Arresting Citizenship: The Democratic Consequences of American Crime Control by Amy E. Lerman & Vesla M. Weaver

Author:Amy E. Lerman & Vesla M. Weaver [Lerman, Amy E. & Weaver, Vesla M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General, Criminology, Social Science, Political Science, American Government, Local
ISBN: 9780226137971
Google: CWyXAwAAQBAJ
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Published: 2014-06-06T06:28:03+00:00

FIGURE 7.1. Blacks’ perceptions of mistreatment by government (% agree or strongly agree) and full citizenship and equal chances (% disagree or strongly disagree), by criminal justice contact. Black respondents only. *p < .05; **p < .01; ***p > .001. Source: Cathy J. Cohen, “Black Youth Culture Survey,” Black Youth Project, Chicago, IL, 2005, http://www.blackyouthproject.com.

That government neglected minorities came through just as clearly when speaking to custodial citizens directly; most believed that there were clear limits to the lengths to which government would go for their community. Joachim, a young Latino in Trenton, said simply that when it comes to whether minorities get treated equally by government, “It’s a question that you and I already know. Of course not.” To Abe, a young black man we interviewed in New Orleans, political officials viewed blacks as a group that was easily placated and dismissed. Discussing the Katrina disaster and how the government responded, Abe said:

You got the whole rest of the world! And now you tell me they couldn’t just get the government to come, save this one lost city? They could if they wanted to. They don’t want. And I guess they don’t have or they didn’t want to because if they have to, they would have did it. So, I’m guessing they didn’t have to so they didn’t. . . . They could’ve brought in the national guards, with just one little call. One little call. So why they didn’t come? I don’t know. Then, after the storm, they call this their help. . . . “Oh, we’re just going to get everybody some money and make them shut up, those black people, they like money. You give them money, make ’em shut up for a little while. Give them a couple of dollars, let ’em buy a new car, and they shut up.”

Nor was Katrina the sole example. Blacks in our interviews detailed numerous instances where they believed government neglected or mistreated black people. Cameron, a young West Indian man in Charlottesville, described his belief that black victims of crimes did not receive the same attention as murdered whites, drawing on the recent case of Morgan Harrington in Charlottesville, a young white woman who was kidnapped and later found dead:

Because for instance a couple months, last year, they have a killing . . . with a little white dude and a black dude. The white dude had an AK47 and he go and shot this black dude. . . . They rallied like for two or three weeks and then it was gone. Then another instance in New York a couple years ago when the police shot up a young [black] dude on Empire Boulevard and they said that the young dude had a gun but when the police look there was no gun and they shot at the car and him and everything. And they rallied like for a couple weeks and then it was gone. Now, the UVA instance with the [white] girl that went on for months and months and months and months.

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