Criminalization of Blacks
On December 6, 1865 the 13th Amendment abolished slavery. However the discrimination, injustice, and dehumanization towards blacks continued as the 13th Amendment has left a loophole. The inclusion of the clause “except as a punishment for crime” allowed criminals to be treated as secondary. This was immediately exploited. If blacks were deemed to be criminals, they could continue to be treated unjustly. After the Civil War, African Americans were arrested in mass - creating the first prison boom. This lead to the mythology of black criminality.
Prior to abolition of slavery the no real prison system in the United States, the punishment for crime consisted of physical torture or capital punishment. With the official abolishment of slavery, the Amendment uplifted all people - except those convicted of a crime and opened the door for mass criminalization. This lead to the mythology of black criminality. Prisons were built in the South as part of the backlash to Black Reconstruction and as a mechanism to re-enslave Black workers.
Louisiana’s famous Angola Prison illustrates this history best. In 1880, this 8000-acre family plantation was purchased by the state of Louisiana and converted into a prison. Slave quarters became cell units. Now expanded to 18,000 acres, the Angola plantation is tilled by prisoners working the land—a chilling picture of modern day chattel slavery.
Media’s Role In “Criminal” Belief
First feature film - a nation wide sensation, which was screened in The Whitehouse. “Birth Of A Nation,” displays its 1915 portrayal of the black man. In the film blacks are seen attacked by the KKK, with animalistic characteristics, and ill developed - as inferior to the white characters within the film. However, the clear depiction of the criminal side is within the portrayal of black men as rapist. Where a black character attempt to rape a white women, instead the white women jumps off a cliff - suggesting suicide as a better solution then being touched by the black man.
This incident, was seen world wide - marking the stereotype of black men. In order to entertain the clause which allowed the punishment of criminals. As a allowance for blacks to continue to be treated as secondary, without their basic human rights within America. The entertainment of this kind of medial and the idea of blacks as a whole allowed for endless cases of black men being accuse of raping white women or being a treat as so.
In 1955, Emmett Till was a victim of this after being accused of eyeliner a white women inappropriately in a grocery store was lynched in Mississippi at the age of 14. No proof, no case, instead death for one who has been inherently born into a society, where from the start, he was predisposed to be seen as criminal.
