Staggering Statistic: The Burden of Being Black in the Criminal Justice System
With the growing mass incarceration of African Americans in state prisons across the country, Political Awareness and Involvement is a must in order to put an end to this epidemic. America is a world leader in incarceration, with more than 1.3 million people currently held in state prisons around the country. African Americans are incarcerated throughout the country at a rate 5.1 times more than whites.
This program began with a video clip from the movie 13th, which directly addressed the connection between slavery, and the mass incarceration of blacks. Guest speaker, Professor Naija Baptist, addressed highlights from the film and gave a summary of the state of the criminal justice system in America. Voter ballots and pamphlets that included a comprehensive list of citizens' rights were also provided to attendees for awareness purposes.
In addition to the enlightening discussion, over 300 intellectually stimulating books were collected for our 'Prison Pipeline book donation initiative' where we will be donating them to women prisoners.
