enslaved Africans unable to change their subordinate position. Black Liberals take the view that racism was to justify slavery and this is now the primary impediment to social progress in the world today. As long as there is racism, social progress will be stunted and disadvantage those of colour.

The Jena Six incident of 2007 illustrated how the institutional racism and tensions caused students to turn on each other, it also highlighted how responses to students are very different and how stereotypes can affect these outcomes. In Jena, Louisiana a high school that was predominately white had a long history of racial tensions from traditions that were continued into the 21st century. Students of white and black sat on opposite sides of the auditoriums, held separate dances and a common race-based practice involved a ‘White Tree’ where only white students sat. One black freshman asked to sit under this tree and shockingly the following day three nooses were found hanging from a branch. This is a clear link to the lynchings that haunt black history and was commonplace in slavery in order to scare into submission. The school spoke out against the ‘prank’ and no action was bought against the white students involved, this sparked the growing tensions and it resulted in clashes ending with a group of black students beating up a white student. One of the boys involved, Bell, who was only a minor at the time was charged with attempted murder and subsequently jailed. There was a national call to release this student and the school was put under fire for the way they punished the black students severely but did nothing to the white students that started this race-related conflict. More than twenty thousand supporters marched on Jena due to the severity of the sentence given making it the biggest civil rights campaign since the 1960s.

The Criminal Justice system and the criminalisation of certain communities is anchored in slavery as well as implying the view of a constrained emancipation, especially for those victimised by the system. Blacks are often the face of crime and the overpowering stereotypical image of deviance. The negative relations between police and blacks can be seen in the example of Rodney King. In 1991, he was caught after a high speed chase, the officers pulled him out of the car and beat him brutally while a cameraman caught it all on videotape. The four officers involved were indicted on charges of assault and excessive use of force. However, a predominantly white jury acquitted the officers sparking violent riots in Los Angeles., King became a symbol of racist tensions in America. In 2012 King spoke with The Guardian stating the assault was “like being raped…being beaten near to death…I just knew how it felt to be a slave”. The fact King was beaten by white officers increased the distrust the black held against the police as well as expose the racially skewed Criminal Justice System. Research then heavily focused on the prison populations and how the racial bias shown in the officers in 1991 was a product of the Criminal Justice system which disproportionally victimised those of colour. This is a direct link to slavery and how those of colour were automatically seen as criminals and ‘trouble’. This automatic link to criminality continues today and as Marc Maver articulates, black men are born with a social stigma equivalent to a felony conviction.

Once you look at the prison statistics the evidence is clear, there is an estimated 2.2 million people behind bars with blacks making up 46 percent of that population. In 2001, 18.6 percent of blacks were expected to go to prison with 32.2 percent serving time at least once. Once in prison and after, the term ‘felon’ especially for blacks carried the life sentence of legalised discrimination. In nearly all the ways it was once legal to discriminate against African Americans in slavery, a felon is subject to the same injustices. These felons become part of a growing under-caste that is found through the analysis of ‘the new racism’ and part of the Critical Race Theory. This theory believed that White Supremacy was maintained over time and law plays a role in this, it also believe that racial emancipation and anti-subordination should be a mass movement in order to change the systems. Even Black Marxist Wallerstein believed racism was institutionalised since the establishment of capitalism, but Robinson argues that racism was a product of history that has always been around. Once black civilians are locked up they are then locked out of mainstream society forcing them into menial jobs and into areas were gangs, crime and drugs are commonplace only to create cycles of oppression and resistive subcultures similar to those found in groups within slave plantations. In todays terms, mass incarceration is, metaphorically, the New Jim Crow. The nightmare of slavery continues to haunt us even today, through different institutions placing blacks in an interior role and ultimately seeing the colour of their skin as an indicator of their actions rather than actions themselves.

Even today, these two institutions show a complete difference in the way races are treated and this can be seen stemming from the enslavement of Africans. The educational system does discriminate against non-english speakers and those who do not have western ties in their histories. Many black histories especially are forgotten or told from a western standpoint according to Black Marxism which maintains inferiority. The Jena Six incident shows how schools can be racist due to a learned ignorance and punish differently according to colour. The fact the white students got away with a ‘prank’ but the retaliation landed black students with felony charges that shows this differing approach. The educational failings often then tie into police-relations and the high possibility of prison. Rodney King being unfairly targeted for his skin colour and then beaten on the side of the road showed how unforgiving the police can be. History has not passed by as far as we believe it has - the stagnation of many blacks and the stereotypes associated with their colour means that they are unfairly disadvantaged and this racism stopped social progress entirely according to Black Liberalists. One must ask is freedom really being achieved or is it constrained emancipation?

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