Innocent Until Arrested
Innocent until arrested, this is the treatment that many African Americans face in this country.
It doesn’t matter if you’re Ray Rice or Marissa Alexander - once the police decide to arrest you, the presumption of innocence goes out the window and the perception of guilt is applied. This is in the face of mountains of evidence that law enforcement and the criminal justice system are less than just when it comes to charging and prosecuting people of color. Sadly, despite this Kilimanjaro sized mountain of evidence to the contrary, the average American seems to believe that arrest and prosecution equals guilt - at least where African Americans are involved.
If one looks closely at this issue it becomes evident that both personal and institutional bias against African Americans collude together to create the perception of criminality. One feeds the other and vice versa. People make up institutions and they perpetuate their own biases into the culture of those institutions. The institutions in turn purvey those biases through policy and governance. This cycle is prominent in the legal arena, in education, in media and in politics. Each of the preceding plays a role in constructing the societal image of African Americans.
Promoting the image of African Americans as criminals by nature has long been a tool of rabid racists. It has been used as a justification for slavery, peonage and segregation. Many believe that the election of Barack Obama to the presidency of the United States has wiped away the perception of African Americans as criminal minded - false. Note: that the POTUS has been routinely accused of being criminal minded, e.g. the claims that ACA was unconstitutional and that he participated in a conspiracy to falsify his own birth certificate.
The concept that African Americans are guilty of any crime, for which arrested is entrenched in the social fabric of America. Many people believe an arrest simply means one has finally been caught regardless of the presence of any evidence or lack thereof. This thinking is due to the supposed existence of some mythological criminal gene which would make committing crime the default behavior of African Americans.
The solution is simple and complex at the same time. AT THE SAME DAMN TIME......
First, be impeccable with your word choice-
There is a difference between saying someone was "arrested for...." or "charged with..." and stating that "Ray Rice knocked his fiancé out". This was an actual quote from my coworker today. He made the statement as if he witnessed the incident in question.
Second, investigate your own biases-
After you say "Ray Rice was arrested for ..." you can say "I believe he is guilty because of ......" but if that assessment isn't based on facts then you must search your mind to uncover the root of your belief. You may find yourself plucking away a heap of subconscious biases if you can be honest about their origin and nature.
Welcome to life, where the simple solutions bleed with grace into the decomposition of complex issues.
