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Quevaughn Caruth

PCA 336-Rhetoric and Citizenship

Professor Prody

Research Report I

Outline

Intro:

Recent protests in places like New York City and Ferguson raise public concern to the issues the black community struggles to tackle on a daily basis. Recent data suggests, the disproportionate policing of black communitiesarereflected throughout the criminal justice system. Racial profiling has produced racial disparities in states across the nation. The tension between the police and citizens [of all ages, ethnicity, and genders] within these communities has risen.Throughout this research report, I examine with the intent to positively address the current police relations as it pertains to black youth in Harlem,NYC.According to Center for American Progress, “African American youth have higher rates of juvenile incarceration and are more likely to be sentenced to adult prison.” (Kerby). In order to progress, solutions must be implemented in the effort of improving the overall quality of life for blacks in America.

Outline:

  • African Americans have contributed to Harlem since firstsettlingin the beginning of the 20th Century
  1. “Throughout the 1920s black leaders in New York City and across the nation debated the cultural and intellectual significance of Harlem.”(King 13).
  2. “… and the movement to Harlem by black churches made clear, by 1913 African Americans had become a substantial presence in the area of Harlem bordering Lenox Avenue and 135th Street.” (McGruder 121).
  3. “…young African Americans whose presence encouraged their parents, guardians, and others to make the development of services for youth a priority.”(McGruder 121).
  4. “In the first years of the 1900s African American New Yorkers began to seek ways to provide positive social and recreational activities as well as religious guidance outside of the church for young men and women by formally affiliating with the Young Men’s Cristian Association (YMCA) and the Young Women’s Christians Association (YWCA).”(McGruder 122).
  • African Americans settled in Harlem with the hope of establishing a flourishing community that values socioeconomic stratification free of discrimination.
  1. “In each neighborhood, blacks encountered blatant racism and residential segregation. According to historian Seth Scheiner, “whether rich or poor, [blacks] were limited by prejudice in [their] choice of location.” (King 94)
  2. “By 1920, from their new buildings on 135th and 137th Streets, the African American branches of the YMCA and the YWCA provided clear symbols of the commitment of the members of these institutions to Harlem as a future of black New Yorkers, while also symbolizing African Americans’ determination to provide ongoing support to the young adults in their community as they entered the world of work.” (McGruder 132).
  3. “Once in Harlem, blacks began the work of creating their black mecca. The construction of religious, cultural, and neighborhood institutions was only part of the community-building process, however.”(King 23).
  • African Americans have historically been discriminated against, more specifically in Harlem whensettling in and renting apartments.
  1. “Less than two decades before [1920], blackshad bestowed praise upon trailblazing black realtors, black and white, as responsible for the housing crisis in Harlem. But residential segregation created the conditions for landlords to charge black tenants higher rent than white tenants.” (King 93).
  2. “…cadres of black women in Harlem waged a three-month campaign against exploitative landlords to lower rents and improve housing conditions, thereby establishing the institutional basis upon which black tenants’ resisted landlords…” (King 93).
  3. “Although the tenant campaigns failed to renew the Emergency Rent Laws, Harlem’s tenant movement and the vote black campaign converged to elect blacks to the nineteenth and twenty-first assembly districts to address issues that concerned the Harlem community.”(King 94).
  • African American concerns stem from historical and contemporary policing of the black community and its consequential effects on the youth’s perception of police presence.
  1. “…Harlem community rights reflected not only blacks’ demands for safe housing, economic autonomy, and civil rights, but social reform, which often took the form of neighborhood respectability and discipline.” (King 16).
  2. “[Eyewitness to an injustice Dr. Ogan] acknowledged how both white civilians and the state doubly and divergently violated blacks’ civil rights. By making “an example” of blacks, magistrates both criminalized blacks’ effort to defend themselves and authorized white civilians’ assaults on black people.”(King 38).
  3. “…black New Yorkers aimed to create respectable and moral neighborhoods attentive to urban issues that stymied racial progress.” (King 39).
  4. According to data calculated by the Prison Policy Initiative from US Census 2010, Blacks are overrepresented in New York prisons and jails. Blacks make up 16% of New York’s population yet comprise 53% of the incarcerated population (Prison Policy Initiative).
  • Example of police brutality resulting in death of a black male.
  1. Eric Garner Case ( Possible interview with his daughter or News Article)
  2. Results and aftermath of the incident. (covered in interview or pulled from articles)
  • Conflicting concerns on crime control in urban communities affect the policies/protocol enforced by law enforcement.
  1. “[Then commissioner] Bill Bratton had been hired by David Dinkins in 1990 to run the Transit Police, where he aggressively implemented the approach popularly known as “broken windows” policing.” (Thompson 43).
  2. “The Broken Windows theory argues that visible signs of disorder show a lack of neighborhood concern or vigilance…. Thus, stopping serious crime starts with prevention of minor offenses that produce the appearance of disorder.”(Thompson 44).
  3. “The origin of Broken Windows can be traced to the conservative urban theorist Edward Banefield. In the 1960’s, while the Civil Rights Movement sought to supplant the old idea that blacks’ poverty was caused by their own depraved culture…” (Thompson 44).
  • A community in poverty is likely to have high crime, but that does not justify racial profiling.
  1. “Despite its popularity, the theory of Broken Windows Policing is full of holes… theories of human nature, it does not explain much.” (Thompson 45).
  2. “Some criminal “disorder” is a function of poverty itself. Poor urban people often do not have private space in their homes to drink alcohol with friends, as rich people do. So the poor are criminalized for being poor.”(Thompson 45).
  3. “As a practical matter, careful studies of Broken Windows policing show it has no effect on violent crime. Many cities experience drops in crime at the same time as NYC did under Giuliani and Bratton…” (46).
  • There is a need for police accountability and transparency within the justice system.
  1. “Nearly 1 in 3 young black males in the United States is under correctional supervision on any given day.”(The Sentencing Project 12).
  2. “One of every three black males born today can expect to spend time in a state or federal prison if current trends continue.” (The Sentencing Project 12).
  3. “ African Americans comprise 13% of the national population and 14% of regular drug users, yet 34% of drug arrests and 53% of persons sentenced to prison for a drug offense.”(The Sentencing Project 12).
  4. “Young males expressed a lack of confidence in the police investigating themselves.” (Weitzer and Brunson 248).
  5. “…the costs of lodging a complaint [against an officer] may be perceived as too high and the likelihood of success too low.”(Weitzer and Brunson 246).
  6. “There is also a fear that making a complaint would backfire against the complainant and result in officer retaliation.”(Weitzer and Brunson 248).
  • This is an issue that needs to be addressed in the community now, because the youth deserve a future free of stress caused by discrimination and mass incarceration.
  1. “The stressors that black Americans face are reflective of their experience as minority group members. The degree to which these stressors are perceived in a racialized context will have implications pertaining to minority group identification, relevant coping and subsequent mental health outcomes.” (Njai, Miranda, Neighbors, & Caldwell 60).
  2. “There are many factors to this issue such as economic, if people don’t have jobs they are more inclined to be involved in crime.” (Sharpton)
  3. “Police are being undermined and they are supposed to be praised as heroes, the relationship with the community lacks unity and understanding.” (Sharpton).
  • The black community has to beknowledgeable on their rights and take accountability in working towards positive relations with the police.
  1. “[Pre and post-World War migration] Black reformers tirelessly delivered services to and provided training programs for blacks, but their uplift strategies could only go so far.”(King 17).
  2. “The literature on police-citizen relations pays greater attention to police officers’ treatment of citizens than citizens’ behavior toward officers. Several studies have shown that citizens’ demeanor affects the way they are treated by police officers.” (Weitzer and Brunson 236).
  3. “Police hold a monopoly on the use of legitimate force…” (Weitzer and Brunson 236).
  4. “…the policing vacuum is filled by a parallel system of street justice where disputes are settled informally—part of the “code of the streets”…” (Weitzer and Brunson 236).
  5. “… [young black men in St. Louis] because of fear of harassment or other kinds of mistreatment they were also motivated by fear of being labeled “snitches” by neighborhood residents if seen talking to the police.”(Weitzer and Brunson 242).
  6. “Importantly, whenever someone, particularly a young person, was seen simply talking to the police, he or she was construed as being an informer…” (Weitzer and Brunson 242).
  7. “This idea of not snitching is also a result of no trust with the officers…” (Sharpton).
  • There have been attempts at addressing the racial disparities in youth incarceration.
  1. “Youth of color have much more frequent contact with the justice system than white youth. Black youth account for 16% of the youth population, but represent 28% of juvenile arrests, 37% of the detained population, 38% of those in residential treatment, and 58% of youth committed to state adult prison.” (The Sentencing Project 13).
  2. “The Youth PROMISE Act advances a constructive approach to address youth crime by providing for a broad array of programs that have been demonstrated to reduce the likelihood of joining a gang as well as to reduce delinquency.”(The Sentencing Project 16).
  3. “Two states, Iowa and Connecticut, passed laws in 2008 creating a process whereby racial impact statements will be prepared in conjunction with certain criminal justice legislation… A disproportionate racial or ethnic impact does not preclude adoption of proposed legislation, but is one of a number of elements that lawmakers consider when debating criminal justice policy.” (The Sentencing Project 12).

Work Cited

"Criminal Justice Primer: Policy Priorities for the 111th Congress."The Sentencing Project. N.p., 2009. Web. 2 Oct. 2015. <

Njai, Rashid, et al. "An Evaluation of Sociocultural Stress and Coping: Black American Social Identities as Mediators for Acceptance Coping."The Journal of Race & Policy10.1 (2014): 59-77. Print.

Thompson, J. P. "Broken Policing: The Origins of the “Broken Windows” Policy."New Labor Forum (Sage Publications Inc.)24.2 (2015): 42-7. Print.

Weitzer, Ronald, and Rod K. Brunson. "Strategic Responses to the Police among Inner-City Youth."The Sociological Quarterly50.2 (2009): 235-56. Print.

"What’s New?"Prison Policy Initiative. “The Racial Geography of Mass Incarceration” Prison Policy Initiative, July 2015. Web. 02 Oct. 2015.

King, Shannon.Whose Harlem Is This, Anyway? Community Politics and Grassroots Activism during the New Negro Era. NYV: NYU, 2015. Print