“If you see something, film something!”:
Confronting “Systemic Injustice” in the 21st Century
Charlie Buestan, Kay Kolbuc, Lonny Mercado, Merari Romero, & Cristian Yepes
Dr. Patricia Johnson Coxx, AFR 123-FYS 02
Introduction
ƒ Slavery was constructed and slave
codes (laws) governed during the
17th - 19th centuries. Slave states had
slave codes.
ƒ After the Emancipation
Proclamation (1863) and the
American Civil War (1861-1865), the
Southern Black Codes replaced the
social controls of slavery but
continued to restrict freedom.
Research Question
Does police brutality exist
because of the failure to
remove systemic laws and
critically examine the causes of
injustice in history?
Background
Materials & Methods
Conclusions
Slave Codes
ƒ Targeted skin color and gender
ƒ Prohibited slaves from carrying or using a gun, even in self-defense
ƒ Gave death sentences to slaves accused of any crime against a White
Person
ƒ Prohibited slaves from congregating and traveling without permission
ƒ Granted slaveholders the right to kill slaves who resisted, without fear of
prosecution
Laws in the 21st Century
ƒ Racial Profiling is the discriminatory practice of targeting individuals under
suspicion of crime based on skin color (race, ethnicity, religion or national
origin)
ƒ Disparate treatment by police of a White man carrying a gun versus a Black
man
ƒ There are more Blacks on death row for killing Whites than Whites killing
Blacks
ƒ Black defendants are 85.4% more likely to get charged with resisting
arrest than white defendants (WNYC, 2015).
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References
Chaney, C., & Robertson, R. V. (2015). Armed and
Dangerous? An Examination of Fatal Shootings of
Unarmed Black People by Police. The Journal of Pan
African Studies (Online), 8(4), 45.
Chaney, C., & Robertson, R. (2013). Racism and
Police Brutality in America. Journal Of African
American Studies, 17(4).
Durr, M. (2015). What is the Difference between
Slave Patrols and Modern Day Policing?
Institutional Violence in a Community of Color.
Critical Sociology, 41(6), 873-879.
Humphries, C. (2015), Feb.6). New Harvard Law
School program aims for ‘systemic justice.’ Boston
Globe. Retrieved from
https://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2015/02/06/
new-harvard-law-school-program-aims-forsystemicjustice/PeGBqIenWhqqCuJ37Y20kJ/story.html
WNYC (2015). Race and “Resisting Arrest” Charges.
Retrieved from http://project.wnyc.org/resistingrace/