The use of race as a free-floating proxy for criminality arose during slavery as a means of social control over enslave Africans and, later, the freedmen. The ex ante use of race as a pretext to harass, arrest and sometimes lynch blacks for supposed crimes has historically served several purposes that were crucial in maintaining the institution of slavery and the de facto and de jure unequal social relationships arising out of slavery. The view of blacks as chattel constituted the essence of slavery; one significant means by which this perception of subhumanity was creaed and reinforced was by the image of blacks as possession uncontrolable, innate urges for criminality and violence. Eric Cummin, Criminal Justice System and African Americans, in ENCARTA AFRICANA, at african/research/encara/tt_265.asp (last visited Nov. 15, 2003) (Within the legal system, convictions rates were much higher for blacks than for whites in the Jim Crow era of the late 19th century. Whites were convinced tha African Americans were congential theives, belief deeply embedded in Southern folklore. Black racial features were labeled by some early criminologist as marks of the born criminal.)
Posted on: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 22:04:15 +0000
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