“Systemic racism is not unique to the criminal justice system. It is far too easy to point out the martyrs of police killings: Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Walter Scott, Alton Sterling, and Freddie Gray just to name a few. It is also easy to point out the racial disparities in incarceration rates, bail determinations by judges, and felony disenfranchisement to see that the criminal-justice system works differently for different races. Many have pointed out that the criminal-justice system isn’t dysfunctional at all but does exactly what it was designed to do.

After the bloody Civil War and the end of slavery, the 13th Amendment freed the slaves but offered the caveat of “involuntary servitude” for duly convicted criminals; shortly thereafter, black men began to be incarcerated at alarming rates for minor offenses such as loitering. The “War on Drugs” which succeeded the “Law and Order” platforms of the ’70s began the age of mass incarceration where millions of black and brown people were imprisoned and millions more were relegated to second-class citizens for being a felon.

Many would argue that the criminal-justice system offers a window into the American psyche, and what it reveals is a criminalization and fear of black and brown people and a dehumanization of said people.”